Artworks. Little is known about Schalcken's life, but le Fanu's story is so deeply rooted in a critical examination of his paintings that Megahey manages to play much of the first half of the film as a drama-documentary. The painting is so mesmerizing that the narrator insisted on knowing its subject and was told the following story by his friend, who had it passed onto him from the his great-grandfather, who heard it from the painter’s own lips. And it is Schalken whom she blames, Schalken whom she confronts, and Schalken whom she beckons into her charnel marriage bed. She begs for three things emphatically: food, wine, and a parson, crying out that her soul’s salvation depends on eating food, drinking wine, and speaking with a minister. As a young man Schalken apprenticed under the master painter Gerard Douw (or "Gerrit Dou" (1613 - 1675), himself a famous student of Rembrandt). To his dying day Schalken was satisfied of the reality of the vision which he had witnessed, and he has left behind him a curious evidence of the impression which it wrought upon his fancy, in a painting executed shortly after the event I have narrated, and which is valuable as exhibiting not only the peculiarities which have made Schalken's pictures sought after, but even more so as … More curious than afraid, he follows the figure through silent hallways, down stairs -- deeper into the basement -- and at last into a gloomy stone room where a four-poster bed stands front and center with its funereal, black curtains drawn. It is perhaps fitting that the protagonist – Le Fanu’s favorite artist – was renowned for his paintings which mixed swathes of barren darkness with patches of pregnant light, and interspersed coquettishness with suspicion, clarity with concealment, and romance with mystery. Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling. Whether possessed corpse, vampire, ghost, walking statue, or – as it certainly could be! Reply. Self Portrait . LibraryThing is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers Blu-ray quality might seem like overkill for a low-budget TV drama, however well-made, but this film in particular demands it, especially when the interiors begin to darken along with the story. The painter Godfried Schalcken sees his true love, Rose, the niece of the artist Gerrit Dou, wedded by contract for a large sum of money to Vanderhausen of Rotterdam, a strange and ghostly figure. Even worse, it's about selling your niece off into marriage to a complete stranger who happens to be disgustingly rich. Schalken The Painter was first broadcast on BBC2 on 23 December 1979, late in the evening. The short story originally published as “Strange Adventure in the Life of Schalken the Painter. [ornament] “For he is not a man as I am that we should come together; neither is there any that might lay his hand upon us both. And you can find our annotated and illustrated collection of Le Fanu's best ghost stories HERE! Schalken the Painter Ian McDiarmid reads. Time to turn the key in the lock, open up the crypt and take a trip back to 1979 as we exhume Schalcken the Painter from the depths of the Telly Tomb. In the background of the painting is a man who looks alarmed and who is drawing a sword. Being a Seventh Extract from the Legacy of the Late Francis Purcell, P.P. We all like the idea of saving a bit of cash, so when we found out how many good quality used books are out there - … She is holding a lantern and has a mischievous smile on her face. He finds himself roaming the cathedral in Rotterdam one dreary afternoon following his father’s funeral there, becoming lost in the building’s labyrinthine basements. They drive off in a carriage bound for Rotterdam, but just before arrives at the city, it is stopped by a party of strange men in old-fashioned clothes carrying a litter. Ordinarily the guardian delivered the dowry to the couple as the woman’s inheritance (making the transaction much less like prostitution than Vanderhausen’s arrangement). Here is a quick description and cover image of book Ghostly Tales: Schalken the Painter written by J. Sheridan Le Fanu which was published in 1839-5-. And perhaps the invitation is a genuine one, but it is not “her” bed that she offers him, but “theirs” – and a ghastly menage-a-trois between the dead, the living, and the living-dead is the concept that finally robs Schalken of his consciousness – the hideousness is too much to bear. Both Schalcken (SHOLL-kin) and Le Fanu crafted a dusky, chiaroscuro aesthetic … Being a Seventh Extract from the Legacy of the Late Francis Purcell, P.P. 