Although pictures of Flora by Titian and other Italian artists ultimately inspired this work, Rembrandt rejects their idealizing approach by treating the goddess of Spring as an ordinary woman in fancy dress, with an expression betraying real experience. She seems to understand that flowers—emblematic of youth, beauty, and love—will fade away. The figure's face and pose are based partly on a portrait of Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, who died in 1642. While the paint surface is abraded, its quality is clear in the billowing folds of the blouse and the flower-filled apron.

Rembrandt's late Flora was probably painted about 1654. The facial features recall Rembrandt's wife, Saskia (died 1642), and to a lesser extent presumed representations of his companion, Hendrickje Stoffels, but there was certainly no intention of depicting either woman here. The figure is an ideal type that goes back to earlier pictures by Rembrandt.

It is often observed that in this picture Rembrandt emulates Titian, in particular his beautiful Flora of ca. 1515–20 (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence), which until 1641 was in Amsterdam for a few years. The same canvas has been connected, unconvincingly, with Rembrandt's Flora of 1634 (State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) and, more plausibly, with his Flora of 1635 (National Gallery, London). The subject of Flora and the closely related theme of Arcadian shepherdesses flourished in the artist's circle during the 1630s, and the MMA picture may be described as a mature restatement of an image that had attracted Rembrandt when he was in his late twenties and newly married. In a broad view, the legacy of Venetian art in a picture such as this one is its treatment of an imaginary figure in terms of real experience. Here one finds a woman from the mythological past depicted with a sensual and emotional immediacy rarely achieved before. Rembrandt's study of human expression and behavior had begun in Leiden nearly thirty years earlier, but here it is more subjective and more sensitive.

Two portraits of Saskia seem especially important for the MMA Flora: the Saskia as Flora of 1641 in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, and the profile portrait of Saskia in a luxurious version of Northern Renaissance costume in the Gemäldegalerie, Kassel, which is thought to have been begun about 1634, finished about 1642, and sold to Jan Six in October 1652. The offer of a carnation in the Museum's picture may be traced back in Rembrandt's oeuvre mainly to his silverpoint drawing of Saskia dated "the third day of our betrothal, the 8th of June 1633" (Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin), and to the Saskia as Flora in Dresden. Although carnations and roses, like any flowers, were attributes of Flora, they also had a long history in art and literature as signs of love and marriage. Rembrandt seems to recall Netherlandish tradition as well as Renaissance images of the goddess "in the mantle of Spring," scattering flowers from her folded gown (Held 1961).

The painting has suffered from linings and abrasion. The trace of horizontal threads in the paint layer is especially pronounced to the right in the bust and sleeve. Modeling is diminished in the head and neck. The background is quite thin; an early repainting of the background, noted by Bode in 1901, was removed in the 1970s. The intended wall plane, with various textures and light effects, is now only vaguely discerned. The voluminous sleeves of the Venetian chemise have lost some degree of the gracefulness and much of the substance they once had. X-radiographs (see Images) give an idea of the billowing volumes and flowing forms that were originally found in the blouse, skirt, and apron, creating a vivid impression of space filled by a figure with arms extended toward the viewer as well as to the side.

[2011; adapted from Liedtke 2007]

George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, Althorp, Great Brington, Northamptonshire (by 1822–d. 1836); the Earls Spencer, Althorp (1836–1910); Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer, Althorp (from 1910); [Arthur J. Sulley, London, until 1919; sold to Duveen]; [Duveen, London and New York, from 1919; sold to Huntington]; Mrs. Henry E. (Arabella D.) Huntington, formerly Mrs. Collis P. Huntington, New York (by 1920–d. 1924); her son, Archer Milton Huntington, New York (1924–26)

Amsterdam. Stedelijk Museum. "Rembrandt Schilderijen," September 8–October 31, 1898, no. 106 (as "Jonge vrouw met bloemen in haar voorschoot," lent by the Earl of Spencer, Althorp Park).

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Winter Exhibition," 1899, no. 95 (as "Woman with Flowers," lent by Earl Spencer).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition," May 8–August 1920, unnumbered cat. (p. 9, lent by Mrs. Henry E. Huntington).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of Rembrandt," January 21–?, 1942, no catalogue.

Cambridge, Mass. Fogg Museum of Art. "Rembrandt," October 19–November 27, 1948, no. 11 (as "Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels as 'Flora'").

Worcester, Mass. Worcester Art Museum. "Portraits of Women, XVI to XX Centuries," February 16–March 27, 1949, no catalogue.

New York. Wildenstein. "Loan Exhibition of Rembrandt," January 19–February 25, 1950, no. 20 (as "Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels as Flora").

Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum. "Rembrandt Tentoonstelling," May 18–August 5, 1956, no. 74 (as "Hendrickje Stoffels als Flora").

Rotterdam. Museum Boymans. "Rembrandt Tentoonstelling," August 8–October 21, 1956, no. 74 (as "Hendrickje Stoffels als Flora").

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat. (p. 43).

Tokyo. National Museum of Western Art. "Masterpieces of World Art from American Museums," September 11–October 17, 1976, no. 33.

Kyoto National Museum. "Masterpieces of World Art from American Museums," November 2–December 5, 1976, no. 33.

Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "Rembrandt: The Master & His Workshop," September 12–November 10, 1991, no. 41.

Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum. "Rembrandt: The Master & His Workshop," December 4, 1991–March 1, 1992, no. 41.

London. National Gallery. "Rembrandt: The Master & His Workshop," March 26–May 24, 1992, no. 41.

Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 13, 1992–April 11, 1993, no. 13.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 10, 1995–January 7, 1996, no. 12.

Moscow. State Pushkin Museum. "Museums of the World: Homage to the Pushkin Museum Centenary," July 31–September 20, 1998, unnumbered cat. (p. 86).

New York. Salander-O'Reilly Galleries. "Rembrandt and the Venetian Influence," October 3–November 18, 2000, no. 1.

Edinburgh. National Gallery of Scotland. "Rembrandt's Women," June 8–September 2, 2001, no. 119.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Rembrandt's Women," September 22–December 16, 2001, no. 119.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Rembrandt's Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher," October 26, 2003–January 18, 2004, no. 204.

Art Institute of Chicago. "Rembrandt's Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher," February 14–May 9, 2004, no. 204.

Moscow. State Pushkin Museum. "Rembrandt, ego predshestvenniki i posledovateli," September 12–November 12, 2006, no. 36.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.

Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado. "Rembrandt, pintor de historias," October 15, 2008–January 6, 2009, no. 33.

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 6, 2012–January 4, 2013, no. 9.

Beijing. National Museum of China. "Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 8–May 9, 2013, no. 9.

Thomas Frognall Dibdin. Aedes Althorpianae; or an Account of the Mansion, Books and Pictures, at Althorp. . . . London, 1822, vol. 1, p. 277, as "A Woman's Head, by Rembrandt," located in the South East Angle bedroom.

John Smith. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. 7, London, 1836, p. 173, no. 543, as "A Young Lady . . . wearing a hat decked with a bunch of flowers . . . " etched by A. Pond.

C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. De Rembrandt Tentoonstelling te Amsterdam. Amsterdam, [1898], unpaginated, no. 106, as "Young Woman with Flowers," painted about 1660; likens it to a Hals painting in the Rothschild collection, Paris, with a male pendant in Antwerp; suggests that Rembrandt may have known these works, and that this picture may have had a pendant.

Malcolm Bell. Rembrandt van Rijn and His Work. London, 1899, p. 138, as "rejected, with justice" by Michel [but see Notes]; states that it is possibly the picture formerly in the collection of [?Isaac] van den Blooken.

Marcel Nicolle. Rembrandt aux expositions d'Amsterdam et de Londres. Paris, 1899, ill. p. 67.

Wilhelm [von] Bode with the assistance of C. Hofstede de Groot. The Complete Work of Rembrandt. 6, Paris, 1901, pp. 10–11, no. 420, pl. 420, as "Flora," by Rembrandt, painted about 1656-58; states that the background has been repainted.

Adolf Rosenberg. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. Stuttgart, 1904, p. 262, ill. p. 213, as a female portrait of 1656–58.

Hermann Voss. "Rembrandt und Tizian." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 28 (1905), p. 158.

René Pierre-Marcel. "Collection du comte Spencer à Althorp House." Les Arts no. 60 (December 1906), p. 10, ill. p. 2.

Adolf Rosenberg. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1906, pp. 416, 419, 432, ill. p. 306.

Adolf Rosenberg. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. 3rd ed. Stuttgart, 1909, pp. 577, 582, 601, ill. p. 382, as a portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels as Flora, about 1656.

C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 6, London, 1916, p. 135, no. 202, as "Flora".

"Pictures Lent for the Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15 (August 1920), p. 192, erroneously states that it "has been called Saskia".

D. S. Meldrum. Rembrandt's Paintings. London, 1923, p. 200, pl. CCCLVII, dates it about 1657.

François Monod. "La Galerie Altman au Metropolitan Museum de New-York (2e article)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 5th ser., 8 (November 1923), p. 307, discusses it among possible portraits of Magdalena van Loo, but dates it about 1657, when Magdalena would have been fifteen years old.

Bryson Burroughs. "Paintings by Rembrandt and Hals on Loan." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 20 (November 1925), p. 259, ill. on cover, as Hendrickje Stoffels as Flora.

Bryson Burroughs. "Three Paintings in a Recent Gift." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 21 (July 1926), pp. 164, 166.

Max Eisler. Der alte Rembrandt. Vienna, 1927, p. 58.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Rembrandt Paintings in America. New York, 1931, unpaginated, no 124, pl. 124, as "Flora," painted about 1656; states that it reflects the more modest personality of Hendrickje Stoffels, rather than Saskia.

O[tto]. Benesch in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. 29, Leipzig, 1935, p. 266, as probably influenced by Titian.

A[braham]. Bredius. Rembrandt Gemälde. Vienna, 1935, p. 6, no. 114, pl. 114.

Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941, unpaginated, no. 198, ill.

Emil Kieser. "Über Rembrandts Verhältnis zur Antike." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 10, no. 4/5 (1941/42), pp. 138–39, 155, suggests that it may have served as a defense of Hendrickje Stoffels after she was condemned by the church council.

William M. Ivins Jr. "The Art of Rembrandt." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 37 (January 1942), p. 3.

Introduction by William M. Ivins Jr. The Unseen Rembrandt. New York, 1942, pls. 13–14 (overall and detail).

Josephine L. Allen. "The Museum's Rembrandts." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 4 (November 1945), p. 74, refers to the sitter as "possibly Hendrickje".

E. Maurice Bloch. "Rembrandt and the Lopez Collection." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 29 (March 1946), pp. 184–86, fig. 1, relates it to Titian's Flora (Uffizi, Florence), which Rembrandt would have seen when it was in the Lopez collection in Amsterdam between 1638 and 1641.

Jakob Rosenberg. Rembrandt. Cambridge, Mass., 1948, vol. 1, pp. 54–55, 164–65; vol. 2, pl. 240.

Herbert von Einem. "Rembrandt und Homer." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 14 (1952), p. 193.

J. G. van Gelder. "Rembrandt and His Circle." Burlington Magazine 95 (February 1953), p. 38, states that it shows the same profile as "Pallas Athena" (Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon), then called "Man in Armor" [he identifies the sitter as a woman]; wonders if the two were pendants, or if they formed part of a larger series.

Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), ill. p. 33.

Jakob Rosenberg. "The Rembrandt Exhibition in Amsterdam." Art Quarterly 19 (Winter 1956), p. 389, states that it has been over-cleaned.

W. R. Valentiner. "The Rembrandt Exhibition in Holland." Art Quarterly 19 (Winter 1956), p. 396.

A. H[yatt]. M[ayor]. "Collectors at Home." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (November 1957), p. 108, ill. (photograph of Huntington's library).

Julius S. Held. "Flora, Goddess and Courtesan." De artibus opuscula XL: Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky. 1, New York, 1961, p. 218 n. 93.

Jakob Rosenberg. Rembrandt: Life & Work. rev. ed. London, 1964, pp. 97, 277, fig. 240.

Hermann Kühn. "Untersuchungen zu den Malgründen Rembrandts." Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Württemberg 2 (1965), p. 195, as having a white ground.

Kurt Bauch. Rembrandt Gemälde. Berlin, 1966, pp. 14–15, pl. 282.

Kenneth Clark. Rembrandt and the Italian Renaissance. London, 1966, p. 137, fig. 128, as Rembrandt's last treatment of the subject, painted about 1656.

Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann in Encyclopedia of World Art. 11, New York, 1966, col. 928, calls it "Woman in Arcadian Costume" and rejects the identification of the sitter as Hendrickje Stoffels.

Horst Gerson. Rembrandt Paintings. Amsterdam, 1968, pp. 499–500, ill. p. 372, rejects Kieser's suggestion [see Ref. 1941/42] that it served as a defense of Hendrickje Stoffels.

Henry Bonnier. "La vieillesse de l'homme fut l'apothéose du peintre." Figaro litteraire (September 1–7, 1969), p. 12.

A[braham]. Bredius. Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings. 3rd ed. London, 1969, p. 557, no. 114, ill. p. 103.

Paolo Lecaldano in L'opera pittorica completa di Rembrandt. Milan, 1969, p. 118, no. 353, ill.

Jacques Foucart in Le siècle de Rembrandt: Tableaux hollandais des collections publiques françaises. Exh. cat., Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris. Paris, 1970, p. 173, under no. 172.

