Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver
Godefridus Schalcken(Made 1643 – 1706 The Hague)ca. 1680–85
oil on canvas
39.5 x 49.3 cm
signed or inscribed in red paint, center of lower
foreground: “G Schalcken.”
GS-108© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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How to cite
Jansen, Guido. “Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur
K. Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 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.

After completing his artistic training with Gerrit Dou (1613–75) in Leiden,

Comparative Figures

Godefridus Schalcken returned to Dordrecht and began to paint—in his teacher’ssomewhat stiff manner—genre pieces that usually feature sausage-stuffing kitchenmaids, Rommel-pot players, and quack doctors. Throughout the 1670s Schalcken
continued to prefer small formats, but he gradually replaced the protagonists from thelower echelons of society with handsome youngsters in costly attire, inhabiting anelegant setting. The manner in which Schalcken executed these more bourgeois figure
paintings was lighter, looser, and livelier than that of his teacher, and with a better
sense of color, too. He soon developed an unmistakable idiom of his own that isreadily distinguishable from the work of Dou and that master’s many other followers.
In the 1680s Schalcken began to concentrate more and more on subjects typical of

Fig 1. Jan Collaert I after Ambrosius
Francken, The Parable of the Lost
Sheep and the Lost Piece of Silver,
1585, engraving, 203 x 291 mm, The
British Museum, London, Bequeathedby Sir Hans Sloane, 1753,
1968,1018.1.271, © Trustees of the
British Museum

history painting, the category ranked most highly by art theorists. The hierarchy ofgenres had no doubt been instilled in the artist by his first teacher, Samuel van
Hoogstraten (1627–78), also known for his writings on art.[1] In any case, Schalcken
made sure that even in subjects derived from ancient history or classical mythology,
he made intelligent use of his technical skill in portraying artificial illumination. A
good example is his depiction of the story of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, whocarries a burning lamp in broad daylight as he searches the market square for “anhonest man.”[2] For an artist who came from a family of clergymen and theologians,
the Bible was naturally a rewarding source of subjects in which artificial
lighting—whether by torch, candle, or oil lamp—could be used to advantage. Denialof Peter, Mocking of Christ, and Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins were only
[3]

three of the nocturnal scenes from the New Testament that he rendered in paint.

Fig 2. Godefridus Schalcken, SelfPortrait, oil on canvas, 61.3 x 49.8 cm,
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, inv.
no. 368, © The Fitzwilliam Museum,© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Around 1680–85 Schalcken painted Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver, in which heCambridge

adhered closely to the text of Luke 15:8–10: “Either what woman having ten pieces ofsilver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek
diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and herneighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had
lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over
one sinner that repenteth.” As the words of Christ indicate, the parable is always
interpreted in the various exegeses of the different religious groups as the joy of
repentance, with the lamp symbolizing the Word of God. This interpretation applies
in every way to Schalcken’s portrayal, but it is also evident that the masterdeliberately sought a text in Holy Scripture that would allow him to put his
exceptional technique to good use.
There is no other known painting of this subject in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century

Fig 3. Godefridus Schalcken, Girl witha Waffle in Her Hand, 1680s, oil oncanvas, 25.5 x 21.5 cm,
Gemäldegalerie, Kassel, #GK 303

Dutch art.[4] It appears, however, that Schalcken’s composition was inspired by a
sixteenth-century work—a print made in Flanders. One of the first large series ofengravings after biblical texts, Thesaurus Veteris et Novi Testamenti, which was
published by Gerard de Jode (1509–91) in Antwerp in 1585, contains prints after
texts from the New Testament, including a series of twelve engravings of the parablesof Christ. They can be found in the section titled Thesaurus Novi Testamenti, which
was supplied with a separate title page and probably added to the edition only after
1591.[5] One of the twelve prints, engraved by Jan Collaert I (ca. 1530–81) after adrawing attributed to Ambrosius Francken (1544–1618), portrays Parable of the Lost
Sheep and the Lost Piece of Silver (fig 1).[6] It depicts the Good Shepherd carrying thelost sheep on his shoulders, but the left part of the engraving is more important to us
because it portrays two scenes from the Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver. In the left
foreground we see the woman looking for the coin by the light of the lamp she holds,
while the scene in the background shows her displaying the recovered drachma to her

