The copperplate was probably in the sale by Clement de Jonghe (1679), as ‘10 Rembrants moeder’. It later appeared in the sale by Jean de Bary (1759, lot 57) and was sold for Fl 6,00 to Kleinshem. It then came in the collection of Claude-Henri Watelet and in the set of plates subsequently owned by Pierre-François Basan, Henri-Louis Basan (his nr 1446), Auguste Jean (ca 1809), Veuve Jean, Auguste and Michel Bernard (1846), Alvin-Beaumont (1906) and Robert Lee Humber (1937). It was sold at the Artemis sale in London (1993) to Dr H. Berger (Beverly Hills). The plate was used to produce approx. 2500 prints as the Millennium Impressions in 1998.
In 2003 it was sold, together with seven other plates, to Park West Galleries in Southfield, Michigan. They actively marketed impressions of this plate and probably printed many more. For more details, see the separate chapter on the Millennium Impressions. The plate was also used for a forgery of B19 (Self-portrait with Saskia) in which the head of Saskia is replaced by this head.

Rembrandt’s mother, Neeltgen Willemsdochter 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, in which a plate named Seated old woman was referred to as being Rembrandts mother. 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.

NH lists six copies of which two in the same direction. Copy A is anonymous, signed RL 1631 (93 x 65 mm, WB 1). Copy D is by Thomas Worlidge (two states, 78 x 66 mm, WB 3).
There are four copies in reverse. Copy B is published by Hertel, inscribed R.L. del|No 8|Hertel excud (97 x 72 mm). Copy C is signed Charles Michel Campion, inscribed Rembrandt f (89 x 62 mm, WB 2). Copy E is anonymous (83 x 62 mm). Copy F is also anonymous, inscribed Rembrandt f 1636 (79 x 74 mm).

The etching is considered as special by Middleton and Wilson.
The plate was made by a pupil according to Coppier.
The plate is not by Rembrandt according to Singer.

NH lists six states, only the first by Rembrandt. Later states are probably reworked by Johannes van Vliet. Most other authors list two states, Nowell-Usticke seven. From his 3rd state there are later impressions by Watelet, P. Basan, Basan, Jean, Bernard and Beaumont.
In the 1st state (NH, WB, BB, R, NU) the fingers are not yet separated by shading.
In the 2nd state (NH, WB final, BB, R, H, NU) the fingers are separated by shading, the eyelashes black, cross lines are added below the hand. The dark portions are reworked.
In the 3rd state (NH, BB, R, H, NU Watelet) rework has made the face look pinched and worried. A text C.H.W. Reparavit 1760 is added at the bottom. Two strong horizontal lines are added to the lower part of the hand.
In the 4th state (NH/ 5th state NU P. Basan, H.L. Basan, Jean) the inscription is removed again.
In the 5th state (NH/ 6th state NU Jean) the worn parts of the hood are strengthened with horizontal shading. The face is altered again and now more similar to the earliest states (NU). Fine vertical shading is added above the eyes and on the bridge of the nose.
In the 6th state (NH/ 7th state NU Bernard, Beaumont) the plate is entirely rebitten. There is shading on the face with dark, almost horizontal lines. There is much extra work in the upper right corner. The signature is rebitten.
The state listed in WB, BB and NU (4th state) in which the word Bruxelles is added to the inscription, is not found by NH and probably does not exist.

Nowell-Usticke considers the impressions in the Recueil de Basan to be very good.

In the 1st state: Strasbourg lily (c. 1648);

H 50, BB 31-G, G 318, M 53, Mz 302, RA 915-918, Cl 339, W 344, Bl 195, Du 337, CD 54
Baas 2015, p. 78-79;