Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers

Godefridus Schalcken

National Gallery of Art

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.”