Saskia as St Catherine of Alexandria, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1638
etching, h 110mm × w 78mm More details
This woman clearly has the facial features of Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia. She is dressed in a long, flowing shirt and wears her hair loose. The spiked wheel at the right identifies her as the martyr St Catherine of Alexandria. Perhaps in this way Rembrandt expresses her sorrow over the death of their second child, Cornelia, in 1638.
