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
(1643-1706). It examines the artist's 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 Schalcken's 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 Schalcken's great
professional success. Since Schalcken's art, like that of all Dutch
painters, provides a plethora of information about seventeenth-century
culture--its predilections, its prejudices, indeed, its very
mind-set--the book inevitably links his work to the broader
socio-cultural contexts in which it was created.