199. LESBIA AND HER SPARROW.
Godfried Schalcken (Dutch: 1643-1706).
Schalcken was probably a pupil of Gerard Dou (see 192), whose delicate finish he sought to rival. "But the smooth, polished surface of his works is unpleasant, and the labour bestowed upon them is too obvious" (Burton). He spent the greater part of his life at Dort, but he was employed for some time in England by King William III. In addition to his genre pieces, Schalcken painted numerous portraits, and also attempted sacred subjects. He especially excelled in pictures of candle-light.
A picture in illustration of a Latin poem, as befits a painter whose father was headmaster of a Latin school (at Dort). Lesbia is weighing jewels against her sparrow, which she loved better even than her own eyes—
Mourn, every Venus, every Love!
Gallants gay, mourn every one!
My darling had a favourite dove,
That she did prize
As her own eyes—
Her dove is dead and gone.
G. R., from Catullus, iii.