5.0 out of 5 stars Schalken The Painter. of Drumcoolagh” in Dublin University Magazine (May 1839) is widely recognized as the earliest masterpiece by the Irish novelist, short story writer, and journalist Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873). Douw is shocked at the idea that his niece marry a stranger without any say, but the gold calls to him, and only asks for a short time to consider. The present collection contains such favorites as "Carmilla," "The Familiar," "Green Tea," and "Schalken the Painter," as well as much otherwise unobtainable work. Throughout the plot juxtapositions clash and clang – beauty and repugnance, love and selfishness, purity and corruption. Illuminating Classic Ghost Stories & Weird Fiction. The apprentice goes to the window to watch the grandee exit the door and walk down street, but he has vanished. Others have argued that “Schalken the Painter” is Le Fanu’s first vampire story (that the aristocratic Vanderhausen with his fangs, unholy gold, charismatic power of persuasion, possessiveness over beautiful virgins, and erotic symbolism, is more of a precursor to Dracula than even Carmilla), while some read it as a straightforward ghost story: Vanderhausen is the apparition of a grandee who was buried in that church and whose statue denotes him to be a powerful donor to the church (more corruption). The Last Heir of Castle Connor. The watcher -- Passage in the secret history of an Irish countess -- Strange event in the life of Schalken the Painter -- The fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh -- The dream -- A chapter in the history of a Tyrone family. Rose, also, is crushed, but is too dutiful to either defy her uncle or expose her lover’s secret, and agrees to meet the bridegroom at dinner. He shot the film in the style of a docudrama, using a minimum of dialogue. “Schalken” is haunted by the loss of father figures – Douw, Cornelius Schalken, and even the “liberal” Vanderhausen – who all fail Schalken in his journey from youth to manhood. Publisher:Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. Rose’s heart-rending wails shake the house and culminate in a loud splash. That is why we open on a portrait of a woman whose dominating feature is a twisted smile: one which simultaneously suggests playful affability, erotic ideation, and sinister machinations. They are shrouded in darkness, but warmed by the velvety breath of candlelight on their faces and hands. By Uncategorized. The two console one another their shared loss, and are doing so one dark night when the door bursts open and Rose stands before them – in the flesh. To quote Dr. Watson, we “begin to see dimly what [Le Fanu is] hinting at.”. Rose is objectified by Vanderhausen’s offer, and is whored out without inquiry or objection. 'Schalcken the Painter', one of various television films by Leslie Megahey that explore the creative nexus between the lives and work of painters, focuses on the Dutch artist Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706), and, like Jonathan Miller's 'Whistle and I'll Come to You' (BBC, tx. Godfried Schalcken or Gottfried Schalken (1643 - November 16, 1706), was a Dutch genre and portrait painter. There is something carnal and lascivious about these torch bearing sirens with their come hither faces and their glistening jewelry. This tale was inspired by the atmospheric candlelit scenes of the 17th-century Dutch painter Godfried Schalcken, who is the model for the story's protagonist. Virtue, Le Fanu suggests, has often been prostituted for the sake of material gain, and purity has been bartered without the guidance of conscience or love, even when the seller is an overall loving and compassionate person. Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) Godfried Schalcken (1643–1706) The Wilson. The enigmatic Vanderhausen seems to have caught a glimpse of her at the cathedral in Rotterdam and has fallen in love. Megahey has stated that he was influenced in the making of the film by the Polish director Walerian Borowczyk, whose 1971 film Blanche also shows the fate of a young woman being decided by rich men, without consideration of her feelings or opinions. Schalken the Painter. On the death of Dou a melancholy Schalcken lingers in the church after the funeral service, where a terrifying encounter with his former love leaves his senses reeling. What we know about Vanderhausen is this: he does not appear to breathe or blink (the 1880 version earlier suggests that his eyes may be painted on over the shut lids); he is pressed for time and constantly seems to be in a hurry; he has access to wealth, though he presents a chest whose condition suggests that it may have been buried with a corpse (as it is moldy and covered in decay); his face is ghoulish – corpse-blue skin, black lips, muddy-white bulging eyes, yellow fangs, and cadaverous thinness; he resembles a wooden statue at the church where he claims to have first seen Rose (she recalls this statue’s terrifying effect on her), although we aren’t sure if this is a funerary statue or some carved demon/gargoyle/biblical character; he conspicuously hides his throat with an awkward and dated ruff (as if covering the ligature mark of a noose, I have argued); he has (undead?) If just one story prickles the hair on the back of your neck, or prickles your eyelids with the touch of tears, we will have succeeded. M. R. James stated that "' Schalken Society’s worship of power and wealth can lead us to stifle the objections of instinct and conscience, until our true treasures – character, truth, and virtue – are irrecoverably lost. Fuller, Graham 'Why I love... Schalcken the Painter' – the, 'Schalcken the Painter: A much sought after BBC horror tale matches its sinister reputation' – The Arts Desk – 28 October 2013, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Schalcken_the_Painter&oldid=985231946, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter, This page was last edited on 24 October 2020, at 19:07. 7/5/1968), was made for the arts series Omnibus (1967-). Synopsis. There is a lack of male authority, masculine virtue, and manly heroism in “Schalken,” leaving a vacuum (one vacated by the weak and irresolute Douw) in which Vanderhausen is free to run amok with abusive male abuses, masculine violence and villainy. The readership understood what married persons do in bed, and without being too graphic, Le Fanu – famous for his subtle and unnerving employment of sexuality in horror – aggressively implies that the corpse has been (to use the only term appropriate to the gravity of the situation) molesting Rose in their macabre bedchamber. Here is a quick description and cover image of book Ghostly Tales: Schalken the Painter written by J. Sheridan Le Fanu which was published in 1839-5-. With Jeremy Clyde, Maurice Denham, Cheryl Kennedy, John Justin. The three are sitting at a table when Vanderhausen enters and are immediately horrorstruck: his bulging, unblinking eyes are fixed in a sightless stare – saucer-like and muddy white. The atmospheric work of Dutch portrait and genre painter Godfried Schalcken provided the inspiration for Sheridan Le Fanu's Gothic horror story "Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter" written in 1839.I must say that I rather enjoyed Leslie Mehagey's "Schalcken the Painter" which is based on Le Fanu story.The film plays like a documentary and it carefully recreates … Vanderhausen's massive dowry for the girl is very unusual. Bootleg copies of the programme are now turning up on DVD disk. ), intently guiding him step by step. Schalken, he muses was remembered as a moody, haunted man known for his foul manners and ambiguous portraiture: chiaroscuro paintings which often blended the amorous with the sinister. Publication Date: 1970-01-01. Inside the coachmen find a sack of gold for their troubles. Download Ghostly Tales: Schalken the Painter by J. Sheridan Le Fanu in PDF EPUB format complete free. It remains one of Le Fanu’s four most well regarded, well known, thoroughly analyzed ghost stories, and is the only supernatural tale of his – other than “Carmilla” of course – which attracted enough intrigue to merit a film adaptation (and a tremendously powerful and atmospheric adaptation to boot). This is a sexual relationship, and sexuality – in the culture of Victorian Britain – was seen as an act of spiritual unification: to make love was to become one spirit, and when one makes love to a possessed corpse, one becomes part and parcel of a spirit that one may loathe and revile. Douw notes that his chest does not rise and that his motions are stiff and unnatural ("as if the limbs were guided and directed by a spirit unused to the management of bodily machinery"), and his expression is violently insane, as Le Fanu gravely notes: "The character of the face was malignant, even satanic, to the last degree; and, indeed, such a combination of horror could hardly be accounted for, except by supposing the corpse of some atrocious malefactor, which had long hung blackening upon the gibbet, to have at length become the habitation of a demon—the frightful sport of Satanic possession." To his