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.