An Old Lady with a Book
Rembrandt van Rijn Dutch 17th Century Rembrandt van Rijn (workshop)
Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a black dress with white cuffs and a wide, starched collar sits in a wooden chair against a dark brown background in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces us and she looks off to our left with brown eyes. She has slight jowls at her chin and her eyes, mouth, and forehead are lined. Her hair is pulled back under a close-fitting black cap. Extending straight from around her neck, her white collar is pleated into narrow figure-eights and nearly reaches her shoulders. She wears a brown stole over her velvety black dress, and both nearly blend with the dark background. She holds a pair of pince-nez spectacles in her right hand, which rests on a thick book in her lap. The spine faces her right, and the opposite edge is fastened with metal clasps. A braided cord affixed to the narrow end of the book near us creates a loop.
Details
- Palette
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- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 109.7 × 91.5 cm (43 3/16 × 36 in.) framed: 146.69 × 129.54 × 14.29 cm (57 3/4 × 51 × 5 5/8 in.)
- Department
- CNE-B
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
8 tags
Subject Matter
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Individual Portrait Both · 99%
The National Gallery of Art classifies the work as a painting and the image clearly presents a single seated sitter as the central subject.
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Face Visual · 98%
The sitter's face is a major focal point, with visible modeling around the eyes, forehead, mouth, and cheeks.
Visual Qualities
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Dark Colors Visual · 98%
Black clothing and a dark brown background dominate the composition, contrasted by the bright white collar and cuffs.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Both · 99%
The catalog identifies the medium as oil on canvas, and the image visibly shows an opaque, modeled painted surface.
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Painting Both · 99%
The catalog classifies the object as a painting, which is also directly evident from the image.
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Chiaroscuro Visual · 90%
The illuminated face, hands, collar, and book are set against markedly darker clothing and background, creating a strong light-dark structure.
Time Periods
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17th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the work to 1637, placing it in the seventeenth century.
Geographic Regions
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Dutch Art Metadata · 97%
The catalog identifies Rembrandt van Rijn as a Dutch seventeenth-century artist.
Source & rights
Rembrandt van Rijn and Workshop. An Old Lady with a Book. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.