This etching is quite different from all other etchings. The face of the woman seems much too white for a woman with such clear African looks. This may be due to a technical error. But it has also been suggested that the model was in fact an albino. The etching was known as *Het Moorinnetje* (The Mooress) in the catalogue of the De Burgy sale (1755, nrs 110-111).
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
Rembrandt’s mother, Neeltgen van Zuytbrouck, was born c. 1568 in Noordwijk. She married to Harmen Gerritzn van Rijn on 8 October 1589. She got ten children, of which Rembrandt was the youngest. She died in 1640 in Leiden. Although there is no certainty about her identity, it seems that Rembrandt has pictured this model in at least six etchings and several paintings. The reference to Rembrandt’s mother dates to the inventory-list of Clemens de Jonghe of 1679, ten years after Rembrandt’s death. Since the same model appears in several works by Jan Lievens, Rembrandt’s companion during his early years in Leiden, it has been suggested that she could also be Lievens’ grandmother, who was around sixty at that time.
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
In the catalogue of the De Burgy sale (1755) this etching was referred to as *Het boerinnetje, met een Korfje aan den Arm en een Tasje op Zyde* (The peasant girl with a basket on her arm and a bag at her side), which is exactly what we think to see. But closer examination of the clothes reveals that these are in fact German dating back to the middle ages. They were long out-of-date in Rembrandt’s time, but still used in Germany.
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
This striking little portrait of a woman sleeping over her book seems to be another model than the woman Rembrandt used in many other etchings, generally assumed to be his mother.
Until late in the 18th century the person seen here was identified as a man, as the title in the De Burgy catalogue (1755) stated Het Slaapend Mannetje op een Boek, met de Bril (The sleeping man with book and spectacles). Adam von Bartsch finally, in 1797, placed this print in the correct category as a sleeping woman.
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
Rembrandt’s mother, Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuytbrouck, (ca. 1568 – 1640) was ca. 65 years old at the time Rembrandt made this portrait, a tender study of old age. Although there is no certainty about her identity, it seems that Rembrandt has pictured this model in at least six etchings and several paintings. The reference to Rembrandt’s mother dates to the inventory-list of Clemens de Jonghe of 1679, ten years after Rembrandt’s death. Since the same model appears in several works by Jan Lievens, Rembrandt’s companion during his training in Leiden, it has been suggested that she could also be Lievens’ grandmother, who was around sixty at that time. From the only impression of the 1st state, which was drawn from a larger plate, it derives that Rembrandt originally intended to add at least part of the body.
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
This etching may well be a pendant to *Man with beard and Oriental headdress* (B 263) which is generally assumed to represent Rembrandt’s father and dates from the same year. Rembrandt’s mother, Neeltgen van Zuytbrouck, was born c. 1568 in Noordwijk. She married to Harmen Gerritzn van Rijn on 8 October 1589. She got ten children, of which Rembrandt was the youngest. She died in 1640 in Leiden. Although there is no certainty about her identity, it seems that Rembrandt has pictured this model in at least six etchings and several paintings. The reference to Rembrandt’s mother dates to the inventory-list of Clemens de Jonghe of 1679, ten years after Rembrandt’s death. Since the same model appears in several works by Jan Lievens, Rembrandt’s companion during his training in Leiden, it has been suggested that she could also be Lievens’ grandmother, who was around sixty at that time.
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
It took some time for experts to recognise the woman as Saskia. In the catalogue of the De Burgy sale in 1755 (nr 100) this print was still referred to as *Een gepaleerd Juffertje, met Peerlen in ‘t Hair* (A well-dressed young lady, with pearls in her hair). First Daulby (in 1796) and then Michel a hundred years later saw the likeness to other paintings and etchings in which Rembrandt pictured his wife.
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
Rembrandt’s mother, Neeltgen van Zuytbrouck, was born ca. 1568 in Noordwijk. She married to Harmen Gerritzn van Rijn on 8 October 1589. She got ten children, of which Rembrandt was the youngest. She died in 1640 in Leiden. Although there is no certainty about her identity, it seems that Rembrandt has pictured this model in at least six etchings and several paintings. The reference to Rembrandt’s mother dates to the inventory-list of Clemens de Jonghe of 1679, ten years after Rembrandt’s death. Since the same model appears in several works by Jan Lievens, Rembrandt’s companion during his training in Leiden, it has been suggested that she could also be Lievens’ grandmother, who was around sixty at that time.
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
The idea that this etching pictures a Jewish bride, already suggested by Valerius Röver in 1731 (as *het Jooden bruitje*) is based on the document in the right hand of the woman. It is supposed to be a *ketubah* in which the groom confirms his obligation to take care of his wife. Waiting for the groom, the bride is expected to have her hair hanging loosely. But others have suggested that the sitter is Saskia, either in a role as Sibyl or as Minerva (Valentiner) or as Queen Esther (Madlyn Kahr), waiting for a meeting with King Ahasveros.
