![Godfried Schalcken - Useless Moral Lesson [c.1680-85]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3892/15152426119_2f3a8e09ca_o.jpg)
Godfried Schalcken (Made, 1643 - The Hague, November 16, 1706) was a Dutch genre and portrait painter. 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. Before he was 4 years old, his family moved to Dordrecht, where his father became rector of the Latin school. His earlier genre paintings very closely resemble Gerard Dou's work. He worked in Leiden until c.1675, then returned to Dordrecht until 1691, after which he settled in The Hague, where he continued to paint until his death in 1706. He also visited England (1692–1697), but his uncouth manners and bad temper alienated him from the society there.
[Mauritshuis, The Hague - Oil on panel, 35 x 28.5 cm]