Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers

c. 1675/1680

Godefridus Schalcken

Painter, Dutch, 1643 - 1706

Shown from the lap up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a long gown and wide-brimmed hat sits in front of a low stone wall in this vertical portrait painting. The woman takes up the lower right quadrant of the composition. Her body faces our left, and she looks off in that direction so we see her in profile. She has large eyes, a delicate nose, round, flushed cheeks, and a pointed chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a black covering at the back of her head. The underside of her hat brim is steel gray, and a carnation-pink feather droops over one side. The rounded, straw-yellow crown is just visible above the grim. A gold and pearl earring dangles from the ear we see, and a smoke-gray, translucent cloth is tied around her shoulders. The bodice of her dress is coral red on the upper chest and patterned with gold stripes and leaves against brown on the torso and elbow-length sleeves. The white garment she wears underneath is gathered in puffs just under the elbows, beyond the end of the brown sleeves. Her apricot-orange skirt has a sheen, suggesting satin, and a translucent white apron is tied around the waist. She holds a hoop, about the diameter of a human head, in both hands. She adds colorful flowers to the hoop and more blossoms lie in her lap. Her far elbow rests on the stone wall that spans the bottom third of the painting. The front face of the wall is carved in low relief with a sunflower, roses, and other flowers. A crack runs down through the top of the wall and curves toward the woman. A stone fountain rises from the ledge to our left. A tall base is topped by a stylized fish with water trickling from its open mouth. Also part of the carved fountain, the head of a small child standing astride the fish is cut off by the top edge of the panel. Shadowy trees nearly fill the space beyond the wall, but a clearing is visible through a small gap near the woman’s face. There, a man sitting on the grass wraps his arms around the woman sitting next to him. A dome, towers, and rooflines are nickel-gray in the deep distance beyond. The artist signed the work as if he had carved the wall near the woman to read, “G. Schalcken.”

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This charming portrayal of a woman who daydreams while weaving a crown of flowers is a fine example of Godefridus Schalcken's refined manner of painting. Its meticulous technique, particularly evident in the rendering of the costume, reflects Schalcken's connection to the Leiden fijnschilders (fine painters), who specialized in small genre scenes executed with extraordinary attention to detail. These gemlike pictures, filled with brilliant touches of color and light, found favor among collectors throughout Europe.

Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers almost certainly alludes to the yearnings of a young woman for love and marriage. The crown of flowers refers to both of these themes, which are reinforced by the cupid atop the fountain and the young lovers in the distance. The crack in the stone base of the fountain nevertheless offers a warning that, over time, even the most solid foundation of love is fragile.

As a young man, Schalcken moved to Dordrecht, where he was apprenticed to Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–1678). He then trained in Leiden under Gerrit Dou (1613–1675) and went on to establish himself as an independent master in Dordrecht by the mid-1660s. In 1692 Schalcken moved to the court of King William III and Queen Mary at Windsor, where for seven years he painted portraits of the Dutch-born king and the English aristocracy. In 1699 he settled in The Hague, where he worked for the rest of his life.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 50-B


Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund

  • 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.)

  • Accession

    2005.26.1

More About this Artwork

Video:  Two-Minute Tour: Clouds, Ice, and Bounty

Join exhibition curator Betsy Wieseman on a two-minute tour of the 2021-2022 exhibition Clouds, Ice, and Bounty.


Artwork history & notes

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).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1950

  • Chefs-d'oeuvres des collections parisiennes, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, 1950, no. 74, as La faiseuse de bouquets.

1981

  • Voorjaarstentoonstelling van nieuwe aan winsten, Galerie P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1981.

1988

  • Dutch and Flemish Paintings from New York Collections, National Academy of Design, New York, 1988, no. 46, repro., as Young Woman Weaving a Garland.

2021

  • Clouds, Ice, and Bounty: The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Collection of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2021, no. 4, repro.

Bibliography

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 5(1913): 348, no. 135, as A Young Girl tying up a Nosegay.

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 5(1912):362, no. 135.

1950

  • Musée Carnavalet. Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections Parisiennes. Exh. cat. Musée Carnavalet, Paris, 1950: 40-41, no. 74.

1986

  • Hecht, Peter, and Ger Luijten. "Nederland Verzamelt Oude Meesters Tien Jaar Aankopen en Achtergronden." Kunstschrift Openbaar Kunstbezit 30 (1986): 213-214, fig. 57.

1988

  • Beherman, Thierry. Godfried Schalcken. Paris, 1988: 244, no. 150.

  • Adams, Ann Jensen. Dutch and Flemish Paintings from New York Private Collections. Exh. cat. National Academy of Design, New York, 1988: 11, no. 46.

2007

  • Howard, Jeremy. "Two Years in Review at Colnaghi." In Colnaghi Old Master Paintings. London, 2007: introduction, fig. 7.

Inscriptions

lower left: G. Schalcken

Wikidata ID

Q20177665


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