Catalogue #21, Portraits of women, Rembrandt in black & white
Catalogue #21, Rembrandt in black & white, Studies and sketches
There has been much debate whether the model in this etching, one of four female nudes Rembrandt etched in 1658, is his then fiancée Hendrickje Stoffels. Hinterding has suggested that Rembrandt may have joined his former pupils Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck. They have made several pictures of nude models in the same year. In Röver’s inventory of 1731 the print was referred to as 2 zittende naakte Vrouwtjes naar ‘t leven (two sitting nude women from life) in combination with Woman bathing her feet at a brook (B200). In the de Burgy sale of 1755 it was listed as De naakte Joodse bruid (The naked Jewish bride). It is not clear whom this title referred to.
Catalogue #21, Rembrandt in black & white, Studies and sketches
In this etching, as well as in Naked woman seated on a mound (B198), Rembrandt may have worked with a dressed model, since the shape of the belly and the absence of a clear abdomen are not in line with reality, as Sluiter points out. Yet, this picture is definitely considered to be a natural one and as such quite revolutionary. This also counts for the way the woman looks at the observer. Conventional pictures show the woman averting her look.
Of this rather large etching Rembrandt has produced various states. Houbraken already noted that he has probably made the changes with the intention to sell the various states to contemporary collector’s. Houbraken assumed that these changes were in fact made by his son Titus. He called the print ‘t vrouwtje bij de kachel met en zonder ‘t witte mutsje. (woman beside a stove, with and without a white cap). Similar titles were used in the inventory of Röver (1731) and by van Huls (1735) and De Burgy (1755).
Initially, in the inventory of Clement de Jonghe in 1679, this print was called Leggende naackte ruster (lying nude, resting) and somewhat later Een zittend naakt Mannetje met een extra lang been (a sitting nude man with an very long leg). It is one of the three studies of nude men Rembrandt made in 1646.
According to Schwartz this is one of the most spontaneous prints by Rembrandt. Several authors suggested that the plate was drawn in the air and was in fact never completely finished. The trees, the bank and the flowing river are drawn with only a minimum number of lines and without shading, as if everything is bathing in sunlight. The swimmers are also lightly etched, but in full contours. The effect of a warm summer’s day is strengthened when Rembrandt used yellowish Japanese paper for the printing.
This etching was made in the same year that Rembrandt made two other nudes, B193 and B196. It is clearly a study of the male nude, showing the same model twice, but in different positions. This ‘learning’ element is also the reason that a charming group of mother and child is pictured in the background. As Jan Emmens pointed out in 1968, learning a baby to walk was a common metaphor for learning in general. It also gave the etching the nickname De Rolwagen (the walking frame), as early as 1731 (Valerius Röver’s inventory).
This print is part of the four etchings Rembrandt made in 1658 of nude women. It is traditionally referred to as depicting a sleeping woman. In the inventory list of Valerius Röver it is called het slapende vrouwtje and in the de Burgy sales catalogue (1755) even as Een naakt slaapend vrouwtje, leggende met de billen bloot (A nude sleeping woman, lying with her buttocks naked). Then Bartsch suggested that it was in fact a dark skinned woman, calling it Negress lying down. Recently, partially based on the lighter versions of the 1st state, this assumption has been disputed and the original title has been restored.
This is one of three self-portraits that initially were not recognized as such by Gersaint when he made his Catalogue raisonnée (1751). As usual the light comes in from the right. Rembrandt was obviously not content because he changed the light fall in the first four states, before printing larger numbers of the plate in the 5th state.
Catalogue #21, Fancy heads of men, Rembrandt in black & white
The sitter was originally identified as Ferdinand Bol (Münz, Schmidt-Degener, Biörklund) and sometimes as a self-portrait (Nowell-Usticke). Other authors mentioned Van Vliet or Gerard Dou (De Burgy sale 1755, lot nr 245). Later research made it highly likely that it is in fact Petrus Sylvius (1610-1653), the son of Johannes Sylvius (1564-1638), preacher, friend and family of Rembrandt and Aeltje Uylenburgh, niece of Saskia. Rembrandt made two etchings of Johannes Sylvius, B266 and B 280, the latter posthumous. In 1974 Dieuwke de Hoop Scheffer discovered an impression with the name of Petrus Sylvius inscribed on the backside (prior in the collections of W.Pelletier and J.Ritman). Also, watermark research has shown that a new edition was printed just after his death in 1653. The books and the clothing point at a learned man. The portrait was probably made just after Sylvius left to the Frisian village of Sloten, where he was appointed as church minister. Sylvius studied in Leiden at the same time that Rembrandt still lived and worked there. They may already have met there and then.