WILLEM SCHELLINKS (1626-1678)

A DOE BY THE APSE OF SAN MARTINO, ROME
Signed l.l. W Schellings
Black chalk on laid paper
26.2 x 16.8 cm
 
PROVENANCE:
With Chaucer Fine Art, London (1982);
Anonymous sale, Philip's, London, 16.12.1992, Lot 8;
Anonymous sale, Christie's, South Kensington, 12.06.2012, Lot 102 (part of lot);
With Foolscap Fine Art, The Hague;
Private Collection, France
 
 
 
 
Willem Schellinks' career is relatively well-understood today, thanks both to the journals he kept and the drawings which survive, both of which attest to his several lengthy journeys and his relationships with other Netherlandish artists of the time. He may well have studied first with Lambert Doomer, a student of Rembrandt's with whom he travelled around France in 1646; however, it seems that Jan Asselijn was one of the foremost influences on the young artist at first, with Schellinks hoping to meet the older master on the aforementioned French trip but being frustrated in his hopes, and then seeking him out in Amsterdam upon his return to the city. Peter Schatborn has noted that 'The relationship between Schellinks' work and that of Jan Asselijn goes beyond this borrowing [Schellinks had adapted several of Asselijn's drawings himself prior to his meeting him]...He may have become one of his pupils or assistants; he is in any event referred to as such in an old sale catalogue. It is also possible that he acquired drawings from Asselijn's studio sale after the artist's death in 1652, and that these served as a starting point for his own work." [1]
 
Schellinks visited Italy (as well as England, France, Switzerland and Germany) in c.1661-1665, travelling as an escort to Jacques Thierry, the son of a wealthy shipowner, though Schellinks' trip was also sponsored by the Amsterdam lawyer Laurens van der Hem, in order to gather material for an atlas which the lawyer would eventually publish in 46 volumes (with the aforementioned Doomer another contributor), with Schellinks providing an impressive 120 sheets. An event of particular note on this extensive trip was Schellinks' visit to the island of Malta, which few artists from the Low Countries had drawn or painted before this time.