Rembrandt van Rijn | Woman with a Pink, early 1660

Her forehead crisscrossed with jewels, the sitter of this portrait displays a pink, or carnation, a symbol of love and marriage.

The gilt picture frame visible in the background locates her in a luxurious interior, but her pensive expression elevates the portrait beyond a mere statement of status.

If scholars are correct in identifying the sitter in the pendant portrait hanging next to this one as auctioneer Pieter Haringh, then the woman who appears here must be his wife, Elisabeth Delft. | Source: © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rembrandt | Woman with a Pink, early 1660s | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Con la fronte solcata da gioielli, la modella di questo ritratto mostra un rosa, o garofano, simbolo di amore e matrimonio.

La cornice dorata visibile sullo sfondo la colloca in un interno lussuoso, ma la sua espressione pensierosa eleva il ritratto oltre una mera dichiarazione di status.

Se gli studiosi hanno ragione nell'identificare la modella nel ritratto pendente appeso accanto a questo come il banditore Pieter Haringh, allora la donna che appare qui deve essere sua moglie, Elisabeth Delft. | Fonte: © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rembrandt | Self-Portrait, 1659 | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Rembrandt painted, drew, and etched so many self-portraits that changes in his appearance invite us to gauge his moods by comparing one to the other; we read these images biographically because the artist forces us to do so by confronting us directly.

Rembrandt painted this self-portrait in 1659, when he had suffered financial failure after many years of success.

His spacious house on the Sint-Anthoniesbreestraat and other possessions had been auctioned the previous year to satisfy his creditors.

In this late work, the deep-set eyes that bore into the viewer’s eyes express the wisdom gained from his life experiences.

Rembrandt | Self-Portrait, 1659 | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Interpreting a painting on the basis of an artist’s biography may be misleading, however, particularly an artist whose life has been romanticized to the extent of Rembrandt’s.

Before the painting was cleaned in 1992, thick layers of discolored varnish had given the portrait a heavy, brooding quality, but when the varnish was removed during restoration, the rich range of pinks and other flesh tones on his face immediately improved our reading of Rembrandt’s expression.

The light that so effectively illuminates the head also accents the artist’s left shoulder and, to a lesser extent, his broadly executed clasped hands.

Rembrandt’s pose was inspired by Raphael’s famous portrait of Balthasar Castiglione, which he saw at an auction in Amsterdam in 1639.

In this late self-portrait, Rembrandt returned to Raphael’s prototype because its dignified pose enabled the artist to present himself as a learned painter. | Source: © National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Rembrandt van Rijn | Hendrickje Stoffels, mid-1650s | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hendrickje Stoffels, the daughter of a soldier, worked as Rembrandt’s housekeeper, eventually becoming his common-law wife and mother of their daughter, Cornelia.

While no formal portraits of Stoffels survive, she is believed to have modeled for a number of Rembrandt’s paintings, including this work, perhaps intended as a generic image of a courtesan.

The figure’s intimate gesture of holding her robe closed with one hand echoes the close observations Rembrandt made of the women in his household in many surviving drawings. | Source: © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rembrandt van Rijn | Hendrickje Stoffels (1626-1663), mid-1650s | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hendrickje Stoffels, figlia di un soldato, lavorò come governante di Rembrandt, diventando infine la sua convivente e madre della loro figlia, Cornelia.

Sebbene non siano sopravvissuti ritratti formali di Stoffels, si ritiene che abbia posato per diversi dipinti di Rembrandt, tra cui quest'opera, forse intesa come immagine generica di una cortigiana.

Il gesto intimo della figura di tenere chiusa la sua veste con una mano riecheggia le attente osservazioni che Rembrandt fece delle donne della sua famiglia in molti disegni sopravvissuti. | Fonte: © Metropolitan Museum of Art