Master Paintings

Master Paintings

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 35. GODFRIED SCHALCKEN | THE DOCTOR'S VISIT.

GODFRIED SCHALCKEN | THE DOCTOR'S VISIT

Auction Closed

May 22, 08:55 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Mid-Atlantic Private Collection

GODFRIED SCHALCKEN

(Made, near Breda 1643 - 1706 The Hague)

THE DOCTOR'S VISIT


signed lower left: G. Schalcken

oil on canvas

29⅞ by 24⅜ in.; 75.9 by 61.9 cm.

Elizabeth Sophie Lawrence, Studley Royal, Yorkshire;

By whom bequeathed to H. E. Waller;

By whose Estate sold, London, Christie's, 7 July 1900, lot 31, to Smith (as G. Schalcken, A sick lady);

A. Smith;

By whose Estate sold, London, Christie's, 13 March 1911, lot 95, to Cohen (as "Schalcken");

Private collection, by 1998;

Anonymous sale, Litchfield, Connecticut, Litchfield County Auctions, 15 July 2009;

There acquired.   

C. Hofstede de Groot, A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, V, London 1913, p. 350, no. 144b;

T. Beherman, Godfried Schalcken, Paris 1988, p. 395, no. 144b.

This elegant scene, infused with warm colors and a beautiful light, is a mature work by Godfried Schalcken, one of the leading portrait painters and fijnschilders of his generation. It likely dates from the late 1680s when he was at the height of his career.  Within this darkened interior, he expertly weaves a moralizing tale through his illustration of a doctor's visit—a popular subject for Dutch artists of the seventeenth century, including Jan Steen and Gerrit Dou, with whom Schalcken trained in Leiden as a young artist after his tutelage under Samuel van Hoogstraten in Dordrecht. 


Seated at the center of this composition is a young and luxuriously dressed woman. With a downcast expression, she rests her weary head in her left hand, while her right rests on her swollen belly. Behind her stands an inquisitive doctor who examines a sample of her urine in order to detect pregnancy—a consequence here of losing one's virginity. The actions of individuals in the background confirm the doctor's conclusion, as a richly attired figure chases out the purported male suitor with an upraised firebrand, seemingly in defense of the woman’s honor.  


Schalcken explored this subject on several occasions throughout his career. One signed and dated example from 1669 is in a private collection [1] while another from circa 1690 is in the Mauritshuis (fig. 1). The present work can be closely compared to this latter example, both in composition and handling, and was likely executed around the same time—an idea further supported by the apparent date of the costume within the present scene. The ruffled lace edging of the seated figure's cap and her dense silk gown with a fitted top fastened at the bosom and shaped like a V were both fashionable in the late 1680s.  


We are grateful to Wayne Franits for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs. We are also grateful to Eddy Schavemaker for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.



1. Oil on panel, 34 by 29 cm, See Beherman, op. cit., p. 253, cat. no. 160, reproduced p. 254.