Young Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe,
Holding a Lighted Torchca. 1692

Godefridus Schalcken(Made 1643 – 1706 The Hague)

black chalk underdrawing

brown ink, gray and blue washes, red chalk,
13.8 x 11 cm
initialed in brown ink, lower left, watermark
fragment, lower left
GS-112© 2017 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted Torch
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How To Cite
Jansen, Guido. "Young Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted Torch." InThe Leiden Collection
Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
This page is available on the site's Archive. PDF of every version of this page is available on the Archive,and the Archive is managed by a permanent URL. Archival copies will never be deleted. New versions areadded only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

© 2017 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted TorchPage 3 of 8

The least known aspect of Godefridus Schalcken’s fairly extensive oeuvre

Comparative Figures

is his work on paper. In addition to six prints, about 30 drawings havesurvived, mostly executed in red or black chalk and sometimes in pen andink. A remarkable characteristic of these sheets is that almost all of themare portraits; moreover, they can often be connected with painted works,
many examples of which have been pointed out by Beherman. Evidently
Schalcken reached for his drawing stylus whenever clients asked him topaint their portraits. He must have begun to produce these drawings in the
mid-1670s, around the time he was starting to make a name for himself asa portraitist. He continued this practice throughout his career.[1] These
portrait studies are striking in that there is practically no difference in style
between the earliest and the latest known drawings: Schalcken clearly
preferred to use chalk, and kept to the uniform style of hatching thatFig 1. Godefridus Schalcken, Boy
Holding a Torch, 1692, oil oncanvas, 24.5 x 21.3 cm, The Art
Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, #97/3

constitutes another unchanging characteristic of his drawings.
The same unvarying style and materials can be seen in the rare studies
Schalcken made in preparation for his genre paintings. One such sheet is
Maid Blowing on Hot Coals for a Foot-Warmer , a red-chalk drawing madeas a study for the painting in Braunschweig.[2] Another example is anelaborate drawing in black chalk of Young Woman with a Burning Candle,Sitting in an Interior, made in preparation for the painting in
Dresden.[3] Maid Blowing on Hot Coals even bears a monogram, showingthat Schalcken considered such sheets suitable for sale, which wascertainly not true of his much sketchier portrait studies. Nevertheless, it iseasy to see why the artist’s drawn oeuvre is so little known, for though it isskillfully executed, most of it is rather dry and unappealing.[4]It is therefore all the more unusual to find a drawing such as the present
study that shows a more sparkling—and hitherto unknown—colorful side
to the artist’s drawn oeuvre. Young Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holdinga Lighted Torch is obviously more sketchy in character. Moreover, thedrawing is rendered in a technique not previously encountered in
Schalcken’s work. He began this drawing in the usual way, using red andblack chalk. On top of this, he loosely accentuated the most important
contours with a pen and then, in a new departure, filled in the forms withgray and blue wash rapidly applied with the brush.[5] The result is anextremely lively drawing, which outshines almost all of his other works onpaper.

© 2017 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted Torch
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This previously unpublished sheet appears to be a study forBoy Holding aTorch in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (fig 1),[6] a small painting oncanvas supposedly dated 1692, a detail unconfirmed by the museum but
certainly in keeping with the style of the work.[7] Interestingly, there aremany small differences between the drawing and the painting, whichcannot be said of the drawing and painting ofMaid Blowing on Hot Coals
for a Foot-Warmer. In the Leiden Collection painting, the position of hishead has been changed, and other differences from the drawing can bedetected in his clothing and in the trees in the background. The mostsalient modifications are those made to the musical instruments at thelower right. In the drawing, the flute and what is probably a violoncello areplaced considerably higher and more prominently than in the painting.
The provenance of the painting in Toronto goes back only to 1992–93.[8] It
can be identified, however, as the “portrait of Banister, the musician whentwelve years old. In blue robes, holding a lighted candle, in a landscape,”
which was sold at auction in London in 1941, after presumably being in thepossession of the same family since the eighteenth century.[9] It is,however, inconceivable that the painting, and therefore the drawing as
well, portrays the English violinist and composer John Banister (ca.
1624–79),[10] as he died long before Schalcken visited London for the firsttime. Yet this interpretation, which undoubtedly stems from the nineteenth
century, suggests that such a scene—combining a boy holding a burning
torch in a wooded landscape and several musical instruments—was rather
unusual and therefore demanded an explanation.
Considering that the painting was long owned by the same English family,
it is quite possible that Schalcken produced both the painting and thepreparatory drawing in London, perhaps soon after settling there with hisfamily in the spring of 1692. This dating puts the uncommon drawing
technique seen here in a different light. It is possible that Schalcken, withan eye to a new and particularly interesting market of English collectors,
made the drawing more elaborate and applied a colorful wash to produce
a sheet that was both attractive and easy to sell.

