Godfried Schalcken

Godfried Schalcken
Self-portrait, 1679
Born	8 October 1643 Made
Died	(1706-11-16)16 November 1706 The Hague
Nationality	Dutch
Known for	Painting,Portraitpainting

Godfried Schalcken(8 October 1643 – 16 November 1706) was a Dutch artist who specialized in genre paintings and portraits. Schalcken was noted for his night scenes and mastery in reproducing the effect of candlelight. He painted in the highly polished style of theLeiden fijnschilders.

Life and work

Godfried Schalcken was born inMade, North Brabant,the son of Cornelis Schalcken and Aletta Lydius. Before he was four years old, his family moved toDordrecht,where his father became rector of the Latin school. Schalcke studied underSamuel van Hoogstratenin Dordrecht before he moved toLeiden,into the studio ofGerard Dou(1613–1675), one ofRembrandt's most famous pupils. His earliergenre picturesvery closely resemble Dou's work.He worked in Leiden until c. 1675, then returning to Dordrecht until 1691, after which he settled in The Hague, where he continued to paint until his death, near age 63, in 1706. He also visited England (1692–1697), but his uncouth manners and bad temper alienated him from the society there. In 1703 he was employed byJohann Wilhelm, Elector PalatineinDüsseldorf.He died inThe Hague.

Work

Schalcken painted several portraits, of which the half-length ofWilliam III of England,now in theRijksmuseum,Amsterdam, is a good example.

LikeDou,Schalcken specialized in small scenes lit by candlelight, a format favored by theLeiden fijnschilders.Examples are inBuckingham Palace,theLouvre,ViennaandDresden.

His painting,Lady, Come into the Garden(Buckingham Palace), was singled out by Schalcken's pupil and Dutch artistic biographerArnold Houbrakenas representative of hisoeuvre.Other good examples areOld Woman Scouring a PanandSoldier Giving Money to a Woman(London, National Gallery),Ceres Seeking ProserpineandOld Man Writing(Louvre),Woman(National Museum of Serbia),Girl Blowing Out Taper(Munich),Girl Reading Letter(Dresden Gallery),The Boy Angling(Berlin); andToilet by Candle(The Hague). The Buckingham Palace collection also possesses an interior by Schalcken. Hishistory paintingsare less-well known. His pupils wereArnold Boonen,Godefridus Callenfels, Simon Germain,Carel de Moor,Richard Morris, Arent Pijl, his cousin Jacob Schalcken, his sisterMaria Schalcken,andAnthony Vreem.

• Godfried Schalcken
• 
  Portrait of a man
• 
  Portrait of Françoise van Diemen,his wife, in 1679 (marriage pendant to his selfportrait)
• 
  Artist and Model Looking at an Ancient Statue by Lamplight
• 
  Young Girl with a Candle
• 
  Young Girl with lemon
• 
  Young Girl with a Fish
• 
  Portrait ofSir Richard Levett,Lord Mayor of London,1699.
• 
  Every One His Fancyc. 1670–1675.Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
• 
  Pygmalion
• 
  William III of England

In literature

Mary Stanhope, laterViscountess Fane,detail of a portrait signed and dated Schalken, 1702. The prime version of this painting is atChevening,her brother,James Stanhope'shouse in Kent.

The atmospheric work of Schalcken provided the inspiration forSheridan Le Fanu'sgothic horrorstory "Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter", which was adapted asSchalcken the Painter,and broadcast by theBBCon 23 December 1979 as part of itsOmnibusseries.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Gilman, D. C.;Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Schalcken, Godfried".New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Schalcken, Godfried".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 312.

Further reading

• Complete text of Sheridan Le Fanu's short story
• DeGroot,Catalogue of Dutch Painters(New York, 1913)

External links

• 40 artworks by or after Godfried Schalckenat theArt UKsite
• Works and literature on Godfried Schalcken
• "Schalcken, Godfried".Encyclopedia Americana.1920.