Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing
Godefridus Schalcken(Made 1643 – 1706 The Hague)ca. 1680–85
oil on canvas
82.6 x 66.4 cm
GS-111© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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How to cite
Jansen, Guido. “Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed.
Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/diana-and-hernymphs-in-a-clearing/ (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 narrative
occurs.

The goddess Diana, recognizable by the crescent moon in her beautifully

Comparative Figurespinned-up hair, is portrayed in wooded surroundings. Dressed in a shortgown, as described by Ovid in the Metamorphoses, she holds a bloody arrowin her left hand and a bow in her right hand. Diana’s companions—six
nymphs—have sat down to rest after having tended to her hunting horn,quiver, cloak and one of the hounds; several other nymphs can be seen
behind the trees in the background. This scene refers to Ovid’s narrative:
Here the goddess of the wild woods, when weary with the chase, waswont to bathe her maiden limbs in the crystal water. On this day, having
come to the grotto, she gives to the keeping of her armor-bearer among
her nymphs her hunting spear, her quiver, and her unstrung bow;another takes on her arm the robe she has laid by; two unbind hersandals from her feet. But Theban Crocale, defter than the rest, binds
into a knot the locks which have fallen down her mistress’s neck, her
own locks streaming free the while (book 3, lines 162–70).[1]Fig 1. Godefridus Schalcken,
Diana and Her Nymphs, ca.
1675–85, oil on copper, 83.5 x 66
cm, Sammlung Graf von
Schönborn, Schloss Weißenstein,
Pommersfelden

Godefridus Schalcken certainly knew his Ovid.[2] His father, Cornelius
Schalckius (1610/11–74), a doctor of theology, was rector of the Latin School
in Dordrecht, which explains why he is known by the Latinized form of his
name (Cornelis Schalcken). Godefridus attended his father’s school, andwas initially trained—as were his brothers Balthasar (1637–79) and Johannes© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing
Page 3 of 10(1660–1724)—to study theology, for which extensive knowledge of Latin wasessential. Godefridus, however, struck out on his own path. In the words ofHoubraken, his contemporary and fellow townsman, “his love of art madehim bid farewell to the study of languages, even though he was far advancedin them.”[3]Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing also exists in two other versions, bothof which are on panel. The best known version is to be found in the collectionof the Counts of Schönborn at Schloss Weißenstein in Pommersfelden (fig 1), where it has been documented since 1729.[4] The second version was last
seen at a sale at Sotheby’s in London in 1993. Beherman prefers this latterversion to the one in Pommersfelden, probably for good reason, because it is
now clear that it once belonged to the renowned eighteenth-century
collections of Jan Bisschop (1680–1771) in Rotterdam and John Hope
(1737–84) in Amsterdam.[5]The three versions are nearly identical: apart from the support, they differ
only in size. The version discussed here is on canvas and measures 82.6 x
66.4 cm, whereas the dimensions of the panel in Pommersfelden are 83 x 62
cm, and the work seen at the 1993 sale in London measured 84 x 66.5 cm.
Despite the lack of a signature on all these versions, there is no reason to
doubt Schalcken’s authorship. It is striking, however, that the master
repeated this evidently successful composition more than once, so it is notunreasonable to assume that his pupils contributed significantly to one ormore versions.
In general, versions on panel would have been preferred over those on
canvas, because wooden supports were more expensive than linen. Thisrule, however, does not always apply to the work of Schalcken. We know, forexample, that in 1690 he painted the portrait of Maria Anna of Pfalz-Neuburg(1667–1740), the sister of the Elector in Düsseldorf, on canvas, whereas theversion produced by studio assistants is on panel.[6] Because the three
versions of Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing are so close in quality, only
firsthand comparison of all three works would enable one to determine whichis Schalcken’s autograph version and to what extent the replicas were
produced by studio assistants.
Beherman dated the versions he knew to around 1680–85, which, in myopinion, is too early. The palette—with its pleasant, light colors verging insome cases on pastel shades—and the long, elegant figure of Diana indicatethat all three versions must have originated later, sometime between about
1685 and 1692, the year Schalcken moved to London. In that period© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Schalcken had a number of his best pupils working in his studio: Arnold
Boonen (1669–1729),[7] who was in any case active in the studio from 1
December 1685 to 3 December 1687; Richard Morris (1670–89),[8] who is
documented on 1 December 1685 as Schalcken’s pupil; and Justus van
Bentum (1670–1727), whom we know only from listings in old catalogues,
where he is mentioned as a pupil of Schalcken.[9] In view of Boonen’s andMorris’s success in approaching their teacher’s manner, it certainly shouldcome as no surprise that Schalcken managed, with the help of these threeassistants, to produce three paintings of equally high quality.
Schalcken’s subject of choice from sacred history was evidently Mary
Magdalene, but the goddess Diana was his favorite theme from ancienthistory and mythology. His earliest Diana dates from around 1680, when heportrayed Magdalena de la Court (1661–1712) at approximately 18 years ofage as the goddess of the hunt. He depicted her without a crescent moonadorning her hair, but with a bow and arrow hunting in a wooded
landscape.[10] In the mid-1680s Schalcken used the genre of the portrait
historié more frequently, when portraying, for example, several other young
women as Diana and Two Companions, a painting for which a preparatory
drawing survives.[11] This portrayal and the somewhat earlier Goddess Diana
Out Hunting in a Wood, which some are also inclined to see as a portrait
historié,[12] served as the examples for the three depictions of Diana and Her
Nymphs in a Clearing, whose most important pictorial elements can betraced to those two works.

