Watermark: None

Light foxing throughout¹¹Typical of most drawings formerly in the collection of Hofstede de Groot, which at some point during his ownership were stored in unfavourably damp conditions.

…; 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;²²Hofstede de Groot notes, KB. 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

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),³³Benesch, no. 225; C. Dittrich and T. Ketelsen et al., Rembrandt: Die Dresdener Zeichnungen, exh. cat. Dresden (Kupferstich-Kabinett) 2004, no. 103. 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),⁴⁴Benesch, no. 253; Van Berge-Gerbaud, in M. van Berge-Gerbaud, Rembrandt et son école: Dessins de la Collection Frits Lugt, exh. cat. Paris (Institut Néerlandais)/Haarlem (Teylers Museum) 1997-98, no. 6, is reasonably arguing that the woman is too old to be Saskia; P. Schatborn, Rembrandt and his Circle: Drawings in the Frits Lugt Collection, coll. cat. 2 vols., Bussum/Paris 2010, no. 7. and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (inv. no. R 131 (PK));⁵⁵Benesch, no. 250; J. Giltaij, The Drawings by Rembrandt and his School in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, coll. cat. Rotterdam 1988, no. 8; A.J. Elen, Rembrandt in Rotterdam: Drawings of Rembrandt and his Circle in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, exh. cat. Rotterdam 2005-06, no. 11. or having her hair cut, in a drawing in the Albertina in Vienna (inv. no. 8825).⁶⁶Benesch, no. 395. 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).⁷⁷B. 365 and 367; New Hollstein: Rembrandt, nos. 157 and 162. 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.⁸⁸P. Schatborn and E. Ornstein-van Slooten, Rembrandt as Teacher, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) 1984-85, p. 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.⁹⁹O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt: A Critical and Chronological Catalogue, 6 vols., London 1954-57 and the revised edition of 1973 included this drawing as ‘attributed to Rembrandt’. 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

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)

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: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200117719