Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers

Provenance

Graf Lothar Franz von Schönborn [1655-1729], Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden, from at least 1719;[1] by descent in the Schönborn family; (Schönborn sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 17-18 and 22-23 May 1867, no. 111); purchased by De l'Espine. Comte de L*** [Lambertye or Lépine], Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15 April 1868, no. 57). Goldschmidt collection, Paris; (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 14 and 16-17 May 1898, no. 97); purchased by Fischer. Gabriel Cognacq [1880-1951], Paris; (his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 11-13 June 1952, no. 87); Princess Ermina Tonsson, Washington, D.C.; (sale, Christie's East, New York, 19 November 1980, no. 197); (P. de Boer, Amsterdam); purchased c. 1981 by private collection, New Rochelle, New York; (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 22 January 2004, no. 25); (Colnaghi, London); sold 16 March 2005 to NGA. [1] The painting is listed in catalogues of the Schönborn collection published in 1719 (_Fürtrefflicher Gemähld-und Bilder-Schatz / So in denen Gallerie und Zimmern / des Churfürstl. Pommersfeldischen..._, Bamberg, 1719: no. 57); 1746 (_Beschreibung des Fürtreflichen Gemähld- und Bilder-Schatzes..._, Würzburg, 1746); and 1857 (_Katalog der Gräflich von Schönborn'schen Bilder-Gallerie zu Pommersfelden_, Würzburg, 1857: no. 96).

Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers

Schalcken, Godefridus

c. 1675/1680

Accession Number

2005.26.1

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

overall: 26.7 x 20.3 cm (10 1/2 x 8 in.) | framed: 37.6 x 31.4 x 5.1 cm (14 13/16 x 12 3/8 x 2 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

Credit Line

The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund

Tags

Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Panel Painting Dutch

Background & Context

Background Story

Godefridus Schalcken (1643-1706) was a Dutch painter known for the precisely observed genre scenes and candlelit subjects that make him one of the most important followers of Gerrit Dou and the Leiden fijnschilder tradition. Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers from c. 1675/1680 depicts a woman weaving a flower crown in the precisely observed, candlelit manner that distinguishes Schalcken's best work from the more brightly lit genre painting of his contemporaries. The c. 1675/1680 date places this in Schalcken's most productive period, when he was producing the precisely observed, candlelit genre scenes that are his most accomplished works.

Cultural Impact

Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers is important in the history of Dutch genre painting because it demonstrates the precisely observed, candlelit manner that Schalcken brought to genre subjects as one of the most important followers of the Leiden fijnschilder tradition. Schalcken's candlelit genre scenes—combining the precise observation of the fijnschilder tradition with the dramatic effect of candlelight—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in Dutch genre painting, and the c. 1675/1680 painting shows this tradition at its most precisely observed and dramatically lit.

Why It Matters

Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers is Schalcken's candlelit Dutch genre: a woman weaving a flower crown rendered in the precisely observed manner of one of the most important followers of the Leiden fijnschilder tradition. The c. 1675/1680 painting shows the combination of precise observation with dramatic candlelight that is Schalcken's most distinctive contribution.