Study of a Woman in a White Cap
Rembrandt van Rijn
(Leiden 1606 – 1669 Amsterdam)ca. 1640
oil on panel
47.3 x 39 cm
RR-101© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Woman in a White Cap
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How to cite
DeWitt, David. “Study of a Woman in a White Cap” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited
by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/study-of-a-woman-in-awhite-cap/ (archived May 2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative
occurs.

This moving profile depiction of a mature woman wearing a white cap

Comparative Figuresoccupies an unusual place within Rembrandt van Rijn’s painted oeuvre.
Although clearly representing a specific individual, the master seems not tohave conceived this painting as a formal portrait; instead, the woman’s
focused gaze and raised eyebrows make it appear as though she has beenplucked from the stream of her daily responsibilities. Moreover, her flat plain
collar identifies her as a servant who would have occupied a social position
far beneath those who could afford to sit for Rembrandt around 1640, when
he executed this work. Rembrandt seems to have concerned himself here
primarily in determining how the effects of direct and reflected light affect thecharacterization of the figure in such a study. Light strikes the woman’s headfrom behind while reflected light illuminates her face. Rembrandt enhanced
these light effects through his different levels of finish, ranging from fully builtup paint on her cap, forehead and cheek to the more thinly and loosely

Fig 1. Study of a Woman in a
White Cap, RR-101, before
restoration (photograph courtesyof Martin Bijl)

executed shaded areas.
Throughout much of its history, this work had a different appearance. By the
mid-nineteenth century, several areas of the painting had been reworked inan effort to recast it as a formal portrait (fig 1). The plain collar had been
painted out in a decisive manner by a later hand: an intervening layer ofblack was used to ensure it was covered completely before a more stylish fur
collar was painted in its place. Notably, however, the oorijzer, or “ear iron,”
was left fully visible. This metal band was fitted inside the bonnet to hold it inplace around the head and over the ear, and was normally hidden behind the© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Woman in a White Cap
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earflap of the bonnet. The fact that this metal band was left visible when the
repainting was done suggests that its function was not recognized and that it
was believed to be characteristic of normal dress.
When this painting first entered the literature (in its altered state), it was
included in the master’s oeuvre without any reservations. John Smith was
the first to cite it in 1836,[1] and his positive assessment was subsequently
reaffirmed in the early twentieth century by Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, Max
Friedländer, Hermann Voss, and Abraham Bredius.[2] Wilhelm Valentiner wasparticularly vigorous in his support in publications of 1921, 1930, and1931.[3] A change in judgment occurred in 1936, when Abraham Bredius
abandoned his earlier position and omitted the panel from his catalogue of
Rembrandt’s paintings.[4] No scholar subsequently challenged this sideliningof the painting until Ernst van de Wetering’s reassessments in 2005 andFig 2. Philips Koninck, The Young
Seamstress, 1671, oil on canvas,
25.5 × 20 cm, The State
Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg, inv. 628

2006, subsequent to the conservation of the painting by Martin Bijl in 2003–5.
[5]

Van de Wetering initially focused his discussion on the physical adjustmentof the panel and later overpainting that had transformed this head study into
a formal portrait. Aside from the overpainting of the color, additions had been
made to the panel’s original arched upper corners to create a rectangularformat conventional for portraits.[6] The detail of the ear iron is further
evidence of the informal nature of this work; indeed, the only other instanceof its exposure in a Dutch painting is in a genre scene by Rembrandt’s
follower Philips Koninck (fig 2). The similarity of the presentation of thisfeature suggests that Koninck followed Rembrandt’s painting as a model,
and thus may have seen it in Rembrandt’s studio.

