P
PublicArkScroll History, Not Hype
Back to Archive
Portrait of a Woman
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Portrait of a Woman

oil on woodRembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)/1635 or earlier

Description

At the age of 25, Rembrandt moved from his hometown of Leiden to the bustling city of Amsterdam. Within a few years he had become one of the city’s most successful portrait painters, creating remarkably vivid likenesses that seemed to express the personality and soul of the sitter. Here, Rembrandt used smooth, fluid brushstrokes to recreate the soft texture of the woman’s skin. In contrast, thicker, more textured strokes draw attention to the lavish display of her lace collar and gold jewelry—details sure to please a wealthy client. The extraordinary demand at that time for a portrait by Rembrandt meant that in many cases (including, probably, this painting) he called upon assistants to help complete the work.

Provenance

Capo de Lista family collection (?) (Padua, Italy); Barbini-Breganze coll., Venice (1847) cat. no. 204;; Städelsches Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) (inv. no. 927), 1847 to 1882;; sold, Paris, May 5, 1882, no. 30;; Charles Sedelmeyer (Paris, France);; Karl von der Heydt (Berlin, Germany) (1906);; A.B. Antik (Stockholm, Sweden); consigned to Knoedler & Co. (New York, and London, England, 1919);; sold to Elisabeth Severance Prentiss (Cleveland, Ohio), in exchange for John Hoppner, Portrait of Mrs. Jermingham and Herman Kricheldorf, Still-Life with Lobster, 1919, upon her death, held in trust by the estate; Estate of Elisabeth Severance Prentiss, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1944.

Dimensions

77.5 × 64.8 cm

Accession No

1944.90

Official Citations

[The Cleveland Museum of Art Official Record][Full Resolution Image]
Curatorial Affinity Stream

Continuing the Universe of Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)

European Painting and Sculpture • Netherlands • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries