Maria Schalcken(Made ca. 1645/50 – ca. 1700
Dordrecht)

How To Cite
Libby, Alexandra. "Maria Schalcken." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.
New York, 2017.
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Little is known about the life and career of Maria Schalcken. Sister and pupil of the genre painterGodefridus Schalcken (1643–1706), she was likely born sometime between 1645 and 1650 in Made, near
Geertruidenberg, where her brother was born. Daughter of the clergyman Cornelis Schalcken and Aletta
Lydius, she presumably moved with her parents to Dordrecht in 1654 after her father became rector of theLatin school there. In 1656 Godefridus began his apprenticeship to Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–78) andthen went to study in Leiden with Gerrit Dou (1613–75) around 1663. Although it is not certain when
Godefridus returned to Dordrecht, Maria must have begun her studies with her older brother soon
thereafter, probably around 1665.[1] In 1682 Maria married the Dordrecht merchant Severijn van Bracht (b.
1658), at which point she seems to have given up painting. The couple had at least one daughter, Anna (b.
1683), and a son, Cornelis (b. 1685). Maria died around 1700.
Only two paintings can be firmly attributed to Maria Schalcken, which makes an assessment of her styledifficult.[2] Nevertheless, she appears to have fully absorbed the principles of fine painting her brother taught
her. Her smooth execution and meticulous detail are the hallmark qualities of the Leiden fijnschilder tradition
to which Godefridus belonged. Like him, she concentrated on scenes of everyday life. She was purported tobe so successful “that her detailed and exemplary cabinet pieces became positioned in reputable artcollections.”[3] It has been suggested that, given the strong affinities between her work and that of her
brother, she may have executed some of the paintings currently attributed to Godefridus.[4]-Alexandra LibbyEndnotes
1. On Maria Schalcken’s biography, see Frederik Duparc, Golden: Dutch and Flemish
Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 2011), 279, which incorrectly states that she was never married. See also the entry byMarloes Huiskamp.
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Maria Schalcken
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2. See Guido Janssen’s entry in this catalogue (GS-113, Boy Offering Grapes to a Woman ,Attributed to Maria Schalcken), no. 8.
3. “Dat hare uitvoerige en mals geschilderde kabinetstukjes in aanzienlijke kunstverzamelingenzijn geplaatst geworden.” See Roeland van Eijnden and Adriaan van der Willigen,Geschiedenis
der vaderlandsche schilderkunst, sedert de helft der XVIII eeuw , 4 vols. (Haarlem, 1816–40),
1:186.
4. Frederik Duparc, Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van
Otterloo Collection (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), 279. See, for example, See
Guido Janssen’s entry in this catalogue (GS-113, Boy Offering Grapes to a Woman , Attributedto Maria Schalcken), which was formerly attributed to Godefridus Schalcken.

Literature
Van Eijnden, Roeland and Van der Willigen, Adriaan. Geschiedenis der vaderlandsche
schilderkunst, sedert de helft der XVIII eeuw. 4 vols. Haarlem, 1816–40, 1:186.
Duparc, Frederik. Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk
van Otterloo Collection. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2011, 279.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection