The copperplate was in the sale by Clement de Jonghe (1679) as 50 vrouwtjen bij de kaghel. It has not been seen since and is almost certainly not in existence anymore.

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.

Houbraken 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).

In 1658 Rembrandt made four etchings of nude women (the others are B199, B200 and B205) of which this one is the largest plate and the only one in which the model is not completely naked. Hinterding points at a drawing of 1652 (Benesch 1161, now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford) which shows the way Rembrandt positioned his models, with special attention to the lighting.

There is a copy in reverse (A) by Constantino Cumano (two states, 224 x 190 mm, WB only). Copy B is an anonymous copy in the same direction (220 x 190 mm).

The etching is considered as special by Wilson.

NH lists seven states, the final one not by Rembrandt. Most authors list seven states, Nowell-Usticke eight, all contemporary.
In the 1st state (NH, WB, R543) the niche behind the woman is undefined at the left. Her waist is shaded by diagonals only. There are remnants of tree leave in the upper left corner. In the 2nd state (NH, WB, R544) there is crosshatching on the left side of her body. Shadows are added beneath her breasts and from the right breast to the armpit.
In the 3rd state (NH, WB, R545) the niche behind the woman is defined by a vertical wall, additional crosshatching in the background. According to Hinterding this is the first completed state and al the best version of the print.
In the 4th state (NH, WB, R546-547) a key is added to the stove pipe.
In the 5th state (NH, WB, R547b) the upper part of the skirt is shaded by heavy crosshatching, especially just below the left elbow.
In the 6th state (NH, WB, R548) the cap of the woman is removed.
In the 7th state (WB final, R549) a slipped stroke appears above the left breast. NHD consider these to be later impressions of the 6th state.
In the 7th state (NH, NU 8th state) the slipped stroke is gone again. There is much extra work in the background, certainly not by Rembrandt. The left portion of the stove is heavily shaded. The woman’s arm is clearly outlined at the left side of the elbow. There is much diagonal left-to-right shading on the floor to the right of the skirt, just under the stove.
White has suggested that there may be even earlier states since the outlines of the right leg and stomach can be seen through the fabric of the skirt, suggesting the model was first completely nude, which again would be in line with the other 1658 etchings.

Of the 1st state three impressions are known, all on Japanese paper.
Of the 2nd state five, all on western paper.
According to Hinterding the 3rd state was the first really finished one, since some forty impressions are still existing, of which many on Japanese and Chinese paper.
Of the 4th state only two impressions remain, in the Bibliothèque Nationale and in the Boymans van Beuningen.
Of the 5th state all seven known impressions are on Japanese paper.

In the 2nd state: Seven Provinces (1658).
In the 3rd state: Strasbourg lily with countermark HIS (c. 1658).
In the 6th and 7th state: Arms of Amsterdam with countermark PB. In the 7th state: HIS; Strasbourg lily.

H 296, BB 58-B, G 189, M 299, Mz 141, RA 543-549, Cl 194, W 194, Bl 161, Du 194, CD 253, S82-83.
Christopher White 1999, p. 203; Rembrandt’s Women 2001, p. 226; Rohde 2005, p. 138; Hinterding 2006, p. 294; Hinterding 2008, p. 353-355; Blaazer 2009, p. 49-60; C.Driessen, Rembrandts vrouwen, 2012 p. 205;

NH: 6th state of VII/WB: 7th and final state
A good impression on thick oriental paper. The scratch above the left breast clearly visible.
Sheet 247 x 205 mm, broad margins of approx. 10 mm all around (+19%).

Rembrandt in Zwart-Wit, Het Markiezenhof (Bergen op Zoom), Stedelijk Museum Zutphen, Het Hannemahuis (Harlingen), Museum Gouda, Jan ten Horne Museum (Weert), Stadsmuseum Harderwijk, August 2013 – August 2015; Stedelijk Museum Vianen, October 2017 – January 2018;
Rembrandt in Black & White, Schloß Britz (Berlin), Bozar Expo (Brussels), Chateau des Penthes (Geneva), November 2015- October 2016;
Rembrandt, fotograaf avant-la-lettre, Museum De Reede (Antwerp), January – May 2023;
Rembrandt, 17\th century photographer, Daegu Art Museum (Korea), November 2023 – March 2024;
Rembrandt, de fotograaf, Westfries Museum (Hoorn), June 2024 – January 2025;