A Girl with a Broom
Dutch 17th Century Rembrandt van Rijn (workshop) Carel Fabritius
A pale-skinned young girl leaning over a low fence and holding a broom gazes in our direction in this vertical painting. Her red hair is pulled back from her round face, and she has large hazel eyes under thin brows, a petite nose, and her coral-red mouth is slightly open. She is shown from the chest up, behind a wooden partition that spans the width of the painting. She wears a loose, ivory-white shirt under a garment with pumpkin-orange straps on the shoulders and chest. She leans forward with her elbows hooked over the partition as she holds a long-handled broom to her chest. A wooden pail with a bronze handle is overturned to the right of the broom. A blocky brown object to our left is difficult to make out. A dark brown semicircular object close to us in the center of the composition resembles the mouth of a well. Soft light from the upper left illuminates the girl and the left side of the caramel-brown wall behind her and throws the right side into shadow. A signature near the lower left looks like it had been painted on the inner edge of the well. It reads, “Rembrandt f. 1651.”
Details
- Palette
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- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 107.3 × 91.4 cm (42 1/4 × 36 in.) framed: 135.26 × 120.65 × 7.62 cm (53 1/4 × 47 1/2 × 3 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
12 tags
Subject Matter
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Human Figure Both · 99%
A single young girl is the dominant depicted figure, shown from the chest upward behind a wooden partition.
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Childhood Both · 95%
The catalog describes a young girl, and the image presents a youthful female figure.
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Face Visual · 98%
The girl's face is the central illuminated focal point of the composition.
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Eye Contact Visual · 96%
She faces outward and looks in the direction of the viewer.
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Representations of Everyday Objects Both · 93%
The broom, overturned pail, wooden partition, and other recognizable utilitarian forms are incorporated into the scene.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 94%
The painting is dominated by umber, brown, caramel, and near-black tones, with restrained warm accents in the girl's clothing and hair.
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Dark Colors Visual · 93%
Large areas of the composition, especially the upper and right portions, are rendered in deep shadow.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Metadata · 100%
The catalog classifies the work as a painting.
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Oil Painting Metadata · 100%
The catalog specifies oil on canvas.
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Chiaroscuro Visual · 97%
Soft light from the upper left contrasts strongly with the dark right side and surrounding brown ground, producing a pronounced light-dark effect.
Time Periods
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17th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the work to probably begun 1646/1648 and completed 1651.
Geographic Regions
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Dutch Art Metadata · 92%
The artist context is identified as Dutch 17th Century, with the displayed attribution Rembrandt Workshop, possibly Carel Fabritius.
Source & rights
Rembrandt Workshop (Possibly Carel Fabritius). A Girl with a Broom. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.