Young Woman in Fantasy Costume

• Young Woman in Fantasy Costume
• Portrait of a Woman, thought to be Rembrandt´s Wife Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642)

Portrait of a Woman, thought to be Rembrandt´s Wife Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642)

SK-A-4057

signature and date: ‘Rembrandt ft. 1633’

The young woman’s clothing is not in keeping with the fashions of Rembrandt’s day, but rather reflects styles of earlier centuries. The woman’s distinctive features – a domed forehead, slightly bulging eyes, and pronounced chin – are easily recognized in depictions of ancient goddesses and heroines that Rembrandt painted in the 1630s. Thus the painting is not strictly a portrait, but a ‘tronie’, or fantasy head.

The Rembrandt Database, Object information, Rembrandt, Young woman in fantasy costume, dated 1633, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-A-4057, http://www.rembrandtdatabase.org/Rembrandt/painting/3067/young-woman-in-fantasy-costume, accessed 2016 February 01

painter: Rembrandt van Rijn

1633

olieverf op paneel

• height 65 cm x width 48 cm
• height 86.8 cm x width 70.5 cm x depth 6.5 cm

De Bruijn-van der Leeuw Bequest, Muri, Switzerland

bequest 1961

Public domain

...; ? purchased by Thomas Bruce (1766-1841), 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine, Broomhall, Fife, at an unknown date;{According to a letter dated 21 January 1933 from Edward James Bruce to Joseph Duveen quoted in Isaac de Bruijn's notes preserved at the Rijksmuseum.} ? by descent to his grandson, Victor Alexander Bruce (1849-1917), 9th Earl of Elgin, 13th Earl of Kincardine, Broomhall, Fife; first mentioned in his collection, 1893;{Hofstede de Groot 1893, p. 223.} his son, Edward James Bruce (1881-1968), 10th Earl of Elgin, 14th Earl of Kincardine, Broomhall, Fife; from whom, £ 7,000, to the dealer Joseph Duveen, Paris and New York, 1926;{Secrest 2004, p. 478.} from whom, $ 35,000, to Isaac de Bruijn (1872-1953), Spiez and Muri, near Bern, December 1932;{Isaac de Bruijn's notes preserved at the Rijksmuseum; Secrest 2004, p. 478, where it is mistakenly stated that Duveen bought the painting back and resold it to an unknown buyer.} donated by Isaäc de Bruijn and his wife, Johanna Geertruida van der Leeuw (1877-1960), Spiez and Muri, near Bern, to the Vereeniging Rembrandt on the 50th anniversary of its founding, for placement in the Rijksmuseum, but kept in usufruct, 1933; transferred to the museum, 1961

Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

• The Rembrandt Database, Object information, Rembrandt, Young woman in fantasy costume, dated 1633, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-A-4057, http://www.rembrandtdatabase.org/Rembrandt/painting/3067/young-woman-in-fantasy-costume, accessed 2016 February 01
• G. Luijten, ''De veelheid en de eelheid' : een Rijksmuseum Schmidt-Degener', Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 35 (1984), p. 376, afb. 24.
• Zie veiling Christie's London (85 Old Brompton Road) 'Old Masters & British Paintings' (05-07-2013) lot nr. 65: After Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 'Portrait of a lady, possibly Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642)'.

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200107944