Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels

Artist: Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606 - 1669)

Original Dimensions: 40 1/8" x 33"

Location: National Gallery of Art, London

About Artwork: (Probably 1654-6) "The sitter – whom Rembrandt did not name – has an almost regal poise. She looks down on us from a slight height, her right hand resting on what must be part of the arm of a chair, but which has the air of a sceptre. She wears expensive pearl earrings and jewellery and what seems to be a fur mantle. All these might hint at the trappings of royalty, yet this is also an intimate – even erotically charged – portrait. Her dress seems to be unfastened and the mantle falls slightly open, revealing much more of her breast than would have been acceptable in a formal portrait of the time. So this portrait, probably painted in the mid-1650s, is most likely Hendrickje Stoffels, Rembrandt’s housekeeper. They became lovers and, in 1654, had a daughter, Cornelia. A Woman bathing in a Stream, also in the National Gallery’s collection, may be of Hendrickje too – see what you think." - (National Gallery of Art, London)