dying day Schalken was satisfied of the reality of the vision which he had witnessed, and he has left behind him a curious evidence of the impression which it wrought upon his fancy, in a painting executed shortly after the event we have narrated, and which is valuable as exhibiting not only the peculiarities which have made Schalken's pictures sought after, but even more so as … Source: Kobal. Ultor De Lacy: A Legend of Cappercullen. Schalken watches her move to the bed, pulling back the curtains as if inviting him to join her for the sexual intimacy that he promised her, but which was denied them. BBC 7, 4 September 2009 18.30. He was noted for his mastery in reproducing the effect of candlelight, and painted in the exquisite and highly polished manner of the Leiden fijnschilders. His hand is on his sword and his attitude one of defensive attack. His project is aptly named as the artist, Godfried Schalcken, was the subject of a story written in 1839 by Irish horror novelist, Sheridan Le Fanu, titled “Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter” and in his treatment, Gerrit uncovered a “strange event” in the life of Schalcken’s painting. From Dracula and Frankenstein to Henry James and Edgar Allan Poe, we illuminate your journeys through literature's darkest domains. Schalken the Painter by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu "For he is not a man as I am that we should come together; neither is there any that might lay his hand upon us both. The student and ward shared a romantic understanding, but Schalken’s great insecurity was his lack of fortune, and rather than ruin his chances (romantically and professionally) by marrying the girl without an established career, the two pined for each other while he worked for her uncle hoping to make a break. This tale was inspired by the atmospheric candlelit scenes of the 17th-century Dutch painter Godfried Schalcken, who is the hero of the story. Finding it difficult to make heads or tails of it in the ruddy light, he “damned” the subject, the saint, and the devil with a grumbling oath, only to realize that he was not alone – or at least had ceased to be as soon as he uttered the curse. Rose is reminded of a frightening statue she once saw at the cathedral in Rotterdam. Looking up, he sees Rose – dressed in a white robe and veil, holding an antique lamp (which illuminates her mischievous smile), and beckoning him to follow her. I love the way Le Fanu’s characters often doubt the existence of the supernatural — until it’s too late and something tragic happens. Episode guide, trailer, review, preview, cast list and where to stream it on demand, on catch up and download. servants who bear him away in a funereal litter on his wedding night; his power over Rose is maintained by withholding wine, food, and the clergy; and his climactic appearance is sitting bolt upright in a bed later shown to be in the room where Schalken’s father’s corpse is deposited. Rose is not so much a damsel in distress as she is a woman thrown to the wolves by inept, weak-willed men. The narrator explains that a friend of his owns just such a painting – a strange painting. He was also the perfect visual compliment to J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s literary corpus. Self Portrait . Schalcken the Painter is a British television horror film based on the 1839 story "Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter" by Sheridan Le Fanu, and stars Jeremy Clyde as Godfried Schalcken and Maurice Denham as Gerrit Dou. There is a woman in white with a veil, who does not appear to be a nun, in the picture. Publisher: Sphere Books. Ordinarily the. Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu, a pioneer among writers of horror fiction, is celebrated for stories such as Schalken the Painter (1839) and Carmilla (1872). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Lot No. But Rose wants Schalken to understand it explicitly, so she lures him deeper and deeper down with that coquettish, twisted grin (is it sexual or sinister or both? Le Fanu's Schalken the Painter: A Summary and Full Analysis of the Classic Ghost Story, There is something carnal and lascivious about these torch bearing sirens with their come hither faces and their glistening jewelry. If you create a free account and sign in, you will be able to customize what is displayed. She is wearing a strange white robe (reminiscent of a burial shroud), and is pathetically haggard and worn. Supernatural drama based on a story by Sheridan Le Fanu. Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess. Godfried Schalcken: Self-portrait Artist: Godfried Schalcken (1643–1706) Alternative names: Godefridus Schalcke, Godfrid Schalckius, Godefridus Schalcken, Godefridus Schalken, Godfried Schalken: Description: Dutch painter, printmaker and draughtsman: Date of birth/death: Power can excuse wickedness and wealth can cause the most intangible and spiritual elements of our lives – love, purity, family – to become material commodities. Schalken The Painter - a disturbing story of a man returning from the grave to claim his bride in the old folkloric motif of the demon lover. Brief Summary of Book: Ghostly Tales: Schalken the Painter by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Author:Fanu, J Sheridan Le. They are simultaneously gentle and alluring – a velvet blend of innocence and innuendo. Discuss with other readers. Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) Godfried Schalcken (1643–1706) The Wilson. He returns home a shaken, haunted man, and immediately paints the picture owned by the narrator’s great-grandfather. It is both erotic and macabre, tender and cold. Summary. Rose is not seen again for months. When Shakespeare chose to critique the flaws in English society, he chose the distance of time and country to allow his commentary to shock and offend and sink in without warranting the dismissal of patriots or the censorship of government (hence the times and settings of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest). This vision alone would underscore her position as one who suffers living-death in eternal worship to a spirit who chose her as his devotee – as a vestal concubine to his personal religion. In the 1979 film adaptation, Schalcken the Painter, the eroticism is explicitly depicted: Rose, upon unveiling the bedded Vanderhausen, pulls her suggestively drooping nightgown over her head, exposing herself, climbs on top of a clearly naked Vanderhausen, and begins vigorously humping the unblinking cadaver. Filled with dread, Rose begs Schalcken to run off with her to save her from the marriage, but he is cowardly and ambitious and wants to continue his studies with Dou; instead he says he will buy back the marriage contract when he is successful. LibraryThing is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers All about Schalken the Painter and Others: Ghost Stories 1838-61 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. (Le Fanu, incidentally, spelled the painter’s name “Schalken”.) 961 Schalcken the Painter is a classic 1970s BBC television production based on a J. Sheridan LeFanu short story, says SIMON BALL. [2], The actor Vincent Price was initially considered for the Narrator but it was decided his voice would be "too camp", and Peter Cushing turned down the role as being too dark. schalken the painter review. “Schalken the Painter” (1851) – A young, poor painter named Schalken is in love with the daughter of his mentor. There, in the gloom, a large, old man in a luxurious cloak and hat was standing, gathered up in the murk just a few feet behind him. That catalogue records no fewer than 11 paintings by Schalcken, which means that the Dordrecht-Hague painter was certainly a favorite of the collector Wilhelm VIII of Hessen-Kassel (1682–1760). The settings and overall atmosphere of the production are excellent. Edit Submit Cancel We have produced a Style Guide to help editors follow a standard format when editing a listing. Lee "Schalken the Painter (Fantasy and Horror Classics)" por Joseph Sheridan le Fanu disponible en Rakuten Kobo. Prostitution is the subtext of many of these pictures, and the tangled, complex psychology of money and sex are ubiquitous throughout his work. Directed by Leslie Megahey. [2], Like the earlier Whistle and I'll Come to You, Schalcken the Painter was listed as an episode of Omnibus. Vanderhausen – whom we may reasonably take for a reanimated corpse: either a lustful ghost or a convenient vessel for a prowling albeit incorporeal demon – represents more than a simple supernatural intruder: he is the embodiment of human want and insensitivity, a rapacious, consuming dominator whose obvious corruption and sinister mystique can be excused on account of his wealth. From Dracula and Frankenstein to Henry James and Edgar Allan Poe, we illuminate your journeys through literature's darkest domains. As they wait for the minister, Schalken escorts his beloved to a bedroom where he hopes she will rest. It's a story of undead bridegrooms, ghostly brides, and necrophilia. Verified Purchase. 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