Godfried Schalcken
(1643 - November 16, 1706) |
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Genre Subjects, Mythology Narratives Art Work
| Name: |
Godfried Schalcken |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Dordrecht |
| Nationality: |
Dutch |
| Birth: |
1643 |
| Death: |
November 16, 1706 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Genre Subjects, Mythology Narratives |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
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Biography
| Godfried Schalcken is generally placed among the important painters of cabinet pictures active in the last decade of the seventeenth century in Holland. A pupil and important follower of Gerrit Dou (earning him the designation as the Dordrecht representative of the Leiden fine painters), Schalcken possessed excellent technique as well as a charming and engaging style. Somewhat superficial in spirit, his pictures are often more captivating for their virtuosity than for their subjects. Though he was a skilled portraitist, Schalcken is best known for his nocturnal genre scenes (and occasional mythological subjects), which he produced in some number. Schalcken painted for educated and discerning collectors who favored virtuoso technique and erudite subject matter in their preciously painted cabinet pictures. He remained a favorite of collectors well into the eighteenth century. According to Houbraken,* Schalcken was the pupil of Samuel van Hoogstraeten* between 1662 and 1665 at Dordrecht; he then studied with Dou in Leiden. In 1665 Schalcken was registered as an ensign in the Dordrecht militia company. In 1691 he was a member of Pictura in The Hague, but in November he is recorded living in Dordrecht In 1679 he married Francoise van Dimen of Breda, and their daughter Francoise (the only child to live to adulthood) was baptized in 1690 in Dordrecht. In 1692 he moved to London, where he remained until 1697, during which time he painted several portraits of William III. By June 1698 Schalken was in The Hague, earning citzenship the following year. We know he was living there in 1700 and in 1702. In 1703 he was in Dttsseldorf, working for the Elector Palatine, Johann Wilhelm. By 1704 he was back in The Hague, where he filed his will in 1705 and died the following year, survived by a wife and daughter. Schalcken adopted Dou's artificially lit scenes and they became one of his favorite subjects - many of these images featured young girls smiling engagingly, somewhat coquet tishly and mysteriously out from within the pictures, illumined by a candle or coal lamp. Not only sensual by virtue of Schalcken's virtuoso illusion of light bathing over a figure, these images are often forthrightly erotic in their subject matter. In keeping with the taste for mythologies prevalent in the last quarter of the century, Schalcken adapted his scenes to include subjects derived from ancient literature, for example, Lesbia Weighing Her Sparrow against Her Jewels (London, National Gallery). Carel de Moor (1656-1738) and Arnold Boonen (1669-1729) are mentioned among his pupils - a group which also includes his sister Maria and his nephew Jacobus (1682-1733). Schalcken's imagery was important to the later developments of such artists as Piazzetta and Boucher. |
Samples of Work
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