-Guido Jansen© 2017 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted TorchPage 5 of 8Endnotes
1. The black-chalk drawing preserved at the Hoge Raad van Adel (High Council of Nobility) inThe Hague with the 1678 portrait of Govert van Slingelandt (1623–90) is the earliest
example. The last portrait drawing represents the three brothers Le Leu de Wilhelm(Dordrechts Museum) and is a study in red chalk for the painting, dated 1702, in theMauritshuis in The Hague. See Guido M. C. Jansen, “Additions to Godfried Schalcken’sOeuvre as a Draftsman,” The Hoogsteder Mercury 13–14 (1992): 74–75, figs. 1 and 9.
2. This monogrammed drawing in red chalk (32.6 x 26.4 cm) was last seen in a sale atSotheby’s in Amsterdam, 2 November 2004, lot 109, with illustration. Before this, itappeared at Sotheby’s in Amsterdam, 22 November 1989, lot 142, with illustration. It is astudy for the painting in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in Braunschweig; ThierryBeherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 196.
3. This sheet, in black chalk (25.8 x 20.7 cm), was offered in an auction at Sotheby’s inLondon, 4 July 2007, lot 193, with illustration. The signature G. Schalken fecit is, however,of unknown origin. With regard to the painting in Dresden, see Thierry Beherman,GodfriedSchalcken (Paris, 1988), 279, fig. 184a, and, in particular, Harald Marx, Gemäldegalerie
Alte Meister Dresden, 2 vols. (Cologne, 2005), 473, inv. no. 1656 (oil on panel, 26 x 20.5cm).
4. In this context it is interesting to note Arnold Houbraken’s surprise at the fact that Carel deMoor (1655–1738) had become of pupil of Schalcken, “aangezien hy toenmaals deTekenkonst al vry beter verstond dan Schalken” (since at that time he already understood
the art of drawing rather better than Schalcken). Arnold Houbraken,De groote schouburgh
der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen , 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21), 3:343.
In his biography of Schalcken, Houbraken judged his brushwork to be equal to that ofAdriaen van der Werff: “dog in opzigt van teekenen, zou ik hem zyn voetbank toe wyzen”(but with respect to drawing, I would point him towards his footstool); Arnold Houbraken,Degroote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen , 3 vols.
(Amsterdam, 1718–21), 3:177. It was already clear during his lifetime that drawing was not
Schalcken’s forte.
5. In fact, Schalcken had wielded the brush earlier, an example being a refined portrait of ayoung woman, drawn in black chalk on parchment, an unusual and rather expensive support
for a drawing by Schalcken. See Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no.
D26, with an incomplete description of the technique.
6. Purchased in 1997 from the art dealer Jack Kilgore, New York. Oil on canvas, 24.5 x 21.3
cm, inv. no. 97/3.
7. According to a note accompanying the photograph of the painting preserved at the RKD© 2017 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted TorchPage 6 of 8

(Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie/Netherlands Institute for Art History) inThe Hague, the painting is dated 1692, this having been communicated by the art dealer
Jack Kilgore in New York. The website of the Art Gallery of Ontario gives a dating of “ca.
1692.”
8. In 1992 the painting was with the art dealer Rafael Valls in London, as stated in anadvertisement in Simiolus 21 (1992): no. 4 (which appeared in April 1993). In March 1993
Valls exhibited the small painting, still unrestored, at the European Fine Art Fair inMaastricht.
9. Sale, London, Christie’s, 19 December 1941, lot 9; the measurements are given as 9 x 8inches (22.8 x 20.3 cm). The painting came from the estate of Miss Agnes Emma Clayton
East, who had died in October of that year as the last descendant of this branch of thefamily. The collection she had inherited apparently had come from Sir William East(1737/38–1819), 1st Baronet, whose daughter Mary East (ca. 1765–1833) married Sir
William Clayton (1762–1834), 4th Baronet.
10. Stanley Sadie, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 14 (New York,1998), 273.

Provenance
Private collection, until 1992 [to Emanuel von Baeyer, London, until 2006].
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2006.

Exhibition History
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, “Schalcken—Painted Seduction,” 25 September
2015–24 January 2016; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, 21 February–26 June 2016 [lent bythe present owner].

References
Jansen, Guido M. C. “Junge mit brennender Fackel, vermutlich John Banister III, um 1692.”
In Schalcken–Gemalte Verführung, edited by Anja K. Sevcik. Exh. cat. Cologne, Wallraf© 2017 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted Torch
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Richartz-Museum; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum. Stuttgart, 2015, 221–23, no. 52.

Versions
Related Painting
1. Godefridus Schalcken, Boy Holding a Torch, oil on canvas, 24.2 x 21 cm, Art Gallery ofOntario, Toronto.

Versions Notes

Technical Summary
The support, a white laid paper with a fragment of a watermark along the lower left, has been
mounted on a white laid paper of greater thickness. The support has been trimmed on all fouredges and along the lower left; the framing line has been partially cut off. The mount extends
beyond the edges of the support on the left, right, and lower edges but has been trimmed alongwith the support to the framing line along the upper edge. Paper-making creases, which existed
prior to the execution of the composition, are present in the blue washes on the left and havecaused the brush to skip over the adjacent hollows, leaving a fine line of white paper reserve
exposed.
Under magnification, particles of black chalk from an underdrawing are visible throughout thecomposition, as are continuous strokes of black chalk, notably in the background, the wrist of the
boy’s left arm, and his costume at the lower left and right. The drawing sequence continued withpen and brown ink followed by gray washes, the latter ranging from black to veil-like
transparency and layered to produce varied gradations of tone. In the background on the rightthe gray washes slightly reduced the intensity of the brown ink strokes, presumably intended tocreate a more diffuse effect of distance. The blue wash was then applied, and finally the red
chalk—more lightly in the hair and more heavily in the torch. The vibrant white paper provides anunderlying luminosity to the colors, but the reserve areas also function as a contrasting
component in the palette. The presence of a small but slightly lustrous area of gummed ink isvisible at the lower right corner where the ink was not diluted by fluid washes.
The drawing is initialed in brown ink at the lower left.
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Young Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted TorchPage 8 of 8The drawing has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition and remains in an
excellent state of preservation.[1]Technical Summary Endnotes

1. Entry based on 2012 examination report by Marjorie Shelley, Sherman FairchildConservator in Charge, Sherman Fairchild Center for Works on Paper and PhotographConservation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection