Young Man Blowing a Torch to Light aCandle
Godefridus Schalcken and Studio(Made 1643 – 1706 The Hague)ca. 1692–96
oil on canvas
112.8 x 90 cm
GS-106© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Blowing a Torch to Light a Candle
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How to cite
Jansen, Guido. “Young Man Blowing a Torch to Light a Candle” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed.
EditedbyArthur

K.

WheelockJr.

andLaraYeager-Crasselt.

NewYork,

2020–23.

https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archived December 2023).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

This rather large canvas shows a young man with long wavy hair, depicted half-length,

Comparative Figures

holding in his left hand a piece of burning wood, which he has apparently taken fromthe fire in a brazier to his right. Blowing on the red-hot wood, he sends sparks
swirling into the air. He probably needs a flame to light the candle in the simple brasssconce with a wide candle-ring and a handle with an eyelet, which he grips with hisright hand. The young woman behind him gazes at the viewer; her hair is put up in astyle called à la Fontange.[1] As evident from the exceptionally large pearl drop
adorning her left ear and the pearl necklace she wears, this woman is dressed à lamode and belongs to the upper class. The bunch of onions hanging on the wall and theshelf above the young man’s head indicate, however, that the scene is set in a less thanelegant room, which is obviously a kitchen or pantry.
This composition is most closely related to Boy Blowing on a Firebrand to Light aCandle (fig 1), a work that Godefridus Schalcken painted for one of his mostFig 1. Godefridus Schalcken, Boy
Blowing on a Firebrand to Light aCandle, 1692–96, oil on canvas, 75 x
63.5 cm, National Gallery of Scotland,
Edinburgh, NG 2495

important patrons, Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland (1641–1702), some time
between the spring of 1692 and the autumn of 1696, the period in which he workedin England.[2] At Althorp, Lord Spencer’s country estate in Northamptonshire, thepainting was seen in the early eighteenth century by the engraver George Vertue(1684–1756), who praised it highly by quoting the epigram that John Elsum had
published on this work in 1700: “A Night-piece of a Boy blowing a Firebrand;
suppos’d by Schalcken. Striving to Blow the Brand into a Flame, he brightens his own
face, and the Author’s Fame.”[3] The painting, which has been in Edinburgh since
1989, must have been held in high regard, considering the fairly large number of oldcopies of it that are known.[4] The artist, too, must have been satisfied with that work,
as he used it as the model for the present painting, most likely originating in the sameFig 2. El Greco, Boy Blowing on an© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Blowing a Torch to Light a Candle
Page 3 of 8period.
The most striking difference between the two paintings is that in the Leiden
Collection’s painting the elegantly dressed woman is seen in an ordinary setting.

Ember to Light a Candle, ca. 1570–75,
oil on canvas, 60.5 x 50.5 cm, Museo
Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples,
Q192

Somewhat less conspicuous is the difference in artistic quality between the twocanvases. The consistently higher quality of the canvas in Edinburgh suggests that it
was painted entirely by Schalcken. In the painting discussed here, the effects ofartificial lighting—the piece of burning wood, the flying sparks, and the glowing
hearth—are also rendered with great virtuosity, allowing us to see in these elements
the master’s touch. The figures, however, seem less skillfully rendered: the young
man’s hands and his coat, as well as the female figure behind him, are painted stifflyand with little tonal differentiation, which strongly suggests that Schalcken’s studioassistants had a hand in their execution.[5]From the beginning of his career, Schalcken had pupils working in his studio. Hissister Maria (ca. 1645–before 1700) must have been one of the first to join his studiowhen he returned to Dordrecht.[6] Beginning in about 1675, he frequently took hispupils along to the notary to witness various documents he had drafted.[7]Unfortunately, no such documents exist from Schalcken’s time in England, but wemay safely assume that he ran his London studio in much the same way. Only thepainter Gramagli, active as a portraitist in England, can be named as a possible pupilof Schalcken in London. Gramagli is recorded only once in this context, in an accountwritten by Allart de la Court (1688–1755) of a tour he made of England in 1710.
While in Exeter he described the following meeting: “On 11 June we visited a Dutch
painter named Gramagli, who had been a pupil of Schalken [sic]; [he] was a portrait
painter, but of the worst sort.”[8] Be that as it may, if indeed Gramagli wasSchalcken’s pupil in London, he was probably not the only assistant in his teacher’sstudio.
The canvas in Edinburgh and the Leiden Collection painting come from a long
tradition of works in which a young man blows on a smoldering piece of wood, asubject that demanded an exceptionally high degree of technical skill to realize thenecessary lighting effects. One of the first painters to portray this subject was
Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541–1614), who painted a numberof works in Rome around 1570–75, including Boy Blowing on an Ember to Light aCandle (fig 2), of which several contemporary copies exist.[9] In the same period, thesubject was also painted in Venice, mostly as part of large history or genre pieces.
The blowing-on-embers motif soon became particularly popular among the many
followers of Caravaggio in northern and southern Europe. In the Netherlands the“Caravaggisti” were concentrated in Utrecht, which is why such masters as Gerrit van
Honthorst (1592–1656), Hendrick ter Brugghen (1588–1629), and Abraham© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Blowing a Torch to Light a Candle
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Bloemaert (1566–1651), to name only a few, painted subjects of this kind. In Leiden,
where Schalcken had been trained by Gerrit Dou (1613–75), Jan Lievens (1607–74)
was the one who introduced this subject. In a panel painting that dates from around
1624–25, Lievens portrayed a young man blowing on a torch in a series of the Four
Elements.[10]The popularity of this subject was certainly boosted by the discovery of its arttheoretical legitimation in the form of an ekphrasis, a pictorial description of anartwork from antiquity. Pliny, for example, gives in his Naturalis historia the namesof two Greek artists, each of whom had produced a legendary work in which a boy
blows on a fire that has almost gone out, and in which the reflection of the fire on theboy’s face was deemed the result of exceptional artistic skill.[11]It is unlikely, however, that ekphrasis was of paramount importance to Schalcken.
The utmost faithfulness to life in the depiction of artificial illumination was surely histop priority. Nevertheless, in the work of Schalcken a flame—whether that of a torch,candle, or lamp—often served as a metaphorical representation of the spark ofpassion that could be ignited between two people (see GS-103). Even so, it is unclear
whether this type of spark was intended in Young Man Blowing a Torch to Light aCandle, considering that the bejeweled woman in the background is too far removed
from the youth to suggest an amorous context. In any case, it was the artist’s aim toamaze the viewer with his brilliant rendering of various kinds of fire and glow, andtheir reflections on objects in the immediate surroundings.

- Guido Jansen, 2017

© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Blowing a Torch to Light a Candle
Page 5 of 8Endnotes
1. The hairdo was named after the marquise de Fontange, who was praised by her lover, Louis XIV, when
she appeared at court in the summer of 1680 with her hair piled high on her head, after which this hairstyle remained hugely popular among all women of standing until about 1710.
2. The ninth child born to the Schalckens was named Godefridus after his father and baptized in The
Hague on 3 February 1697. Therefore, Schalcken and his family probably left London at the end of1696, since it is unlikely that he would have subjected his heavily pregnant wife to a dangerous journey.
3. For Vertue and Elsum’s epigram, see Kenneth J. Garlick, “A Catalogue of the Pictures at Althorp,”
Walpole Society 54 (1974–76): 76, no. 585. George Vertue, “Vertue Note Books volume II,” Walpole
Society 20 (1931–32): 16, refers to Epigrams upon the Paintings of the Most Eminent Masters, Ancient andModern, with Reflexions upon the Several Schools of Painting, by J. E., Esq. (London, 1700). The verse inquestion is epigram 137. George Vertue, “Vertue Note Books volume V,” Walpole Society 26 (1937–38),
57, describes the connection between the artist and Robert Spencer: “Schalcken painted several pictures
for Ld Sunderland which were to be seen amongst his collection—at his Seat in Northamtonshire[sic]—called Althorp—by this it appears that Noble Lord encouraged him and patronized his works.”
4. Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 326; because Beherman had never seen thework with his own eyes, he incorrectly included it in his book as a copy. He also listed another copy thatwas in fact known to him. The National Gallery of Scotland lists at least five more copies; with thanks toChristian Tico Seiffert, senior curator. The large number of copies was undoubtedly prompted by themany prints published after this painting in the eighteenth century; the website of the British Museum
gives the names of Richard Purcell (active ca. 1746–68), Philip Corbut (active ca. 1746–66), CharlesSpooner (1720–67), Johan Faber the Younger (ca. 1695–1756), and James Wilson (active ca. 1760–80)
as the makers of prints after the painting.
5. It is no coincidence that in 2006 this painting, which is not entirely convincing, was sold by Christie’s inAmsterdam as “attributed to Schalcken”; evidently the specialists at this auction house did not consider
it a completely autograph work by the master.
6. On 26 July 1682, in Dordrecht, the banns (marriage announcements) of Maria Schalcken and Severijn
van Bracht were published; Dordrecht city archives (Erfgoedcentrum DiEP), ONA 20.243(unnumbered) Notary Govert de With, 20 April 1683. The couple had at least one daughter, Anna (b.
1683), and one son, Cornelis (b. 1685). In July 1700 her husband once again had his banns published, soby that time he was a widower. For her Self-Portrait at the Easel, incorrectly recorded by Beherman as awork by Godefridus, see Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 61; for this very
painting, now in the De Mol van Otterloo collection, see Frederik J. Duparc, et al. Golden: Dutch andFlemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (Exh. cat. Salem, Peabody
Essex Museum; San Francisco, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Houston, Museum of Fine ArtsHouston) (New Haven, 2011), 279–81, no. 57, with outdated biographical information. For more© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Blowing a Torch to Light a Candle
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information about Maria, see Marloes Huiskamp’s note online, which includes several details suppliedby myself.
7. This, at any rate, is the picture that emerges from the many notarial documents in Dordrecht and The
Hague that bear Schalcken’s signature alongside those of various pupils.
8. “Den 11 Juny gongen wy by een Hollandse schilder genaamt Gramagli, welke een Discipel was geweest
van Schalken; was een Portretschilder dog van de slegste soort.” Felix Driessen, De reizen der De laCourts 1641–1700–1710 (Leiden, 1928), 99. De la Court called the town Exon or Exchester. Nicolaas deRoever also knew this document, but had read the name of the painter as “Giamagli,” which is why
Hofstede de Groot recorded him as such as a pupil of Schalcken in his Beschreibendes und kritischesVerzeichnis; this name was subsequently misspelled in yet another way by Beherman, who recorded it as“Giamali.” See N. de Roever, “Een bezoek aan den Ridder Adriaen van der Werff, kunstschilder, in1710,” Oud Holland 5 (1887): 70; Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of
the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, ed. andtrans. Edward G. Hawke, 8 vols. (London, 1907–28), originally published as Beschreibendes undkritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10vols. (Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28), 5: 440; and Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988),
28. Nothing else is known about this painter.
9. Harold E. Wethey, El Greco and His School, 2 vols. (Princeton, 1962), 2: 78–79, nos. 121 and 122, and2:195, nos. X-137–X-140, for the copies. See also David Davies, John H. Elliott, and Xavier Bray, et.
al., El Greco (Exh. cat. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; London, National Gallery) (London,2003), 221–31, nos. 63/65.
10. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., ed., Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, (Exh. cat. Washington D.C.,
National Gallery of Art; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum; Amsterdam, Museum HetRembrandthuis) (New Haven, 2008), 7–8, with ill.
11. Jan Bialostocki, “Puer sufflans ignes,” in The Message of Images: Studies in the History of Art (Vienna,1988), 139–44. Pliny refers in his Naturalis historia at 34:79 and 35:138 to the two antique artworks, oneby Lycius, the other by Antiphilus.

Provenance
Private collection, Northern Europe.[1](Sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 16 November 2006, no. 70, as attributed to Godefridus Schalcken [toJohnny Van Haeften, Ltd., and Salomon Lilian].
[Johnny Van Haeften, Ltd., London, and Salomon Lilian, Amsterdam.]
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2006.
© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Blowing a Torch to Light a Candle
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Provenance Notes

1. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the earlier whereabouts of this rather large painting. A note madeby Hofstede de Groot, kept at the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History) in The Hague, reveals
that in August 1926 he assessed a painting by Schalcken for the art dealers Duret and Baumgartner inGeneva. He noted: “Twee levensgroote figuren, bij kaarslicht. Echt, maar te groot om aantrekkelijk tezijn. Verz. Comtesse de Broussillon, vroeger Julien Gréau rue de Verneil Parijs” (Two life-size figuresby candlelight. Genuine, but too large to be attractive. Collection Comtesse de Broussillon, formerly
Julien Gréau rue de Verneil Paris). RKD Databases, Excerpts, HdG-fiche 1481675. Regrettably, there isno information on its measurements or support.

Exhibition History
Kansas City, Missouri, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, on loan with the permanent collection,January–December 2009 [lent by the present owner].
Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, March 2013–March 2016 [lent bythe present owner].
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, “Breathing,” 30 September 2022–12 February 2023 [lent by thepresent owner].

References
Franits, Wayne. Godefridus Schalcken: A Dutch Painter in Late Seventeenth-Century London.
Amsterdam, 2018, 171 (as by Godefridus Schalcken and Workshop).
Kölle, Brigitte, and Sandra Pisot, eds. Atmen. Exh. cat. Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle. Berlin, 2022,26, 28, ill.

Versions
Version
1. Godefridus Schalcken, Boy Blowing on a Firebrand to Light a Candle, ca. 1692–98, oil on canvas, 75 x
63.5 cm, National Gallery of Scotland, inv. no. NG 2495.

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Young Man Blowing a Torch to Light a Candle
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Technical Summary
The support, a single piece of medium-weight, plain-weave fabric, has been lined. All four tacking margins
have been almost entirely removed, and narrow remnants of unprimed fabric remain. Cusping along theupper and lower edges suggests the original dimensions have not been significantly altered. There are no wax
collection seals, canvas stamps, inscriptions or labels along the lining or stretcher.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied. The paint has been applied smoothly in opaquelayers blended wet-into-wet with no use of impasto. The shadows along the figure’s flesh tones and garments
have been applied in thin glazes. Highlights along the flame, glowing embers, and candleholder have beenapplied with slightly raised brushwork.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers and nocompositional changes are noted. There is no X-radiograph of the painting.
The painting appears to be unsigned and undated.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition in 2006 and remains in a goodstate of preservation.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection