Reclining Female Nude, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1658
etching, h 82mm × w 158mm More details
This woman was long thought to be African; however, this is almost certainly not the case. It is plausible that Rembrandt, the master of light and dark, took on an artistic challenge: namely, how to depict the model’s skin when she is lying in a dark closetbed? Noteworthy is the fact that virtually all of Rembrandt’s female models wear a little cap – here, too.