Fig 4. School of Godefridus
Schalcken, Woman Holding a
Candle (after the Parable of the Lost
Piece of Silver), early 19th century, oilon canvas, 78 x 58.4 cm, The Leiden
Collection, New Yorkfriends and neighbors. This print and the Thesaurus as a whole were widely
disseminated. Claes Jansz Visscher (1587–1652) republished the engravings under thetitle Theatrum biblicum in Amsterdam in 1643, with reprints following in 1646 and
1674.[7]Considering that Schalcken was a descendant of a family of clergymen, and one
expected to study theology, it is more than likely that one or more of the abovementioned editions could be found in the artist’s parental home; if not, then he could
easily have seen the edition published in 1674 by Nicolaes Visscher (1618–79).
Nevertheless, by following the biblical text closely, Schalcken created an
extraordinary composition, for the rejoicing on the part of the friends and neighbors
upon learning of the recovery of the piece of silver is the focal point of the picture, incontrast to the composition of the engraving (fig 1). Thus Schalcken represents the© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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positive quintessence of the story, precisely as described in the Bible. In executing thepainting, he remained faithful to the small format he preferred, but the richly
appointed interior, the pleasingly light palette, unusual in a nocturnal scene (see, forexample, the light green dress of the girl at the lower right), and the supple brushwork
demonstrate that by this time the painter had completely abandoned Dou’s idiomaticstyle and subject matter. A dating to the early 1680s is therefore plausible,
additionally supported by the fact that the artist painted this picture on canvas.[8]Such a dating is corroborated by the man at the far left, the top half of whose face isconcealed in shadow. This man, who looks at the viewer, closely resembles thepainter, who was approximately 40 at the time, so presumably the master usedhimself as the model for this personage. Perhaps he did so because of someconnection he felt with this biblical passage, but he may well have done it to highlight
his own accomplishment: the creation of a thematically unique painting. It has alreadybeen pointed out in another context that Schalcken always gave close consideration tohis choice of subject matter.[9]The painting was first published in the 1783 catalogue compiled by Simon Causid of
the paintings in the collection of the landgraves of Hessen-Kassel. That catalogue
records no fewer than 11 paintings by Schalcken, which means that the DordrechtHague painter was certainly a favorite of the collector Wilhelm VIII of Hessen-Kassel(1682–1760).[10] This landgrave spent a long time in the Netherlands as an officer in
the States army and also served as governor of Breda and Maastricht, so his warm
feelings toward the Low Countries and his fondness for Dutch art went hand in
hand.[11] Causid’s description of the painting is striking, particularly the information
imparted in the second half: “The woman from the Gospel, who shows her friends thefound coin by the light of a burning lamp. Take note: the figures in this piece are
portraits of the painter himself and his family”[12]; compare with (fig 2). This notion
was reason enough to list the work among the portraits when the first inventory of the
Kassel collection was drawn up in 1749. The presence of the artist at the left seems
plausible, but it is highly questionable whether the other figures should be seen as
portraits of family members. The same catalogue describes Girl with a Waffle in Her
Hand (fig 3), for example, as follows: “Schalcken. This painter’s wife in a blue gown,
holding a waffle in her hand.” But it is evident that Françoisia van Diemen,
Schalcken’s wife since 1679, did not pose for this genre painting.[13]The artist’s presence in Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver was described in the salecatalogues of both auctions held by Alphonse Giroux in Paris in 1816 and 1819, at
which the painting was put up for sale after having been stolen in 1806 along with
47 other major works from the collection in Kassel by French troops under thecommand of General Lagrange.[14] The painting must have acquired a certain fame© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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soon after its arrival in Paris, since high-quality copies on panel were offered at
auction as early as 1818 and again in 1819 (“It would be difficult to find a copy moresimilar to the original”).[15] In fact, a partial copy of this painting now in the Leiden
Collection (fig 4) came from a French collection.[16] Other copies continue to appear
at French auctions.[17]Remarkably, however, within two generations the subject of the painting had been
completely forgotten. At the Paris sale of the collection of the Utrecht physician
Munnicks van Cleeff in 1864, the painting was interpreted as a scene of seduction
and described in a completely different way. Despite the fact that Theodor Demmler
exhibited the painting in 1917 as Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver, it was sold again
in 1924 as a seduction scene. Even Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, the son of a theology
professor, did not recognize the biblical subject when he viewed the pieces for sale atthat auction, no doubt because of Schalcken’s highly original manner of portrayal.[18]- Guido Jansen, 2017

