# A Boy Blowing on a Firebrand to Light a Candle [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [SCHALCKEN, Godfried]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 75 x 64 cm ## Commentary Night scenes like this were particularly popular amongst Dutch artists, and Schalken specialised in this subject. Although the exact meaning of the boy with a firebrand is not known today, it derived from a painting by the Italian artist Jacopo Bassano and was also enthusiastically adopted by El Greco, who incorporated the motif in his <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/g/greco\_el/08/0816grec.html'\)" href="/html/g/greco\_el/08/0816grec.html">Allegory</a> which is also in the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland. It is likely that Schalcken executed this painting for Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, while visiting Althorp during the period he spent in Britain. ## Related artworks - [Artist and Model Looking at an Ancient Statue by Lamplight]() - [Cephalus and Procris]() - ['Differing tastes']() - ['Every one his fancy']() - [Gentleman Offering a Lady a Ring in a Candlelit Bedroom]() - [Girl Eating an Apple]() - [Lovers Lit by a Candle]() - [Man Making an Obscene Gesture]() - [Portrait of a Gentleman]() - [Portrait of a Man]() - [Portrait of a Young Woman]() - [Portrait of Françoise van Diemen]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()