Three Women and a Child by a Door, Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1645
Rembrandt took visible pleasure in drawing domestic scenes of women and children. Collectors, too, were clearly charmed by them. When the painter and collector Jan van de Cappelle died in 1679, he left behind an album containing 135 drawings ‘being the life of women with children by Rembrandt.’ Perhaps this splendid drawing was one of them.