Boys Flying Kites (oil on canvas)

This picture is a celebration of one of the favourite pastimes of young boys, and is not intended to carry any message of frivolity or transience. The attribution has not yet been fully resolved, but it bears many similarities to ‘The Angler’ in the Staatlichen Museen, Berlin, which is signed by Schalcken. It too contains large yellow irises, on one of the open blossoms of which a red admiral sits, just like the dragonfly in this picture. It seems that this is an example of his earliest manner, after he had been taught by Hoogstraten, but before he had come under the influence of Dou. Cleaning of the picture has made more evident the heraldry in the kites. However, it has not proved possible to identify the tinctures and charges as those of a family or city in the Netherlands.