Watermark: None

Foxing throughout,¹¹Typical of most drawings formerly in the collection of Hofstede de Groot, which at some point during his ownership were stored in unfavourably damp conditions. brownish-red stain at lower right, damage at lower left from Hofstede de Groot’s attempted removal of the collector’s mark

…; collection Henry Stephen Olivier (1795-1864), Potterne Manor House, near Devizes, Wiltshire (L. 1373);²²According to an inscription on the drawing, Hofstede de Groot removed the stamp, which was no. 613 in Fagan 1883 and which was unidentified until 1956, when Lugt figured out it belonged to Olivier. …; purchased from Paul Mathey (1844-1929), Paris, as Rembrandt, with five other drawings, through the mediation of the dealer P. Roblin, by Dr Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), The Hague, 1903;³³Hofstede de Groot notes, KB. by whom donated to the museum, 1906, but kept in usufruct; transferred to the museum, 1930

Object number: RP-T-1930-49

Credit line: Gift of Dr C. Hofstede de Groot, The Hague

Standing behind the seated woman is another figure, whose wide skirt and jacket are visible. She is either coiffing the seated woman’s hair or adjusting her cap.

The drawing was considered to be by Rembrandt until 1985, when Schatborn assigned it to Drost.⁷⁷P. Schatborn, ‘Tekeningen van Rembrandts leerlingen’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 33 (1985), no. 2, p. 101. This pupil’s characteristic draughtsmanship, however, is not as apparent here as in some other cases. For example, the hatching at the right consists of zigzag lines, rather than the evenly placed parallel strokes found in most of Drost’s drawings, such as Ruth and Naomi in the Kunsthalle, Bremen (inv. no. 54/437).⁸⁸Sumowski, Drawings, III (1980), no. 546. His figures also have sharp facial features with pointy noses, whereas the face of the seated woman in the museum’s drawing is sketched with softer lines. However, certain elements, such as the passages that have been rubbed with a finger or dry brush and the delicate hatching on the woman’s face, are typical of Drost. Since there is no plausible other candidate for the authorship, the attribution to Drost is here tentatively maintained.

The motif of a woman having her hair done occurs in two drawings by Rembrandt, one in the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris (inv. no. 805),⁹⁹P. Schatborn, Rembrandt and his Circle: Drawings in the Frits Lugt Collection, 2 vols., coll. cat. Paris 2010, no. 5. and the other in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no. 8825).¹⁰¹⁰Benesch, no. 395. Both drawings, which are dated to the second half of the 1630s, could have been a source of inspiration for Drost. It was common practice in Rembrandt’s studio to use a scene from everyday life as a starting point for a historical composition. A drawing of a woman having her hair done could easily be developed into a scene with Bathsheba, Judith or Esther at her toilet.

Bonny van Sighem, 2000/Marleen Ram, 2019

Tentoonstelling van teekeningen van Oud-Nederlandsche meesters, exh. cat. Leiden (Vereeniging die Laecken-Halle) 1903, no. 19 (as Rembrandt); Rembrandt-Hulde te Leiden. Schilderijen en teekeningen van Rembrandt en van schilderijen van andere Leidsche Meesters der Zeventiende Eeuw, exh. cat. Leiden (Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal) 1906, no. 70 (as Rembrandt); C. Hofstede de Groot, Die Handzeichnungen Rembrandts, Haarlem 1906, no. 1295 (as Rembrandt); Exposition hollandaise: Tableaux, aquarelles et dessins anciens et modernes, exh. cat. Paris (Musée du Jeu de Paume) 1921, no. 58 (as Rembrandt); M.D. Henkel, Catalogus van de Nederlandsche teekeningen in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, I: Teekeningen van Rembrandt en zijn school, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1942, no. 34, and p. 45, under no. 90 (as Rembrandt), with earlier literature; W. Wegner, Rembrandt-Zeichnungen, exh. cat. Munich (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung) 1957, no. 28 (as Rembrandt); O. Benesch, Rembrandt: Werk und Forschung (rev. edn. by E. Benesch), Lucerne 1970 (orig. edn. Vienna 1935), p. 61 (as Rembrandt); O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt (rev. edn. by E. Benesch), 6 vols., London 1973 (orig. edn. 1954-57), no. 1164, and p. 298, under no. 1097 (as Rembrandt); P. Schatborn, ‘Tekeningen van Rembrandts leerlingen’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 33 (1985), no. 2, p. 101; H. Bevers, P. Schatborn and B. Welzel, Rembrandt, the Master and his Workshop: Drawings and Etchings, exh. cat. Berlin (Kupferstichkabinett) and elsewhere 1991-92, p. 142, under no. 45, n. 3; D.A. de Witt, L. van Sloten and J. van der Veen, Rembrandt’s Late Pupils: Studying under a Genius, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) 2015, no. 80 (c. 1650-53); H. Bevers, with a contribution by G.J. Dietz and A. Penz, Zeichnungen der Rembrandtschule im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett, coll. cat. Berlin 2018, p. 88, under no. 43

B. van Sighem, 2000, 'attributed to Willem Drost, A Woman at her Toilette, Amsterdam, c. 1650 - c. 1655', in J. Turner (ed.), Drawings by Rembrandt and his School in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200125086