- Guido Jansen, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Endnotes

1. Eric Jan Sluijter pointed out this passage in 2009 in an e-mail to Nancy Minty. The English
translation was taken from the Loeb Classical Library edition, translated by Frank Justus
Miller and revised by G. P. Goold.
2. That Schalcken was very familiar with Ovid is apparent from the motto he gave one of his
prints: Man Wearing a Tall Hat Who Makes an Obscene Gesture with His Right Hand bears
the caption “Quam memiuisse juvat,” a quotation from the Metamorphoses, book 9, verse
485; for the print, see George S. Keyes, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings, andWoodcuts ca. 1450–1700, ed. Karel G. Boon, 58 vols. (Amsterdam, 1949–2010), 24: 152, no.
1 with illustration.
3. “De genegenheid tot de Konst deed hem de oeffening der talen, schoon hy daar in veer
gevordert was, vaar wel zeggen.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der
Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols. (The Hague, 1718–21), 3:175.
Houbraken and Schalcken must have known each other well, for they cosigned a document
drawn up by the notary Jacob van Dyck on 7 October 1689; Gemeentearchief Dordrecht,
ONA 20.517, unnumbered folio. That Schalcken received an excellent, well-roundededucation also emerges from the appreciative words written about him by George Vertue(1684–1756): “Besides his Art, his gracefull behaviour & courtesie gaind him respect &esteem among people of Qualitie & distinction” (see George Vertue, “Vertue Note Books
volume II,” Walpole Society 20 [1931–32]: 139). Proof of Schalcken’s knowledge of Latin isprovided by the dedication written by the German-born artist Johan Frederik Boddecker(1648–1727) on an engraving he made after Jan de Baen’s portrait of the Hague physician
Cornelis Solingen (1641–87), which he apparently presented to Schalcken. The handwritten
dedication reads: D. Godofredo Scalkio Apellis facile filio. See the print sale presided over by
Anton W. M. Mensing at Frederik Muller’s in Amsterdam on 11 December 1906, lot 54 with
illustration.
4. Hermann Maué and Sonja Brink, Die Grafen von Schönborn: Kirchenfürsten, Sammler,
Mäzene (Exh. cat. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg) (Nuremberg, 1989), 437–38,
no. 346; Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 30bis.
5. Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 30. This painting, last seen at a sale
held at Sotheby’s in London on 8 December 1993 (lot 105), was previously described with
Jan Bisschop’s collection in Gerard Hoet and Pieter Terwesten, Catalogus of naamlyst van
schilderyen, met derzelven pryzen, zedert een langen reeks van jaaren zoo, 3 vols. (The
Hague, 1752–70), 2: 530. In the 1771 inventory of Bisschop’s estate, it is listed as “Diana ter
jagt gaande, zijnde een morgenstondt met veel beelden, h. 2:8, b. 2:2 d. [height 2:8, width 2:2
thumbs]” (Diana preparing for the hunt, being a dawn scene with many figures, approx. 84 x
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68 cm; the conversion into centimeters is based on the Rhine thumb, which was the one
commonly used in Rotterdam); E. Wiersum, “Het schilderijen-kabinet van Jan Bisschop te
Rotterdam,” Oud Holland 28 (1910): 172. Bisschop’s collection of paintings was bought en
bloc by John Hope in Amsterdam. After his death, a small part of the collection was sold at
auction by his widow in Amsterdam on 10 August 1785. That sale included, in any case, lot
288: “Diana ter Jagt gaande, zynde een Morgenstond; op paneel, 32 x 26 d. [thumbs]”(Diana preparing for the hunt, being a dawn scene, on panel, approx. 82 x 67 cm; thisconversion is based on the Amsterdam thumb); J. W. Niemeijer, “De kunstverzameling van
John Hope (1737–1784),” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 32 (1981): 196. Given its
large width, it is very likely that the work from the Bisschop and Hope collections appeared
earlier in the sale of the collection of the burgomaster Mattheus van den Broucke in Dordrecht
on 17 June 1717, where it was described as “Diana met haer Nymphen in een Bosch door
Schalken, 2 en een drie vierde v. h., 2 v. 2 d. br. [height 2¾ feet, width 2 feet 2 thumbs]”(Diana with her nymphs in a forest by Schalcken, approx. 86 x 68 cm”; these measurements
are based on the Rhine thumb); see Gerard Hoet and Pieter Terwesten, Catalogus ofnaamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelven pryzen, 2 vols. (’s Gravenhage, 1752), 1:211, no. 5.
