Object data
pen and brown ink, with brown wash and opaque white, on paper toned with a light brown wash
height 175 mm × width 134 mm
Rembrandt van Rijn
Saskia Sitting by a Window
Amsterdam, c. 1638
Inscriptions
-
inscribed on verso, in pencil: lower right, by Hofstede de Groot, f..fzoszgx-; below that, 18; below that (with the Hofstede de Groot cat. no.), 1297 H.G.
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stamped on verso: centre, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)
Technical notes
Watermark: None
Condition
Light foxing throughout1
Provenance
...; purchased from Thomas Humphrey Ward (1845-1926), London, through the mediation of the dealer P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, by Dr Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), The Hague, after 1900;2 by whom donated to the museum, 1906, but kept in usufruct; transferred to the museum (L. 2228), 1930
Object number: RP-T-1930-51
Credit line: Gift of C. Hofstede de Groot, The Hague
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Leiden 1606 - Amsterdam 1669)
After attending Latin school in his native Leiden, Rembrandt, the son of a miller, enrolled at Leiden University in 1620, but soon abandoned his studies to become an artist. He first trained (1621-23) under the Leiden painter Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburg (c. 1571-1638), followed by six months with the Amsterdam history painter Pieter Lastman (c. 1583-1633). Returning to Leiden around 1624, he shared a studio with Jan Lievens, where he aimed to establish himself as a history painter, winning the admiration of the poet and courtier Constantijn Huygens. In 1628 Gerard Dou (1613-75) became his first pupil. In the autumn of 1631 Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, where his career rapidly took off. Three years later he joined the Guild of St Luke and married Saskia Uylenburgh (1612-42), niece of the art dealer Hendrik Uylenburgh (c. 1587-1661), in whose house he had been living and working. She died shortly after giving birth to their son Titus, by which time Rembrandt was already in financial straits owing to excessive spending on paintings, prints, antiquities and studio props for his history pieces. After Saskia’s death, Rembrandt lived first with Titus's wet nurse, Geertje Dircx (who eventually sued Rembrandt for breach of promise and was later imprisoned for her increasingly unstable behaviour), and then with his later housekeeper, Hendrickje Stoffels (by whom he had a daughter, Cornelia). Mounting debts made him unable to meet the payments of his house on the Jodenbreestraat and forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1656 and to sell his house and art collection. In the last decade of his life, he, Hendrickje and Titus resided in more modest accommodation on the Rozengracht, but Rembrandt continued to be dogged by continuing financial difficulties. His beloved Titus died in 1668. Rembrandt survived him by only a year and was buried in the Westerkerk.
Entry
Though the identification has been questioned in recent years, the figure depicted full length, seated on a stool or a chair, has generally been recognized as Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia. She wears a scarf around her head and an apron. In her right hand, she holds a pen or a similar implement. At the right is a window through which light enters the room.
The figure was rendered with firm lines, which become almost scratchy in the shaded areas, but the face, as usual, has been done with the utmost precision: a few lines and the expression is fixed, just as in other drawings he made of her. Her face bears the greatest resemblance to a drawing in the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Dresden (inv. no. C 1326),3 in which she is sitting up in bed. In the Amsterdam sheet, the lighting on her face was defined with thin, transparent layers of wash. Broad brushstrokes to either side of the figure indicate areas of shadow, with the exception of one blank passage at the lower right. In the very darkest pen strokes in Saskia’s proper right arm, Rembrandt covered the iron-gall ink with corrections in opaque white.
The drawing belongs to a series in which Saskia is presumed to have served as the model: shown in bed (e.g. inv. no. RP-T-1930-53); seated at a window, in drawings in the Frits Lugt Collection in the Fondation Custodia in Paris (inv. no. 288),4 and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (inv. no. R 131 (PK));5 or having her hair cut, in a drawing in the Albertina in Vienna (inv. no. 8825).6 In a few drawings, she looks directly at Rembrandt, but in our drawing her glance passes him by. Rembrandt also made etchings of Saskia, a few of which show various heads (e.g. inv. nos. RP-P-1961-1198 and RP-P-OB-770).7 There are painted portraits of her and she also appears in historical compositions. It was customary for artists to use members of their household as models, and Saskia was no exception.
Several authors have attributed this drawing to Rembrandt’s student Nicolaes Maes, who was influenced by Rembrandt’s drawings of women and children.8 In the Benesch corpus of Rembrandt’s drawings, there is also doubt as to the master’s authorship, but there an earlier student is suggested.9 This uncertainty no longer exists. On the contrary, the stylistic trademarks of our drawing clearly correspond to those of other drawings of Saskia, as do the lightly toned paper and the iron-gall ink. On the basis of Rembrandt’s style and technique, the drawing can be dated to circa 1638, somewhat later than is usually assumed. A date contemporary with Saskia in Bed (inv. no. RP-T-1930-53) and its stylistically related sheets seems most probable.
Peter Schatborn, 2017
Literature
C. Hofstede de Groot, Die Handzeichnungen Rembrandts, Haarlem 1906, no. 1297; M.D. Henkel, Catalogus van de Nederlandsche teekeningen in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, I: Teekeningen van Rembrandt en zijn school, coll. cat. The Hague 1942, no. 9 (as Nicolaes Maes); O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt (rev. edn. by E. Benesch), 6 vols., London 1973 (orig. edn. 1954-57), no. A3 (as unknown pupil of Rembrandt); P. Schatborn, Catalogus van de Nederlandse tekeningen in het Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, IV: Tekeningen van Rembrandt, zijn onbekende leerlingen en navolgers/Drawings by Rembrandt, his Anonymous Pupils and Followers, coll. cat. The Hague 1985, no. 14, with earlier literature; P. Schatborn, Dutch Figure Drawings of the Seventeenth Century, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum)/Washington (DC) (National Gallery of Art) 1981-82, no. 79; J. Lloyd Williams et al., Rembrandt’s Women, exh. cat. Edinburgh (National Gallery of Scotland)/London (Royal Academy of Arts) 2001, no. 76; M. Schapelhouman, Rembrandt and the Art of Drawing, Amsterdam 2006, pp. 39-41, fig. 34 (as Saskia?); T. Döring, G. Bungarten and C. Pagel, Aus Rembrandts Kreis: Die Zeichnungen des Braunschweiger Kupferstichkabinetts, exh. cat. Braunschweig (Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum) 2006, p. 28, fig. 1; A. Müller-Schirmer, ‘Grenzen im Licht: Über Licht und Schatten in den Zeichnungen von Rembrandt’, Oud Holland 121 (2008), no. 1, p. 63 from pp. 56-80; B.P.J. Broos, Saskia: De vrouw van Rembrandt, Zwolle 2012, pp. 114-15, fig. 28 (as Saskia?); P. Schatborn and L. van Sloten, Old Drawings, New Names: Rembrandt and his Contemporaries, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) 2014, no. 30; M. Royalton-Kisch, The Drawings of Rembrandt: A Revision of Otto Benesch’s Catalogue Raisonné (online)
Citation
P. Schatborn, 2017, 'Rembrandt van Rijn, Saskia Sitting by a Window, Amsterdam, c. 1638', in J. Turner (ed.), Drawings by Rembrandt and his School in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.28135
(accessed 27 December 2024 15:34:47).