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Godfree
Schalken

Netherlands • 1643−1706
Godfried Schalken (niderl. Godfried Schalcken; 1643, Made, the Netherlands - November 16, 1706, The Hague, the Netherlands) Dutch painter and graphic artist, wrote genre scenes and portraits. Studied with two students Rembrandt van Rijn - artist and art theorist Samuel van Hoogstraten and the "little Dutchman" Gerard Dow. Contemporaries highly valued his portrait art. In 1692-1697 he lived and worked in England at Windsor Castle at the court of William III. In 1703 he was court painter in Düsseldorf at the Elector Johann Wilhelm.

Features of the artist Godfried Skalken: known for his canvases using the night play of light. The depiction of scenes in the dark captured the painter so much that he invented a special technique for painting. The artist placed a candle in a dark room and observed using a special hole in the door, studying the lighting of space and objects. While working in England, at court, he continued to write his nocturnal plots. He managed to combine his passion for experimenting with light with painting portraits of aristocratic clients. According to the close associates of Prince William III, his portrait the brush of Godfried Schalken was especially dear to him. He said: “The light of the candle in the portrait symbolizes my“ burning ”and anxiety about the fate of ordinary people”.

Famous paintings by Godfried Skalken: "Girl with a candle", "Allegory of virtue and wealth", "Five wise virgins and five foolish", "Herring seller", "The Transfiguration of Mary Magdalene".

Author: Alexandra Berezhnaya
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