Fig 3. Rembrandt van Rijn, Portraitof the Mennonite Preacher
Cornelis Claesz Anslo and His
Wife Aeltje Gerritsdr Schouten,
1641, oil on canvas, 176.5 × 206.9
cm, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. 828L

Although the conservation treatment revealed that areas of the face had
been overcleaned, Van der Wetering pointed to the remarkably strong
passages in the cap, ear and ear iron, as well as in the cheek and jaw, as
exemplary of Rembrandt’s unique ability to model forms by using a
combination of loose and rhythmic paint handling. The relative softness ofthe shaded parts of the face, Van der Wetering rightly argued, wasconsistent with Rembrandt’s approach to such study heads.
Rembrandt’s interest in rendering this woman’s face in indirect light may
relate to an artistic challenge he was facing around 1640 in planning his
double portrait of Cornelis Claesz Anslo and his wife of 1641 (fig 3). Theinteraction of these two conversing figures required that one face would becast in shadow—in this case, the man’s—while the other was lit. In both works
Rembrandt sought to balance a convincing rendering of the effect of strong
light with a wide range of modulated shadows and reflected light. These© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Woman in a White Cap
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latter effects are particularly evident in Study of a Woman in a White Cap in
the middle tones of reflected light on the nose, cheeks, chin and forehead.
Dendrochronological analysis of the oak panel support relates this painting tothree other works from Rembrandt’s workshop, each of which was painted
on a panel from the same tree.[7] These comprise the authentic Self-Portraitof 1633,[8] Portrait of a Man (formerly identified as Willem Burggraeff), likely
not autograph,[9] and a landscape of around 1640 in the Wallace Collection,certainly by a pupil.[10] Van de Wetering has argued that the Leiden
Collection painting similarly dates to around 1640. He notes not only its
connection to the Berlin double portrait but also to a cluster of other works
painted at this time that likewise demonstrate a combination of loose andregular handling, such as Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and aGirl,[11] Hunter with a Dead Bittern,[12] and Landscape with a Stone Bridge.[13]In each of these other works of about 1640, Rembrandt extended his rangeof style and subject matter beyond conventional pictorial types. In the same
experimental spirit he made the cap, the ear iron, and the woman’s cheekthe focal points of this portrait-like study, defining them with solidity andbrilliance only he commanded. While this painting served Rembrandt
primarily as a study, and perhaps also as a teaching demonstration of an
evocative lighting scenario, he also seized the chance to suggest his
subject’s inner fortitude in her unfazed, slightly humored expression. It isalso possible that this powerful image served as a demonstration to aprospective portrait client of the effective presentation of a head with the facein shadow. All of these considerations indicate the significance of Study of a
Woman in a White Cap for Rembrandt and his oeuvre. This compelling
image is also of great significance for the Leiden Collection, for it is the firstpainting by Rembrandt to enter this collection.

- David DeWitt, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Endnotes

1. See John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish,and French Painters, 9 vols. (London, 1829–42), 7: 172, no. 540.
2. For Hofstede de Groot’s opinion, see Cornelis Hofsetede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné ofthe Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on theWork of John Smith, ed. and trans. Edward G. Hawke, 6: 328, no. 690, 8 vols. (London,
1907–28); originally published as Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke derhervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris,
1907–28), 6: 328, no. 690. Those of Friedländer, Voss, and Bredius were recorded in undated
expertises on the backs of photographs of the work.
3. See Wilhelm R. Valentiner, Rembrandt: Wiedergefundene Gemälde (1910–1920) in 120
Abbildungen (Stuttgart, 1921), xvi, 13, no. 13; 2nd ed. (Stuttgart, 1923), xxiv, 54, no. 59;
Wilhelm, R. Valentiner, The Thirteenth Loan Exhibition of Old Masters: Paintings by
Rembrandt (Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts) (Detroit, 1930), no. 40; and Wilhelm R.
Valentiner, Rembrandt Paintings in America (New York, 1931), no. 92.
4. Abraham Bredius, The Paintings of Rembrandt (London, 1936).
5. See Ernst van de Wetering et al., “Rembrandt’s Oil Studies: New Light on an Old Problem,”in Rembrandt: Quest of a Genius, ed. Bob van den Boogert (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Museum
Het Rembrandthuis; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) (Zwolle, 2006),
186–96, 304 no. 32.
6. The following discussion draws primarily on Ernst van de Wetering, “Rembrandt’s Oil
Studies: New Light on an Old Problem,” in Rembrandt: Quest of a Genius (Exh. cat.
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin) (Zwolle, 2006), 186–96.
7. Report by Peter Klein of 3 March 2004.
8. Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1633, oil on panel, 58 x 45 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris,
inv. 1745 (Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2: 1631–1634, Stichting
Foundation Rembrandt Research Project [The Hague, 1986], A 72).
9. Studio of Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a Man (formerly identified as Willem Burggraeff),around 1633, 67.5 × 52.3 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, inv. 1557 (Abraham
Bredius and Horst Gerson, Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings [London,
1969], 562, no.175; Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2: 1631–1634,
Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project [The Hague, 1986], C 77.
10. Unknown artist, Landscape, around 1640, oil on panel, 46 × 64 cm, Wallace Collection,
London, inv. P229 (Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642,© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Woman in a White Cap
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Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project [The Hague, 1989], C 119).
11. Rembrandt van Rijn, Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl, around 1639, oil on panel,
134 × 144.8 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. SK-A-3981 (Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of
Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project[The Hague, 1989], A 134).
12. Rembrandt van Rijn, A Hunter with a Dead Bittern, 1639, oil on panel, 120.7 × 88.3 cm,
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, inv. 1561 (Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt
Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project [The Hague,1989], A 133).
13. Rembrandt van Rijn, Landscape with a Stone Bridge, around 1639, oil on panel, 29.5 × 42.5
cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. SK-A-1935 (Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt
Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project [The Hague,1989], A 136).