Edith A. Standen in Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. New York, [1970], p. 43, ill. (color).

Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, p. 190 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].

Yu[ry]. Kuznetsov in Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn: Paintings from Soviet Museums. Leningrad [St. Petersburg], 1971, unpaginated, under no. 7.

Julián Gállego and Frédéric Mégret. "Le Siècle d'or en Hollande." La grande histoire de la peinture. 10, [Geneva], 1973, p. 24, date it about 1653.

Christopher Wright. Rembrandt and His Art. New York, 1975, pp. 93–94, colorpl. 78.

Eric Zafran in Master Paintings from The Hermitage and The State Russian Museum, Leningrad. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975, p. 70, under no. 18, fig. 15.

Edward Fowles. Memories of Duveen Brothers. London, 1976, p. 116.

J. Bolten and H. Bolten-Rempt. The Hidden Rembrandt. Milan, 1977, p. 198, no. 467, ill.

B[en]. P. J. Broos. Index to the Formal Sources of Rembrandt's Art. Maarssen, The Netherlands, 1977, p. 39.

Seiro Mayekawa and Mamoru Kaneshige. Rembrandt. Tokyo, 1977, colorpl. 42.

Christopher Brown. Second Sight: Titian, "Portrait of a Man"; Rembrandt, "Self-portrait at the Age of 34". Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1980, p. 11, ill. p. 10.

Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, pp. 334, 341, fig. 605 (color).

Anne Walter Lowenthal. Rembrandt. New York, 1981, pp. 12, 17 n. 12, colorpl. 12 and ill. on cover (color).

Maryan W. Ainsworth et al. Art and Autoradiography: Insights into the Genesis of Paintings by Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Vermeer. New York, 1982, pp. 62, 87, pls. 39–42 (overall, x-radiograph, and autoradiographs).

Gary Schwartz. Rembrandt, His Life, His Paintings. New York, 1985, p. 293, fig. 324 (color), dates it about 1654.

J[osua]. Bruyn et al. "1631–1634." A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. 2, The Hague, 1986, pp. 163, 430.

Christian Tümpel. Rembrandt: Mythos und Methode. Königstein, 1986, p. 402, no. 111, ill. p. 273 (color).

I. Linnik in Dutch and Flemish Paintings from the Hermitage. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, p. 48, under no. 22.

H. Perry Chapman. Rembrandt's Self-portraits: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Identity. Princeton, 1990, pp. 93–94.

Walter Liedtke. "Dutch Paintings in America: The Collectors and Their Ideals." Great Dutch Paintings from America. Exh. cat., Mauritshuis, The Hague. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1990, pp. 36–37.

Pierre Cabanne. Rembrandt. [Paris], 1991, p. 151, no. 18, ill.

Jan Kelch. "Paintings." Rembrandt: The Master & His Workshop. Exh. cat., Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. 1, New Haven, 1991, pp. 250–53, no. 41, ill. (color), dates it about 1654–55.

Otto Pächt. Rembrandt. Munich, 1991, p. 65, colorpl. 62.

Christopher Brown in Rembrandt, His Teachers and His Pupils. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1992, pp. 91, 229, under no. 22.

Deborah Krohn et al. in From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. Athens, 1992, pp. 26, 36–37, 306, no. 13, ill. (color) [catalogue section unpaginated].

Leonard J. Slatkes. Rembrandt: Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1992, pp. 449–50, no. 297, ill. (color), states that it must have been done after 1654, when Hendrickje's daughter Cornelia was born.

Christopher White. "Amsterdam and London: Rembrandt." Burlington Magazine 134 (April 1992), p. 265.

Vittoria Romani in Le siècle de Titien: L'âge d'or de la peinture à Venise. Exh. cat., Grand Palais. Paris, 1993, p. 416, under no. 49, dates it about 1665.

Petra Welzel. Rembrandts "Bathseba"—Metapher das Begehrens oder Sinnbild zur Selbsterkenntnis? Frankfurt, 1994, pp. 120–21, fig. 51.

Walter Liedtke in "Paintings, Drawings, and Prints: Art-Historical Perspectives." Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2, New York, [1995], pp. 31, 66, 69–71, 78, 80, 84, 116, no. 12, ill. (color), dates it about 1654.

Hubert von Sonnenburg. "Paintings: Problems and Issues." Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1, New York, 1995, pp. 25, 31, 50, 59, 126.

B[en]. P. J. Broos in The Dictionary of Art. 26, New York, 1996, p. 164.

Albert Blankert. Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne, 1997, p. 160, under no. 21.

Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann in "Fifteenth- to Eighteenth-Century European Paintings." The Robert Lehman Collection. 2, New York, 1998, p. 145 n. 1, under no. 31.

Eric Jan Sluijter. "Rembrandt's Bathsheba and the Conventions of a Seductive Theme." Rembrandt's "Bathsheba Reading King David's Letter". Cambridge, 1998, p. 96 n. 52, dates it about 1654–55.

José Luis Arias Bonel. "Rembrandt y Ganimedes." Goya (May–June 1999), pp. 149, 152 n. 40, ill. p. 151 (color).

David Rosand et al. in Rembrandt and the Venetian Influence. Exh. cat., Salander-O'Reilly Galleries. New York, 2000, pp. 12–13, 68, no. 1, ill. (color).

Mariët Westermann. Rembrandt. London, 2000, pp. 245, 247, fig. 162 (color).

Karen Wilkin. "Rembrandt & Venice." New Criterion 19 (November 2000), p. 50.

E. de Jongh in "The Model Woman and Women of Flesh and Blood." Rembrandt's Women. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland. Edinburgh, 2001, p. 35.

Walter Liedtke et al. Vermeer and the Delft School. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2001, p. 388, fig. 284.

Julia Lloyd Williams. Rembrandt's Women. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland. Edinburgh, 2001, pp. 14, 208–9, no. 119, ill. (color).

Ernst van de Wetering. "Thirty Years of the Rembrandt Research Project: The Tension Between Science and Connoisseurship in Authenticating Art." IFAR Journal 4, no. 2 (2001), p. 21, figs. 8 (color), 9 (x-ray detail), states that the canvas came from the same bolt as Rembrandt's self-portrait in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

Paul Crenshaw. "Rembrandt's Declaration of Bankruptcy." Rethinking Rembrandt. Boston, 2002, p. 167.

Walter Liedtke. "Rembrandt's Women." Apollo, n.s., 155 (February 2002), p. 47.

Julia Lloyd Williams. Rembrandt: Artemisia y Mujer en el lecho. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2002, pp. 15, 23–24, 28, fig. 5 (color).

Anat Gilboa. Images of the Feminine in Rembrandt's Work. Delft, 2003, pp. 148, 211 n. 97.

Kate Harper and Thomas E. Rassieur in Rembrandt's Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 2003, pp. 331–32, no. 204.

Susan Welsh Reed and Clifford S. Ackley in Rembrandt's Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 2003, pp. 293–95, no. 204, ill. (color).

Meryle Secrest. Duveen: A Life in Art. New York, 2004, pp. 176, 476.

David R. Smith. "Rembrandt's Metaphysical Wit: 'The Three Trees' and 'The Omval'." Word & Image 21 (January–March 2005), pp. 15–16, fig. 20.

Peter C. Sutton in Rembrandt's Apostles. Exh. cat., Timken Museum of Art. San Diego, 2005, pp. 36, 38 n. 3 [reprint of Ref. Sutton 2005, exh. cat. Washington].

Peter C. Sutton in Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2005, pp. 103, 135 n. 3, under no. 9.

Katharine Baetjer in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2006, p. 18 [Catalan ed., Barcelona, 2006, p. 18].

Paul Crenshaw. Rembrandt's Bankruptcy. Cambridge, 2006, p. 137.

Rembrandt, ego predshestvenniki i posledovateli. Exh. cat., State Pushkin Museum. Moscow, 2006, pp. 56–57, no. 36, ill. (color).

Ernst van de Wetering in Rembrandt? The Master and His Workshop. Exh. cat., Statens Museum for Kunst. [Copenhagen], 2006, p. 116.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, p. ix; vol. 2, pp. 548, 617, 629, 661–69, 958, no. 153, colorpl. 153, figs. 172 (x-radiograph), 176.

Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), pp. 22–23, 70, figs. 21 (Huntington library photograph), 26 (color), and ill. on cover (color detail).

Walter Liedtke. Vermeer: The Complete Paintings. Antwerp, 2008, p. 136.

Teresa Posada Kubissa in Rembrandt, pintor de historias. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2008, p. 207.

Alejandro Vergara in Rembrandt, pintor de historias. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2008, pp. 193–94, no. 33, ill. p. 195 (color).

George S. Keyes in Rembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 74, 84 n. 44.

Peter Barnet and Wendy A. Stein in Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [Tokyo], 2012, p. 48, ill. pp. 36, 52–53 (color, overall and detail).

Walter Liedtke in Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [Tokyo], 2012, p. 210, no. 9, ill.

Etched by A. Pond (Smith 1836).