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Endnotes
1. After returning to Dordrecht, Schalcken must have met Samuel van Hoogstraten frequently. Evidence of
this is the fact that both painters signed a document drawn up by the notary Govert de With on 11
August 1677; Gemeentelijke Archiefdienst, Dordrecht, ONA 20.238, fol. 125.
2. Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 46.
3. Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), nos. 11, 12, and 10.
4. Cf. Andor Pigler, Barokthemen: Eine Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. und
18. Jahrhunderts, 2nd ed., 3 vols. (Budapest, 1974), 1: 366.
5. On this subject, see Hans Mielke, “Antwerpener Graphik in der 2. Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts: Der
Thesaurus Veteris et Novi Testamenti des Gerard de Jode (1585) und seine Künstler,” Zeitschrift für
Kunstgeschichte 38 (1975): 29–83, esp. 31, 81, and 82, no. 50.
6. Ann Diels, Arnout Balis, and Marjolein Leesberg, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings andWoodcuts 1450–1700; The Collared Dynasty, 8 vols. (Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, 2005–6), 2: 63, no. 292
with ill. The subject of the engraving is attributed to Ambrosius Francken, and this drawing is preservedin the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford; for a reproduction, see Hans Mielke, “Antwerpener Graphik inder 2. Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts: Der Thesaurus Veteris et Novi Testamenti des Gerard de Jode (1585)
und seine Künstler,” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 38 (1975): 43–44, ill. 20. Before this, the Swiss artist
Urs Graf (ca. 1485–1527/28) had combined the two parables in a small woodcut, which served as anillustration in an edition of William of Auvergne’s Postilla super Epistolas et Evangelia (Basel, 1511). Fora reproduction, see the British Museum collection website, registration number: 1927.0614.127.
7. Ann Diels, Arnout Balis, and Marjolein Leesberg, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings andWoodcuts 1450–1700; The Collared Dynasty, 8 vols. (Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, 2005–6), 2:63, no. 292.
For reprints, see 1: 22, and nos. 13–15. An impression of the second state of the print is discussed andreproduced in Achim Riethel and Marc Gundel, Dem Himmel entgegen: Niederländische Bilder des 15.
bis 18. Jahrhunderts erzählen die Bibel; Sammlung Christoph Müller (Exh. cat. Rottenburg,
Diözesanmuseum) (Ulm, 2000), 112–13 (entry by Barbara Renftle). The print by Collaert was no doubt
also known to Domenico Fetti (1588/89–1623), who is the author of the only other seventeenth-century
paintings of the parable, both of which he executed during his stay in Mantua around 1620. These works
emphasize the woman’s search with the lamp, the scene Collaert placed so prominently in the left
foreground. In Mantua, the influence of Flemish art was at an all-time high in the first decades of theseventeenth century, after such artists as Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and Frans Pourbus(1569–1622) had been working there for many years. For the two painted versions by Fetti, see Eduard
A. Safarik and Gabriello Milantoni, Fetti (Milan, 1990), nos. 28, 28a–e.
8. See, for instance, Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 2 (Annunciation) and no. 35(Latona), which are painted on panel and, in my opinion, must therefore date earlier.
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9. Peter Hecht, “Candlelight and Dirty Fingers, or Royal Virtue in Disguise: Some Thoughts on Weyerman
and Godfried Schalken,” Simiolus 11 (1980): 23–38; and Peter Hecht ed., De Hollandse fijnschilders:van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (Amsterdam, 1989),
182–216. Perhaps too much emphasis is placed here on the figure’s resemblance to the artist. In
Schalcken’s Virginity Threatened, which is certainly not a self-portrait, a young man who closely
resembles the figure in this portrait is chased by a matron who in turn closely resembles the old neighborat the rear in our painting; Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 174; Peter Hecht,
De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff (Exh. cat. Amsterdam,
Rijksmuseum) (Maarssen and The Hague, 1989), no. 44.
10. It must be noted that Schalcken’s son-in-law, the architect Pieter Jacobsz Roman (1676–after 1733), wasemployed by the landgrave as intendant des bâtiments from 1721 until his death in 1733. Françoisia
Schalcken (1690–after 1743), the only of the artist’s children to live to adulthood, married Roman in
The Hague in 1713. The couple would have one child, a boy named Jacobus Godofridus (baptized in
Rijswijk in 1717), who would not reach adulthood. On Roman, see Wouter Kuyper, “Dichtung und
Wahrheit in tekeningen van Adriaan Dortsman en Pieter Roman,” Bulletin KNOB 83 (1984): esp. 261
and 274.
11. On Wilhelm VIII as the founder of the painting collection in Kassel, see Everhard Korthals Altes, De
verovering van de internationale kunstmarkt door de zeventiende-eeuwse schilderkunst: Enkele studies overde verspreiding van Hollandse schilderijen in de eerste helft van de achttiende eeuw (Leiden, 2003),
185–205.
12. “Die Frau aus dem Evangelie, welche ihren Freunden den wieder gefundenen Grosschen bey einem
brennenden Lichte zeiget. NB Die Figuren auf diesem Stück sind des Malers selbst und seiner Familie
Portraits.” Simon Causid, Verzeichnis der Hochfürstlich-Hessischen Gemälde-Sammlung in Cassel(Cassel, 1783), 206, no. 61; Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), 209, no. 75.
13. “Schalken. Dieses Malers Frau in blauem Habit, einen Eisenkuchen in der Hand haltend.” Simon
Causid, Verzeichnis der Hochfürstlich-Hessischen Gemälde-Sammlung in Cassel (Cassel, 1783), 206, no.
61; Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 145.
14. Oscar Eisenmann, Katalog der königlichen Gemälde-Galerie zu Cassel (Cassel, 1888), XVIII–IX.
15. Sale, Paris, Alphonse Giroux, expert’s appraisal by Charles Paillet, 24–26 November 1818, lot 116, as:“Schalken (d’après). Jésus, voulant faire comprendre aux Pharisiens la joie qu’excitait dans le ciel laconversion d’un pêcheur, leur propose la parabole suivante: Une femme qui avait dix drachmes, en ayant
perdu une, alluma sa lampe, balaya sa maison et la chercha avec un grand soin jusqu’à ce qu’elle l’eût
retrouvée, et l’ayant retrouveé, elle appela ses amies et voisines, et leur dit; ‘réjouissez vous avec moi,
parceque j’ai retrouveé la drachme que j’avais perdue.’ Schalken a peint son portrait dans celui du jeuneIsraélite” (Schalcken [after]. Jesus, trying to make the Pharisees understand the joy that the conversion
of a sinner aroused in heaven, proposes the following parable: A woman who had ten drachmas and,having lost one, lit her lamp, swept her house, and searched for it very carefully until she found it, and,having found it, she called her friends and neighbors, and said to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have
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found the drachma I had lost.” Schalcken has painted his portrait in the [personage of the] young
Israelite). Oil on panel, 15 x 17 pouces (approx. 40 x 46 cm). The other work is described in the sale of
6–7 December 1819 (expert’s appraisal by Henry), lot 27, as: “Schalken (d’après Godefroi) Hollandais.
La drachme perdue et retrouvée: parabole de Jésus-Christ. La femme qui a retrouvé sa drachme, tientd’une main la lampe qui lui a servi à la chercher, et de l’autre montre cette pièce à plusieurs personnes
qui lui en témoignent leur satisfaction. Dans le coin du tableau, à gauche, est le portrait de Schalken. Il
serait difficile de trouver une copie plus approchante de son original” (Schalcken [after Godefridus],Dutch. La drachma lost and found: a parable of Jesus Christ. The woman who found her drachma holds
in one hand the lamp that helped her find it, and with the other shows this piece to several persons who
display their satisfaction. In the corner of the picture, at the left, is a portrait of Schalcken. It would be
difficult to find a copy more similar to the original). Oil on panel, 15 x 18 pouces (approx. 40 x 48.5
cm). One of these copies is perhaps identical with the painting sold at Christie’s in London on 12
December 2003; lot 121, illustrated in the catalogue, oil on canvas laid down on panel, 38.4 x 48.2 cm,
with a date of 1698, present location unknown. The work from the collection of Erick W. Bergmann ofMonroe, Michigan, which was sold as an original by Schalcken at Parke-Bernet Galleries in New Yorkon 24 February 1949 (lot 8, 38.1 x 45.7 cm, present location unknown) was undoubtedly an old copy,
although this can no longer be verified, because the work was not reproduced in the catalogue.
16. It is remarkable that the Leiden Collection boasts a copy after the principal female figure not in theoriginal small format, but twice as large: oil on canvas, 78 x 58.4 cm. Since it came from a private
collection in Paris, we may assume that this partial copy was also produced in Paris in the first quarterof the nineteenth century. Another partial copy with some variation in the same female figure is to befound in Thierry Beherman, Godfried Schalcken (Paris, 1988), no. 313.
17. A copy on canvas (39 x 49 cm) was offered by Demade Enchères in Bernay on 26 June 2010, lot 41, as
attributed to Michiel Versteegh (1756–1843). On 4 December 2011 in Deauville, Artcurial offered acopy on canvas (40 x 50 cm, lot 6), again with an attribution to the Dordrecht artist Michiel Versteegh, afollower of Schalcken.
18. RKD (Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie/Netherlands Institute for Art History)
Databases, Excerpts, HdG-fiche 1484959.

ProvenanceWilhelm VIII (1682–1760), Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel; by descent to his grandson Wilhelm I(1743–1821), Elector of Hesse, possibly seized by General Joseph Lagrange (1763–1836) in 1806.
(Sale, Alphonse Giroux, Paris, 1816, no. 357.)(Possible sale, Alphonse Giroux, Paris, 1819, no. 298.)
Dr. Gerard Munnicks van Cleeff (1797–1860), Utrecht (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 4–5 April 1864,© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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no. 85 [to Mr. Meffre for 1,720 francs]).
Mr. Meffre (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 1 May 1865, no. 58 [to Febvre for 1,300 francs]).
Marquise d’Aoust, by 1917 (her sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 5 June 1925, no. 83 [possibly to
Heuvel, for 1,050 francs]).
(Sale, Sotheby’s London, 4 July 2007, no. 35 [to Johnny Van Haeften, Ltd.].)[Johnny Van Haeften, Ltd., London.]From whom acquired by the present owner in 2007.

Exhibition History
Valenciennes, Musée de Valenciennes, “Kunstwerke aus dem besetzen Nordfrankreich,” 1918, 70, no.
320 [lent by the Marquise d’Aoust].
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, “Schalcken – Gemalte Verführung,” 25 September 2015–24
January 2016; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, 21 February–26 June 2016, no. 59 [lent by the present
owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden
Collection,” 17 June–3 September 2017, no. 44 [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, no. 44 [lent by thepresent owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpiecesof The Leiden Collection,” 28 March–22 July 2018, no. 67 [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, no. 67 [lent by the present owner].
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May 2019, no. 67 [lent by thepresent owner].
Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam, “Rembrandt and his Contemporaries: History Paintings from The
Leiden Collection,” 4 February–27 August 2023, no. 22 [lent by the present owner].