ProvenanceFürst Wenzel Anton Kaunitz-Rietburg (1711–94), Kaunitz Stadtpaleis, Dorotheergasse,
Vienna; by descent to his nephew Furst Aloys Kaunitz (his sale, Artaria & Co., Vienna, 13
March 1820, no. 138 [for 250 florins to John Smith, London]).
George John Warren Vernon, 5th Baron Vernon (1803–66), Sudbury Hall, Derby (sale,
London, Christie’s, 15–16 April 1831, no. 13 [unsold, 63 guineas].
Watson, Sandford Manor, Woodley, England, by 1921.
Eldridge R. Johnson (d. 14 November 1945), Moorestown, New Jersey, by 1930; by descentin the family [Newhouse Galleries, New York].
Howard Walsh and Mary D. Fleming Walsh, Fort Worth, Texas, 1971; by descent.
(Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 26 January 2006, no. 10 [Otto Naumann Ltd., New York]).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

Exhibition History
Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, “Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Rembrandt,” 2–31 May
1930, no. 40 [lent by Mr. Eldridge R. Johnson, Moorestown, New Jersey].
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, “Rembrandts olieverfstudies: Nieuw licht op een© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Woman in a White Cap
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oud probleem,” 22 September–4 December 2005 [no number, lent by the Walsh Art Trust].
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, “Rembrandt: Quest of a Genius,” 1 April–2 July
2006; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 4 August–5 November 2006, no.
32 [lent by the present owner].
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, 2006–2008, on loan with the permanent collection[lent by the present owner].
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, “From the Private Collections of Texas: European
Art, Ancient to Modern,” 22 November 2009–21 March 2010, no. 25 [lent by the present
owner].
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, on loan with the permanent collection, April–June
2010 [lent by the present owner].
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum of Art, on loan with the permanent collection, June 2010–March2011 [lent by the present owner].
Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, “Rembrandt: The Quest for Chiaroscuro,” 12March–12 June 2011; Nagoya, Nagoya City Art Museum, 25 June–4 September 2011, no.
100 [lent by the present owner].
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt in America: Collecting andConnoisseurship,” 30 October 2011–22 January 2012; Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art,
19 February–28 May 2012; Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 24 June–16 September
2012, no. 26 [lent by the present owner].
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, on loan with the permanent collection, 24 June
2013–June 2016 [lent by the present owner].
Paris, Museé du Louvre, “Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection: The Age of Rembrandt,” 22
February–22 May 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The
Leiden Collection,” 17 June–3 September 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden
Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lentby the present owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the present
owner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by thepresent owner].
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Woman in a White Cap
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References
Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, andFrench Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829–42, 7: 172, no. 540.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch
Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and translatedby Edward G. Hawke, 6: 328, no. 690. 8 vols. London, 1907–28. Originally published as
Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt: Wiedergefundene Gemälde (1910–1920) in 322
Abbildungen. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921, xvi, 13, no. 13.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Die holländische Kritik der jetzigen Rembrandt-Forschung undneuest wiedergefundene Rembrandt-bilder. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1922, 6, no. 13.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt: Wiedergefundene Gemälde (1910–1922) un 128
Abbildungen. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig, 1923, xxiv, 54, no. 59.
Valentiner, Whilhem R. The Thirteenth Loan Exhibition of Old Masters: Paintings by
Rembrandt. Exh. cat. Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1930, no. 40.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt Paintings in America. New York, 1931, no. 92.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. 6 vols. Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94,
