Rembrandt's figure studies capture both the physical and psychological character of his models. Although here his technique appears abbreviated and sketchy, he closely observed and brilliantly summarized such details as the tendrils of the woman's hair, the curve of her fingers, and the roundness of her cheek. Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, may have served as the model for this drawing. In the lower study, she appears in full daylight, while in the upper study, she sits almost completely in the dark, leaning forward to catch a few glimmers of light for her reading; the darkness surrounding her is depicted with strongly diverging hatching.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Two Studies of a Woman Reading
Artist:Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
Date:1635–40
Medium:Pen and brown iron-gall ink
Dimensions:sheet: 6 13/16 x 5 7/8 in. (17.3 x 15 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number:29.100.932
Inscription: On verso in red crayon: Lot 341, Verso stamped: 1 Seymour Haden (Lugt 1227) Verso in pencil: Rembrandt
Marking: Lower right stamped in black ink the collector's mark (imperfectly printed) of William Mayor (Lugt 2799).
Jonathan Richardson Sr. (British); William Mayor (British); Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British); his sale, Sotheby's, London, June 15–19, 1891, lot 582 (£26 to Durand-Ruel); Galerie Durand-Ruel; H. O. Havemeyer
Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums. "Rembrandt Drawings from American Collections," March 15, 1960–April 16, 1960.
Morgan Library & Museum. "Rembrandt Drawings from American Collections," April 27, 1960–May 29, 1960.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 10–June 9, 1985.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," May 5–September 14, 1998.
National Gallery of Scotland. "Rembrandt's Women," June 8, 2001–September 2, 2001.
Royal Academy of Arts. "Rembrandt's Women," September 22, 2001–December 16, 2001.
Albertina, Vienna. "Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn: Paintings, Drawings, Etchings," March 16, 2004–June 27, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," September 17, 2007–January 6, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Rembrandt," April 30–July 28, 2019.
William Mayor A brief chronological description of a collection of original drawings and sketches by the most celebrated masters. London, 1871, cat. no. 365, p. 68.
Rembrandt Harmensz van Ryn. Original drawings by Rembrandt second series. Edited by Friedrich Lippmann, vols. II, III, The Hague, 1890, cat. no. 142.
Cornelis Hofstede de Groot Die handzeichnungen Rembrandts. Haarlem, 1906, cat. no. 142.
William Reinhold Valentiner "Aus Rembrandts Häuslichkeit" in Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft. 1923, p. 277.
William Reinhold Valentiner "Rembrandt drawings in the Havemeyer Collection." in Metropolitan Museum Studies. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 3, New York, 1930-1931, fig. no. 6, p. 140, ill.
Otto Benesch Rembrandt, Werk und Forschung. Wien, 1935, p. 16.
William M. Ivins Jr. The Unseen Rembrandt. 1942, fig. no. pl.33, ill.
Walter Mehring European Drawings from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Portfolio of Collotype Reproductions [Vol. 1: Italian Drawings; Vol. 2: Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings; Vol. 3: "New Series": Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3 vols., New York, 1942–44, also N.S., no. 22., cat. no. 9 (vol.2), fig. no. 9, ill.
Otto Benesch Rembrandt, selected drawings. Phaidon Press, London & NY, 1947, cat. no. 39.
Otto Benesch The Drawings of Rembrandt: The Leiden Years, The Early Amsterdam Period, 1625-1640 [a critical and chronological catalogue]. vol. 2, London, 1954, cat. no. 249, fig. no. 272, p. 63, ill.
J. Q. van Regteren Altena "Review of "Otto Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt, London, 1954"." in Oud-Holland. LXX, 1955, 1955, p. 120.
Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann "Review of "Otto Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt, London, 1954" in Kunstchronik. vol. 14, 1961, cat. no. 1, p. 24.
Seymour Slive Drawings of Rembrandt. New York, 1965, Vol I, cat. no. 147, ill.
Linda Boyer Gillies "European Drawings in the Havemeyer Collection" Connoisseur. vol. 172, no. 693, November 1969, fig. no. 10, pp. 155, 153, ill.
Otto Benesch (enlarged and edited by Eva Benesch) The Drawings of Rembrandt. Complete Edition in Six Volumes. vol. 2, London, 1973, cat. no. 249, fig. no. 294, p. 66, ill.
Peter Schatborn, Erik Hinterding Rembrandt: The Complete Drawings and Etchings. Taschen, Cologne, 2019, cat. no. D324, p. 221, ill.
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