Dutch Masters and Ghost Stories: Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter

Sheridan Le Fanu's 1839 ghost story Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter stands out as a remarkable melding of fiction and biography. Godfried Schalken was a historical character, as was his mentor Gerrit Dou, a former pupil of Rembrandt. The story plunges us into the world of the Dutch masters and expands upon themes of darkness and transactional sexuality hinted at in some of Schalken's later works. In 1979 the story also spawned one of British television's most ambitious and daring dramatizations. I discuss both story and film.