# Gerard Douw — Short Fiction character guide

> Gerard Douw in Short Fiction by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Douw, Gerard, Jerry

**First appearance:** 0006-strange-event-in-the-life-of-schalken-the-painter

## Snapshot

A Dutch painter whose quiet studio is invaded by a stranger bearing a message that draws him toward matters of weight and shadow.

## Who they are

Gerard Douw belongs to the small, watchful world of Dutch artists and their apprentices, a master whose room and reputation anchor the tale's opening. When a cloaked burgher of Rotterdam summons him by name for an evening meeting, the painter's ordinary curiosity becomes entangled with something grave and unaccountably still. His willingness to keep that appointment sets the story's supernatural machinery quietly in motion.

## Relationships

### [Mynher Vanderhausen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/mynher_vanderhausen)

_psychological_

Gerard Douw is obsessed with Mynher Vanderhausen, who may be a supernatural figure or object of fixation.

### [Mynher Vanderhausen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/mynher_vanderhausen)

_psychological_

Gerard Douw is obsessed with Mynher Vanderhausen, who may be a supernatural figure or object of fixation.

### [Mynher Vanderhausen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/mynher_vanderhausen)

_psychological_

Gerard Douw is obsessed with Mynher Vanderhausen, who may be a supernatural figure or object of fixation.

## In the story

### [Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/chapters/strange-event-in-the-life-of-schalken-the-painter)

Rose's uncle and Schalken's master; he arranges Rose's marriage to Vanderhausen for financial gain.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/gerard_douw
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters