© 2020 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted Torch
Page 2 of 8Young Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe,
Holding a Lighted Torchca. 1692
brown ink, gray and blue washes, red chalk,
black chalk underdrawing
13.8 x 11 cm
initialed in brown ink, lower left, watermark
fragment, lower left
GS-112Godefridus Schalcken(Made 1643 – 1706 The Hague)

How to cite
Jansen, Guido. “Young Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted Torch” (2017). In The LeidenCollection

Catalogue,2nded.

EditedbyArthurK.

WheelockJr.

NewYork,

2017–20.

https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/a-young-boy-holding-a-lighted-torch/ (archived May 2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

© 2020 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted Torch
Page 3 of 8

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

his work on paper. In addition to six prints, about 30 drawings have survived,
mostly executed in red or black chalk and sometimes in pen and ink. A
remarkable characteristic of these sheets is that almost all of them are
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 to paint theirportraits. He must have begun to produce these drawings in the mid-1670s,
around the time he was starting to make a name for himself as a portraitist.
He continued this practice throughout his career.[1] These portrait studies arestriking in that there is practically no difference in style between the earliest
and the latest known drawings: Schalcken clearly preferred to use chalk, andFig 1. Godefridus Schalcken, Boy
Holding a Torch, 1692, oil oncanvas, 24.5 x 21.3 cm, The Art
Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, #97/3

kept to the uniform style of hatching that 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 isMaid Blowing on Hot Coals for a Foot-Warmer, a red-chalk drawing made asa study for the painting in Braunschweig.[2] Another example is an elaborate
drawing in black chalk of Young Woman with a Burning Candle, Sitting in anInterior, made in preparation for the painting in Dresden.[3] Maid Blowing onHot Coals even bears a monogram, showing that Schalcken considered such
sheets suitable for sale, which was certainly not true of his much sketchierportrait studies. Nevertheless, it is easy to see why the artist’s drawn oeuvre
is so little known, for though it is skillfully 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 theartist’s drawn oeuvre. Young Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted
Torch is obviously more sketchy in character. Moreover, the drawing isrendered in a technique not previously encountered in Schalcken’s work. Hebegan this drawing in the usual way, using red and black chalk. On top ofthis, he loosely accentuated the most important contours with a pen andthen, in a new departure, filled in the forms with gray and blue wash rapidly
applied with the brush.[5] The result is an extremely lively drawing, which
outshines almost all of his other works on paper.
This previously unpublished sheet appears to be a study for Boy Holding aTorch in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (fig 1),[6] a small painting on© 2020 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted TorchPage 4 of 8canvas supposedly dated 1692, a detail unconfirmed by the museum but
certainly in keeping with the style of the work.[7] Interestingly, there are manysmall differences between the drawing and the painting, which cannot be
said of the drawing and painting of Maid Blowing on Hot Coals for a FootWarmer. In the Leiden Collection painting, the position of his head has beenchanged, and other differences from the drawing can be detected in hisclothing and in the trees in the background. The most salient modifications
are those made to the musical instruments at the lower right. In the drawing,
the flute and what is probably a violoncello are placed 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 hedied long before Schalcken visited London for the first time. Yet thisinterpretation, which undoubtedly stems from the nineteenth century,
suggests that such a scene—combining a boy holding a burning torch in awooded landscape and several musical instruments—was rather unusual andtherefore 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, with aneye to a new and particularly interesting market of English collectors, madethe drawing more elaborate and applied a colorful wash to produce a sheetthat was both attractive and easy to sell.

- Guido Jansen, 2017

© 2020 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 (DordrechtsMuseum) and is a study in red chalk for the painting, dated 1702, in the Mauritshuis in TheHague. See Guido Jansen, “Additions to Godfried Schalcken’s Oeuvre 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 at
Sotheby’s in Amsterdam, 2 November 2004, lot 109, with illustration. Before this, it appearedat Sotheby’s in Amsterdam, 22 November 1989, lot 142, with illustration. It is a study for thepainting in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in Braunschweig; Thierry Beherman, 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 in London,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, Godfried
Schalcken (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 20.5 cm).
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 theart of drawing rather better than Schalcken). Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh derNederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21), 3: 343. In his
biography of Schalcken, Houbraken judged his brushwork to be equal to that of Adriaen vander Werff: “dog in opzigt van teekenen, zou ik hem zyn voetbank toe wyzen” (but withrespect to drawing, I would point him towards his footstool); Arnold Houbraken, De grooteschouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam,1718–21), 3: 177. It was already clear during his lifetime that drawing was not Schalcken’sforte.
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© 2020 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) in TheHague, the painting is dated 1692, this having been communicated by the art dealer JackKilgore 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 in Maastricht.
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 the family.
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 by thepresent 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, 221–23, no. 52. Exh. cat.
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum. Stuttgart, 2015.
Franits, Wayne. Godefridus Schalcken: A Dutch Painter in Late Seventeenth-CenturyLondon. Amsterdam, 2018, 43–4, fig. 13, 169–70.
© 2020 The Leiden CollectionYoung Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted TorchPage 7 of 8Versions
Related Painting

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

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 theboy’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 right the gray washes
slightly reduced the intensity of the brown ink strokes, presumably intended to create a morediffuse effect of distance. The blue wash was then applied, and finally the red chalk—more lightly inthe hair and more heavily in the torch. The vibrant white paper provides an underlying 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 is visible 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.
The 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 Fairchild Conservator© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Young Boy, Dressed in a Blue Robe, Holding a Lighted Torch
Page 8 of 8in Charge, Sherman Fairchild Center for Works on Paper and Photograph Conservation,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection