Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Anna

• Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Anna
• An old woman, probably Rembrandt's mother, Neeltgen Willemsdr van Zuydtbroeck (d 1640), apparently in the guise of the prophetess Anna
• An Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Hannah

An old woman, probably Rembrandt's mother, Neeltgen Willemsdr van Zuydtbroeck (d 1640), apparently in the guise of the prophetess Anna

SK-A-3066

signature and date: ‘RHL 1631’

Here the light comes from behind the old woman: the brightest illumination falls on the book and her wrinkled hand, modelled with paint. Her face remains in shadow. She could be the prophetess Anna, an elderly widow who, according to the Bible, served God through fasting and prayer. Tradition has it that Rembrandt’s mother posed for this painting.

The Rembrandt Database, Object information, Rembrandt, An old woman reading probably the profetess Hanna, dated 1631, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-A-3066, http://www.rembrandtdatabase.org/Rembrandt/painting/2935/an-old-woman-reading-probably-the-profetess-hanna, accessed 2016 February 01

painter: Rembrandt van Rijn (mentioned on object)

1631

olieverf op paneel

height 60 cm x width 48 cm

purchase 1928-12

Public domain

...; ? sale, Johan Anthony van Kinschot (1708-66, Delft and Heemstede), Delft (E. van der Smout), 21 July 1767 sqq., no. 215 ('Een in een boek leezende Vrouwe, stout en schaduwagtig geschildert, door denzelven [Rembrandt]. Paneel. Hoog 1 v. 11 d. Breed 1 1/2 v [60.1 x 47 cm]'.) ...; collection Hugo Damian Erwein (1805-65), Graf von Schönborn, Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden, 1845 ('Fünftes Zimmer ... von P Rembrand die Prophetin Johanna in einem Lehnstuhle sitzend und in einem Buche lesend, ausgezeichnet und ungemein zart behandeld. Soll das Portrait von Rembrands Mutter sein');{Coll cat. Schönborn 1845, p. 38.} his son, Arthur Franz Maximilian (1846-1915), Graf von Schönborn, Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden; his sale, Paris (C. Pillet), 17 May 1867 sqq., no. 97 ('La Prophétesse Anne. Assise devant une table, elle lit dans un gros livre sur lequel se pose sa main droite étendue. Tournée de profil à droite et vue jusqu'aux genoux. La tête est couverte d'un capuchon bordé d'or; sur les épaules un lourd manteau rougeâtre. Fond neutre. Grand caractère. Pureté absolue. Signé du monogramme et daté 1631. B- H., 0,70 - L. 0,58.') frs. 12,500, to Peter II (1827-1900), Grossherzog von Oldenburg, for the Augusteum, Oldenburg;{Coll. cat. Augusteum 1868, p. 35, no. 123 (`Die 84jähr. Prophetin Hanna, vor einem Tische sitzend. Sie liest mit halbgeöffneten Munde in einem Folianten, auf welchen sie die rechte Hand legt. Zur Rechten gewandte Profil. Den Kopf bedeckt eine goldgestickte Capuze, auf den Schultern ruht ein rother Mantel. Gallerie Pommersfelden. Breite 48. Höhe 60. Monogr. 1631.´} his son, August II (1852-1931), Grossherzog von Oldenburg; from whom, with 39 other paintings, fl. 600,000, through the mediation of the dealer A.W.M. Mensing, to Mari Paul Voûte (1856-1928) and Ernst Heldring (1871-1954), Amsterdam, 9 September 1922;{De Vries 1970, I, p. 452; Hecht 2008, pp. 70-71.} from Mari Paul Voûte's heirs, fl. 100,000, to the Vereniging Rembrandt for the museum, 1928{Hecht 2008, p. 75.}

• The Rembrandt Database, Object information, Rembrandt, An old woman reading probably the profetess Hanna, dated 1631, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-A-3066, http://www.rembrandtdatabase.org/Rembrandt/painting/2935/an-old-woman-reading-probably-the-profetess-hanna, accessed 2016 February 01
• E. van de Wetering, Rembrandt : the painter at work, Amsterdam 2009, p. 259, fig. 316
• F. Bijl de Vroe, "Het Nationaal Fonds 1930 en de voorzitters M.P. Voûte en E. Heldring", Bulletin van de Vereniging Rembrandt 15 (2005), nr. 2, p. 29-31.
• G. Luijten, ''De veelheid en de eelheid' : een Rijksmuseum Schmidt-Degener', Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 35 (1984), p. 376, afb. 23.

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

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200107947