Godefridus Schalcken

Godefridus Schalcken: A Late 17th-century Dutch Painter in Pursuit of Fame and Fortune is the first book in English dedicated to the entire artistic output of seventeenth-century Dutch artist Godefridus Schalcken (16431706). It examines the artists paintings and career trajectory against the background of his ceaseless pursuit of fame and fortune. Combining a comprehensive analysis of Schalcken's artistic development and style with our increasing biographical knowledge, it provides an authoritative overview of Schalckens ample production as an artist. It also integrates his art into the circumstances of his life in relation to his ambitious career aspirations, exploring how economic conditions, a concomitantly oversaturated art market, talent and ambition, demographics, and even sheer luck all played a role in Schalckens great professional success. Since Schalckens art, like that of all Dutch painters, provides a plethora of information about seventeenth-century cultureits predilections, its prejudices, indeed, its very mind-setthe book inevitably links his work to the broader socio-cultural contexts in which it was created.