This Van den Broucke Jr. was the son of the Dordrecht merchant and burgomaster of thesame name, whose portrait Schalcken had previously painted and whose portrait by Samuelvan Hoogstraten was engraved by Schalcken in 1677; Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken(Paris, 1988), no. 80, with illustrations of both works. For Schalcken’s print, see George S.
Keyes, Hollstein’s Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings, and Woodcuts ca. 1450–1700,
ed. Karel G. Boon, 58 vols. (Amsterdam, 1949–), 24:153, no. 3.
6. Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), 407, nos. 314 and 379; in 2012 thecanvas was with the art dealer Johnny Van Haeften in London; see Guido M. C. Jansen in
Portret in portret in de Nederlandse kunst 1550-2012, ed. Sabine Craft-Giepmans andAnnette de Vries (Exh. cat. Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum) (Dordrecht, 2012), no. 36,
148–49, 307. An equally large repetition on panel by Schalcken’s studio is now in a private
collection in The Hague; Johannes Erichsen and Katharina Heinemann, eds., Brennpunkt
Europas 1704: Die Schlacht von Höchstädt—The Battle of Blenheim (Ostfildern 2004), 98,
no. 1.03, ill. in color on p. 30.
7. Schalcken was accustomed to taking his pupils along to the notary’s whenever he hadbusiness there. Arnold Boonen, for example, and Schalcken cosigned notarial documents in
Dordrecht from 1 December 1685 to 3 December 1687. This last document, drawn up by thenotary F. Beudt (Gemeentearchief Dordrecht ONA 20.548 unnumbered folio) was signed not
only by “Arnoldus” but also by his brother “Corstiaen Boonen,” who can therefore also be
registered as Schalcken’s pupil and to whom a woman’s portrait of 1694, signed “C.L.
Boonen,” can perhaps be attributed; see RKD databases, Excerpts, HdG-fiche 1059749.
8. On 1 December 1685, Richard Morris signed in full, together with Arnoldus Boonen, a© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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document drawn up by the notary Arent van Neten, as evidenced by the act of conveyancefor a hectare of land inherited by Françoisia van Diemen, Schalcken’s wife; unpublishedarchival notes of Abraham Bredius, kept at the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History),
Schalcken file. Morris’s only known painting, now on the Dutch art market, portrays an “Oudeman met een uil op de hand” (Old man with an owl perched on his hand) and is described assuch in the estate sale of Seger Tierens, held in The Hague on 23 July 1743, lot 166: “Eenoud mannetje met een Uil op de Hand, door R. Moris, voornaam Discipel van G. Schalke,
zynde vroeg gestorven, daarom weinig bekend, h. 1 voet en drie vierde d., br. 10 en een
vierde d. [height 1 foot and ¾ thumb, width 10¼ thumbs]” (An old man with an owl perchedon his hand, by R. Morris, distinguished pupil of G. Schalcken, having died young andtherefore little known, 33 x 27 cm); Gerard Hoet and Pieter Terwesten, Catalogus of naamlyst
van schilderyen, met derzelven pryzen, zedert een langen reeks van jaaren zoo, 3 vols. (The
Hague, 1752–70), 2: 108, no. 166.
9. See the entry on Justus van Bentum by J. Hein in Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, 61 vols.
(Sauer, 1982–), 9: 178–80.
10. Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), 165, no. 66.
11. Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), 119, no. 32; for the drawing, see in
Guido M. C. Jansen, “Additions to Godfried Schalcken’s Oeuvre as a Draftsman,” The
Hoogsteder Mercury 13–14 (1992): 77–78, ill. 7.
12. Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), 118, no. 31; see also the catalogue ofthe Van Haeften gallery in London, 1997, no. 34, as “A portrait of a lady as the Goddess
Diana out hunting in a wood.” In addition to the above-mentioned representations of Diana,
we also know a Bust of the Goddess Diana; Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris,
1988), 314, no. 218, last seen at a sale at Sotheby’s in London, 7 December 1994, lot 256.
An unpublished drawing of the same dimensions as the painting (black chalk, 45 x 32 cm) is
now in the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden (inv. no. FM I-229). Although the drawing bears thesignature Dirck van Deyl delin: 1680(?), the work should be attributed to Schalcken himself.
The Hunting Diana signed by Schalcken—which was sold on 3 July 1990 in London at Phillips
as lot 106 (oil on panel, 27 x 21 cm) and acquired at that time by the Galleria Luigi Caretto in
Turin—can no longer be assigned to Schalcken, because it is actually the work of a pupil orfollower. See Caretto Gallerie, Mostra maestri fiamminghi ed olandesi del XVI–XVII
secolo (exh. cat. Turin, Caretto Gallerie) (Turin, 1991), no. 28.