4:2881 n. 1, no. 13.
Van de Wetering, Ernst. Rembrandt’s Oil Studies: New Light on an Old Problem. Originallypublished as Rembrandts olieverfstudies: nieuw licht op een oud problem. Exh. cat.
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis. Amsterdam, 2005, 2–11.
Van de Wetering, Ernst. “Rembrandt’s Oil Studies: New Light on an Old Problem.”
In Rembrandt: Quest of a Genius. Edited by Bob van den Boogert, 186–96, also no. 32. Exh.
cat. Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin. Zwolle, 2006.
Van de Wetering, Ernst. Rembrandt: A Life in 180 Paintings. Amsterdam, 2008, 211.
Dickerson, Claude Douglas, III. “Elderly Woman in a White Cap.” In From the Private
Collections of Texas: European Art, Ancient to Modern. Edited by Richard R. Brettell andClaude Douglas Dickerson III, 170–72, no. 25. Exh. cat. Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum. Fort
Worth, 2009.
Van Den Boogert, Bob. “Study of a woman in a white cap.” In Rembrandt: The Quest for
Chiaroscuro. Edited by Akira Kofuku, 248-49, 350, no. 100. Exh. cat. Tokyo, National© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Woman in a White Cap
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Museum of Western Art; Nagoya, Nagoya City Art Museum. Tokyo, 2011.
Weller, Dennis P. “Rembrandt Paintings in America.” In Rembrandt in America: Collecting
and Connoisseurship. Edited by George S. Keyes, Tom Rassieur and Dennis P. Weller, 18,
24, pl. 1, 27; 187, no. 26. Exh. cat. Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art; Cleveland,
Cleveland Museum of Art; Minneapolis, Minneapolis Museum of Art. New York, 2011.
Weller, Dennis P. “Study of an Elderly Woman in a White Cap.” In Rembrandt in America:
Collecting and Connoisseurship. Edited by George S. Keyes, Tom Rassieur and Dennis P.
Weller, 187, no. 26. Exh. cat. Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art; Cleveland, Cleveland
Museum of Art; Minneapolis, Minneapolis Museum of Art. New York, 2011.
Surh, Dominique. “Study of a Woman in a White Cap.” In Masterpieces of The Leiden
Collection. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Dominique Surh, 52, no. 16. Exh. cat. Paris, Muséedu Louvre. Paris, 2017.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Rembrandt and His Time: China and the Dutch Republic in theGolden Age.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Editedby Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 9; 14, no. 16. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National
Museum of China. Beijing, 2017
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Study of a Woman in a White Cap.” In Rembrandt and His Time:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 52–53; 175, no.
16. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Journal of National Museum of China 169, no. 8 (2017): back cover.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund.
Shanghai, 2017, 70–71.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “The Leiden Collection and the Dutch Golden Age.” In The Age of
Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina
Lyubimova, 18, 22; 29, 32. Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow,
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum.
Moscow, 2018.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara “Study of a Woman in a White Cap.” In The Age of Rembrandt andVermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 176–77; 243,
no. 55. Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State
Museum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “The Leiden Collection and the Dutch Golden Age.” In Rembrandt,
Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the
Musée du Louvre. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 25. Exh. cat. Abu
Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi. London, 2019. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French andArabic.]Ducos, Blaise, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, eds. Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Woman in a White Cap
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Age. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu
Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi. London, 2019, 92–3, no. 26. [Exhibition catalogue also published in
French and Arabic.]
Manuth, Volker, Marieke de Winkel, and Rudie van Leeuwen. Rembrandt. The Complete
Paintings. Cologne, 2019, 707, no. 319.
Scott, Jennifer, and Helen Hillyard. Rembrandt’s Light. Exh. cat. London, Dulwich Picture
Gallery. London, 2019, 67-68, no. 18.