References
Haupt-Catalogus von Sr Hochfürstl: Durchlt. Herren Landgrafens Wilhelm zu eßen…Verfertiget in Anno
1749. Manuscript. A. Nr. 1–869, Portraits 1–99, Manuscript Staatliche Museen Kassel, 1794, no. 153.
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Causid, Simon. Verzeichnis der Hochfürstlich-Hessischen Gemälde-Sammlung in Cassel. Kassel, 1783,
209, no. 75.
Inventarium der Gemäldegalerie zu Cassel mit Supplements I–V. Manuscript. Ff. Nr. 1-2178. Manuscript
Staatliche Museum Kassel, 1816, no. 153.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of
the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and translated by Edward G. Hawke, 5:320, no. 30 (possibly equivalent with nos. 30a, 257). London, 1913.
Gronau, Georg.“Der Verluste der Casseler Galerie in der Ziet der französischen Okkupation
1806–1813.” Internationale Monatschrift für Wissenschaft 11 (1917): 1207.
Demmler, Theodor. Kunstwerke aus dem besetzten Nordfrankreich ausgestellt im Museum zu
Valenciennes. Exh. cat. Valenciennes, Musée de Valenciennes. Munich, 1918, 153, no. 320.
Thieme, Ulrich, and Felix Becker, eds. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur
Gegenwart. Leipzig, 1935–50, 29: 570.
Pigler, Andor. Barokthemen: Eine Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. und 18.
Jahrhunderts. Budapest, 1956, 1: 366.
Herzog, Erich. Die Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Kassel. Kassel, 1969, 54, no. 23.
Beherman, Thierry. Godfried Schalcken. Paris, 1988, 89–90, no. 9.
Jansen, Guido M.C. “Das Gleichnis von der verlorenen Münze, 1680–85.” In Schalcken – Gemalte
Verführung. Edited by Anja K. Sevcik, 242–45, no. 59. Exh. cat. Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum;
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum. Stuttgart, 2015.
Schavemaker, Eddy. “What Hair Can Reveal: Schalcken’s Chronology and Hairstyles as a Dating Aid.”
Wallraf-Richartz-Jarbuch 77 (2016): 49, no. 6.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Rembrandt and His Time: China and the Dutch Republic in the Golden Age.” In
Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt.
Translated by Li Ying, 10; 15, no. 44. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpiecesof The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt. Translated by Li Ying, 108–9; 182, no. 44.
Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund. Shanghai, 2017, 118–19.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver.” In The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova. Translated by Daria Babich andDaria Kuzina, 200–1; 246, no. 67. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St.
Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Ducos, Blaise, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, eds. Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu
Dhabi. London, 2019, 150–1, no. 72. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Van Cauwenberge, Caroline. “Godefridus Schalcken, Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver.” In Rembrandt
and His Contemporaries: History Paintings from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.
and Caroline Van Cauwenberge, 102–103, no. 22. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam.
Zwolle, 2023. [Exhibition catalogue also published in Dutch.]
Franits, Wayne. Godefridus Schalcken: A Late 17th-century Dutch Painter in Pursuit of Fame andFortune. London, 2023, 59–60, fig. 32.

Versions
Versions
1. Godefridus Schalcken, Parable, n.d., medium unknown, 38.1 x 45.7 cm, current whereabouts unknown,
previous sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 24 February 1949, no. 8).

2. After Godefridus Schalcken, The Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver, 1698, oil on canvas laid down on
panel, 38.4 x 48.2 cm, current whereabouts unknown, previous sale, Christie’s, London, 12 December
2003, no. 121.

Technical Summary
The support, a single piece of fine, plain-weave fabric, has been lined. All four tacking margins have been
removed and paper tape extends into the face of the painting along all four sides. Cusping and outer stretcherbar creases along the upper, left, and right edges suggest the original dimensions have not been significantly
altered in these three directions. There is one red wax seal but no 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 wet-into-wet throughthe flesh tones, and with loose fluid brushstrokes in thin, smooth glazes with no use of impasto through thedrapery. Small strokes of slightly raised paint are used to create the highlights of the gold sash and the
brocade along the bodices worn by the two female figures along the right.
There are no obvious pentimenti, and no underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent ininfrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers or in the X-radiograph.
The painting has been inscribed in red paint in the center of the lower foreground, to the right of the dog.
The inscription continues across the fine network of craquelure that has formed through the brown paint in
the foreground, which suggests it is a later inscription rather than a signature.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2007 and remains in a good state of preservation.

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Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver
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