ProvenancePossibly Mattheus van den Broucke (1620–85), Dordrecht (his sale, Dordrecht, 17 June 1717,© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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no. 5).
Possibly Jan Bisschop (1680–1771), Rotterdam (his sale, Rotterdam, 5–6 June, 24 June, 15
July 1771, p. 12).
Possibly T. C. P. Haag (his sale, The Hague, Bonte, 21 December 1812, no. 4 [Leesberge for
70 florins].
Baroness LeeAnn de Gidro (d. 1962), Budapest and New York (by 1938); by descent toMichael Gidro, until 2008 (Sotheby’s, New York, 24 January 2008, no. 10 [Johnny van
Haeften, London, 2008]).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2008.

Exhibition History
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, on loan with the permanent collection, January 2010–June
2012 [lent by the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The
Leiden Collection,” 17 June–3 September 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden
Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lentby the present owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the present
owner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by thepresent owner].

References
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Rembrandt and His Time: China and the Dutch Republic in theGolden Age.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Editedby Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 10; 15, no. 45. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National
Museum of China. Beijing, 2017
McCarthy, Alexa. “Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing.” In Rembrandt and His Time:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 110–11; 183, no.
© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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45. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund.
Shanghai, 2017, 118, 120.
McCarthy, Alexa. “Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing.” In The Age of Rembrandt andVermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 202–3; 246,
no. 68. Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State
Museum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.

Versions
Versions and Copies

1. Godefridus Schalcken, Diana and Her Nymphs, ca. 1675–85, oil on copper, 83.5 x 66 cm,
Sammlung Graf von Schönborn, Schloss Weißenstein, Pommersfelden (since 1746), inv. no.
520 (reproduced in Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken [Paris, 1988], 115–17, no. 30bis).

2. Godefridus Schalcken, Diana and Her Nymphs, ca. 1675–85, oil on panel, 84 x 66.5 cm,
whereabouts unknown, formerly private collection, Brussels (reproduced in Thierry
Beherman, Godfried Schalcken [Paris, 1988], 115–17, no. 30).

Technical Summary
The support, a single piece of fine, twill-weave fabric, has been lined. All four tacking margins
have been removed and paper tape extends into the face of the painting. Linear cracks and oldtack holes along the perimeter indicate the outer edges of the image were once used as tacking
margins and have since been turned out and reincorporated into the painting. There is slightcusping along all but the left edge. There are two paper labels and four numerical inscriptions on
the stretcher members but no wax seals, canvas stamps or stencils on the lining fabric or
stretcher reverse.
A double ground, red over gray, has been applied. The paint has been applied in both transparent
glazes and opaque layers with smooth transitions with no use of impasto.
The landscape and shadowed figures are painted in transparent washes over the ground, and thebrightly lit figures are painted opaquely. The red ground is used as a mid-tone.
A sketch executed in fluid medium is visible in infrared images captured at 780–1700 nanometers.
Compositional alterations apparent in the images include the following: the profile of Diana’s
proper left leg was changed; a bird drawn along the diagonal branch above the nymph was not© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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executed in paint; the dog’s snout was shifted; the back nymph facing forward and gazing down
was painted over an intended tree trunk, which was painted narrower than sketched; and changes
were made to the folds of the bright pink drape below the quiver. Almost none of the compositionis visible in the X-radiograph; only the brightest highlights are radio-opaque.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2005 and remains in a good state of preservation.[1]Technical Summary Endnotes

1. Entry based on 2011 examination report by Kate Smith, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, andexamination of the X-radiograph composite and image of reverse.

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