Versions
Versions and Copies

1. After Rembrandt, Woman in a White Cap, 50 x 35 cm, with arched top, location unknown(previously or still in a private collection in Utrecht, 1954).

2. After Rembrandt, Woman in a White Cap, oil on panel, 24 x 19 cm, location unknown(previously or still in the collection of L. Hofmann, Landshut, Bavaria, 1958).

3. After Rembrandt, Woman in a White Cap, oil on canvas, 53 x 44 cm, The State Hermitage
Museum, St. Petersburg.

4. After Rembrandt, Woman in a White Cap, location unknown (with Neumans, Paris, 1936).
5. After Rembrandt, Woman in a White Cap, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in., location unknown.
6. After Rembrandt, Woman in a White Cap, with arched top, location unknown (previously or
still in the Ferrari Collection, Bergamo).

Technical Summary
The support is a single plank of vertically grained, rectangular Eastern Baltic oak with rounded
upper corners.[1] The 9.5 cm-wide center section of the upper panel edge is cut horizontally anddoes not form a true arch as does the period copy from a Utrecht private collection, whichsuggests the center of the upper panel edge has been trimmed approximately 3 cm inheight.[2] The panel has no bevels and has been thinned.
Triangular wood additions square off the rounded upper corners, and narrow vertical woodadditions along the left and right edges widen the format.[3] The painted composition has been
extended onto the four additions, and narrow unpainted shims have been glued to the left, right,
and upper edges for framing purposes. The entire composite panel has been marouflaged to a
0.6 cm-thick hardwood board with a 0.1 cm-thick vertically grained oak veneer backing. Two© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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auction house labels have been applied to the reverse, but there are no wax seals, import stamps,
stencils or panel maker’s marks.
According to the January 2006 Sotheby’s sale catalogue entry for this lot, a rectangular panel
addition, approx. 7 cm high, had been previously adhered along the entire width of the loweredge. The composition had been extended onto this addition and an eighteenth-century stenciled
cypher of Furst Wenzel Anton Kaunitz (1711–94), one of the principal figures of the Austrian
Enlightenment, had been applied to the lower right corner. This addition was removed during thepainting’s restoration in 2002–5. Although it was apparently included as part of the lot when thepainting was sold, its location is now unknown.[4]Approximately 3 cm is missing from the original arched portion of upper edge and approximately 7
cm is missing from the lower edge. A diagram depicting the addition removed during restoration in
2002–5 is available in The Leiden Collection archive files.
Peter Klein’s 2004 dendrochronology report states that “die Anstuckung der Eichenholztafel,”presumably referring to the oak addition removed from the lower edge, stems from southern
Germany and has an earliest fell date of 1639 with an earliest use date of 1641. However,according to Klein a more plausible fell date would be 1645, 1649, or 1654 plus x, with a more
likely first use date of 1651 or after.[5]A light, warm-colored, thinly and evenly applied ground shows through the thinly and smoothly
applied passages of paint along the background, fur lining, and dark garment. The flesh tones ofthe figure’s face, the gray hair, and the white cap have been applied in a thick paste with low
brushmarkings and low impasto.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers and nocompositional changes were revealed; however, restorations along the profile of the figure’s faceare visible.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition and remains in agood state of preservation.
Further technical information about this artwork is available in The Rembrandt Database.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on dendrochronology reports by Peter Klein and
Ian Tyers.
2. The curves of the two upper corners were extended on a Mylar template and the distance
between the midpoint of the arch formed and the horizontal panel edge was measured.
Unfortunately, the narrow shim glued to the edge makes it impossible to determine if the© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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upper edge is in fact original and, if not, how or when it may have been cut.
3. Left addition is 2 cm wide; right addition is 0.5 cm wide.
4. It appears this addition may have been inadvertently left behind at Sotheby’s when the lot
was purchased.
5. It is not entirely clear why this early oak addition was removed and not simply framed out, or
why the narrow wood shim glued to the upper panel edge was not removed anddendrochronology attempted on the upper endgrain instead.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection