Minerva in Her Study
Rembrandt van Rijn
(Leiden 1606 – 1669 Amsterdam)1635
oil on canvas
138 x 116.5 cm
signed and dated in dark paint, centered along left
edge: “Rembrandt. f / 1635”
RR-107© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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How to cite
Manuth, Volker. “Minerva in Her Study” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archived
December 2023).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

In this imposing masterpiece, Minerva looks up from her large folio and gazes out

Comparative Figures

toward the viewer as though some distraction has interrupted her quiet concentrationon the text. Golden light illuminates her powerful face with wide-open eyes and alert
expression, as well as the long, flowing blonde hair cascading onto her shoulder. Her
regal appearance is enhanced by the laurel wreath crowning her head, her pearl
necklace, and the heavily embroidered cloak draped over her shoulders. Beneath the
cloak is an ample blue garment tied with a knotted blue sash over a light gray skirt
and a white shirt. In the background are more volumes, a globe, a golden helmet on adraped piece of fabric, a spear, and a large shield with the Gorgon’s head hanging
from a column.
As one of the main Olympian deities, Minerva had various functions and attributes.
She was the virgin goddess of war, but unlike her counterparts Mars or Bellona, she
was neither belligerent nor cruel. Her inventive strategy led to victory and she wastherefore, paradoxically, also the goddess of peace. She was also the goddess of

Fig 1. Attributed to Ferdinand Bol,copy after Rembrandt’s Minerva in
Her Study, ca. 1636, pen and brush ingray ink, black chalk, 257 x 202 mm,
Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, RP-T-1975-85

wisdom, art, poetry, medicine and crafts, especially those of spinning and weaving.
Rembrandt van Rijn was fascinated with biblical and mythological subjects such as
Minerva, and he firmly believed that depictions of them and their stories comprised
the most significant of all genres of painting. This principle, shared by collectors,
theorists and painters alike, lay at the very core of Dutch humanistic traditions.
Throughout his career, Rembrandt’s history paintings stand apart from those of otherDutch artists because of his ability to convey human feelings and emotions to gods
and goddesses, and mere mortals from the Bible and mythology. In the mid-1630s,
shortly after Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, he radically transformed the style andfocus of his history paintings, executing works such as Minerva in Her Study at a scale© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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and with a visual power unprecedented in the Netherlands. It is not certain what
motivated him to paint in such an imposing manner after he left Leiden, but probably
he sought to emulate and even compete with the achievements of Peter Paul Rubens(1577–1641), then universally recognized as the greatest history painter of the day.
As with Minerva, Rembrandt’s goddesses and heroines of the 1630s share her
statuesque appearance and have similarly full, blushing faces with heavy eyelids. It is
not surprising that they were all at some time believed to portray Saskia Uylenburgh,whom Rembrandt married in the summer of 1634. For example, when Minerva in
Her Study was was auctioned in London in 1924 it was titled Saskia as Deborah (seeProvenance).[1] It seems more probable, however, that Rembrandt here portrayed an
idealized face; he used this type years before his marriage, when Saskia was still
living in Friesland and therefore was unavailable to model for him extensively.
The painting has long led a secluded life, receiving relatively little attention from
Rembrandt specialists and the general public until the beginning of the twenty-firstFig 2. Rembrandt van Rijn, Flora(Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian
Costume), 1635, oil on canvas, 123.5 x
97.5 cm, National Gallery, London,
Bought with contributions from The
Art Fund, 1938, inv. NG4930, ©
National Gallery, London / Art
Resource, NY

century. The earliest records of its existence date to the first half of the eighteenth
century, when it was in the possession of the earls of Somerville in Scotland. It
remained in that family until it was auctioned in London in 1924 after the death of
Lady Louisa Harriet Somerville (1835–1923).[2] It then entered various private
collections in Europe and Japan (see Provenance), making only rare appearances inRembrandt exhibitions in Amsterdam (1956), Bordeaux (1960), and Japan (1992).
This relative anonymity changed in 2001 when, after its inclusion in the exhibition
Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens and Rembrandt in Athens andDordrecht,[3] the painting was bought from its Japanese owner by Otto Naumann and
Alfred Bader. After the removal of thick layers of yellowed varnish, Minerva in Her
Study was presented at the Maastricht Art Fair in 2002.[4] The Leiden Collection
acquired the painting in 2008.
Probably because it was so rarely on view before 2002, Minerva in Her Study played arelatively modest role in earlier publications on Rembrandt. Its attribution to

Fig 3. Rembrandt van Rijn, Bellona,
1633 oil on canvas, 126 x 96.5 cm,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, The Friedsam Collection,
Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931,
32.100.23, www.metmuseum.org

Rembrandt was sometimes doubted, and it was even proposed that the painting was
the result of a collaboration between Rembrandt and his pupil Ferdinand Bol(1616–80).[5] The latter suggestion was based on the existence of a faithfully drawn
copy of the composition signed “F. Bol” (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) (fig 1).
Although the signature is probably false, Bol likely made this copy shortly after heentered Rembrandt’s studio in 1636.[6] Comparable albeit more skillfully drawn
copies attributed to Bol also exist of the Rembrandt’s Flora (Saskia van Uylenburgh in
Arcadian Costume) of 1635 (National Gallery, London) (fig 2) and his StandardBearer of 1636 (private collection, Paris).[7] The production of drawn copies after theworks of the master was a common workshop practice. Rembrandt, according to a

Fig 4. Rembrandt van Rijn, Artemisia(or Sophonisba?), [also known as
Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes],
1634, oil on canvas, 143 x 154.7 cm,© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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handwritten note of ca. 1636, sold painted copies of a Flora, Abraham [’s Sacrifice],

Museo del Prado, Madrid, inv. P02132

and a Standard-Bearer by Bol and two fellow pupils.[8]Questions about the painting’s attribution ended in 1989 when the Rembrandt
Research Project asserted that the painting was a “wholly autograph work from1635.”[9] In making its determination, the Project’s authors noted the signature,“Rembrandt. f. /1635,” is similar to those in Rembrandt’s Ganymede (Gemäldegalerie
Alte Meister, Dresden) of the same year and the Standard-Bearer of 1636.[10]Examination of the canvas support, moreover, confirmed that Minerva in Her Study
was painted on the same bolt of linen as other paintings executed in Rembrandt’s
studio in the mid-1630s. For example, the structure of the weave of its canvas and aweaving fault (about 20 cm to the left of the right edge) are identical to those of thecanvas used for Belshazzar’s Feast of ca. 1635 (National Gallery, London) and aworkshop version of Abraham’s Sacrifice, dated 1636 (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).
Although this observation does not confirm that Minerva in Her Study was executed

Fig 5. Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of
Saskia in the Guise of Flora, 1635, oilon canvas, 123.5 x 97.5 cm, The State
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg,
Scala / Art Resource, NY

by Rembrandt himself, it firmly places the painting within the master’s workshop.[11]Stylistically, the painting relates to a group of single-figure, nearly life-size history
paintings of goddesses or heroines from antiquity that Rembrandt made between
1633 and 1635, which, with the exception of Minerva in Her Study, are all in public
collections. These include the war goddess Bellona, 1633 (Metropolitan Museum ofArt, New York) (fig 3),[12] Artemisia (or Sophonisba?), 1634 (Museo del Prado,
Madrid) (fig 4),[13] Flora (Goddess of Spring and Flowers), 1635 (Hermitage, St.
Petersburg) (fig 5), and Flora (Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian Costume), 1635
(National Gallery, London).[14] These exceptional three-quarter-length figures show
Rembrandt’s particular interest in creating strong three-dimensional effects during themid-1630s. He achieved plasticity by contrasting a brightly illuminated figure against
a dark background, by juxtaposing contrasting textures such as soft fur or hairwith shiny metal or embroidery, and by opposing cool and warm colors.[15]The evolution of Rembrandt’s approach in these works is revealing. The figure ofFig 6. Rembrandt van Rijn, Minerva
in Her Study, ca. 1631, oil on panel,
60.5 x 49 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv.
828c, © Foto: Gemäldegalerie derStaatlichen Museen zu Berlin –Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Fotograf/in:
Jörg P. Anders

Bellona is somewhat formidable in appearance and shows weaknesses in execution,
but it is the first instance in which Rembrandt developed this interest in strong threedimensional effects.[16] Flora (Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian Costume) of 1635 ismore successful as a work of art as Rembrandt executed it with assured brushstrokes
and a subdued palette of cooler and warmer tints. Moreover, in that work he placed
the brightly illuminated figure against a dark background to create a strong suggestionof depth. Most comparable to Minerva in Her Study is Artemisia of 1634. Bothpaintings depict an opulently dressed blonde woman seated at a table and looking up
from the book she is reading. Both of these dramatically lit figures are set off against
a dark background and share a similar subtle color scheme of creams and grays and a© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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relatively bold handling of paint.
In depicting Minerva reading in her study with her arms and armor literally cast aside,
Rembrandt focused on her role as goddess of wisdom and patron of thearts.[17] Already in 1631 he had used this unusual iconography in a small panel
painting Minerva in Her Study (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) (fig 6).[18] Here she is
likewise represented in a cloak, her blonde hair crowned with laurels, and seated at atable with attributes of erudition and music: books, a globe, and a lute. Arms andarmor, a shield, and a helmet hang on the wall in the background. This painting waslisted as early as 1632 in the collection of the stadholder Frederik Hendrik in The
Hague.[19] The subject of the painting was apparently unclear to the compiler of theinventory, as he believed it to represent “Melancholy, in the form of a woman sitting
on a chair at a table on which are books, a lute and other instruments.”[20]

As in theLeiden Collection painting of 1635, the seated woman must represent Minerva

Fig 7. Rembrandt van Rijn, Minerva
in Her Study, 1652, pen and brown ink,
brown and white wash, 190 x 140 mm,
Six Collection, Amsterdam

because of the presence of the shield with the Gorgon’s head in the background.
Closely related, both in composition and iconography, are two works of around thesame date, one by an unknown pupil (Mauritshuis, The Hague),[21] and one attributed
to Isaac de Jouderville (ca. 1612–48) (Denver Art Museum).[22] It appears that
Rembrandt’s painting in Berlin served as the iconographical prototype for variations
made by members of his Leiden studio. When Rembrandt revisited the subject in
1635, he followed this same iconographical schema but made significant changes tothe composition. First of all, he enhanced Minerva’s physical presence by depicting
her close to the picture plane and greatly enhanced the painting’s monumental effectwith its large scale. In the illuminated foreground he depicted embroideries and otherobjects in great detail compared to those in the dark background, which he executed
more cursorily. Instead of a red robe, he dressed the goddess in cooler monochrome
blues and grays that further enhance the strong three-dimensional effect of the image.
Minerva’s long, flowing hair points to her virgin state; the fact that she is crowned
with a laurel wreath, however, is unusual. Traditionally, Minerva’s attribute was anolive branch. Laurel was the plant dedicated to her half-brother, Apollo, and laurel
wreaths were generally attributes of poets (“laureates”) or victorious conquerors. It is
feasible that by gracing Minerva with a laurel wreath of victory and by dressing her inrich clothing with her arms and armor cast aside Rembrandt intended to show her
foremost as a goddess of erudition and peace. Only peace will provide the stability
and prosperity under which scholarship and the arts can flourish.[23]Rembrandt’s choice to revisit the theme of the peaceful Minerva might have been
related to the political situation of the Dutch Republic at that time. In 1635, the same
year that Rembrandt completed this painting, the States General, under the leadershipof Frederik Hendrik, decided that the Dutch Republic should join forces with France© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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and invade the Southern Netherlands as part of its ongoing revolt against Spain.
Amsterdam regents, however, objected strongly to this military intervention, sincesuch an invasion could have led to the reopening of the River Scheldt, which would
have greatly benefited Antwerp’s economic situation at Amsterdam’s expense. It
seems probable that Rembrandt’s depiction of Minerva as the goddess of war whoturns away from her arms and armor to focus on peaceful and scholarly pursuits
would have appealed to Amsterdam’s regents.[24] Alternatively, Rembrandt may have
had in mind as a possible buyer one of the city’s erudite regents who had founded the“Athenaeum Illustre,” or the Illustrious School, in 1632.[25]The general popularity of this goddess of wisdom within the circle of learned
Amsterdam regents is demonstrated by the pen and wash drawing Rembrandt madeof Minerva in her study in 1652 for the album amicorum (friendship album) of theclassically cultivated connoisseur Jan Six (1618–1700) (fig 7).[26] Rembrandt, whoknew this merchant, poet and burgomaster as a friend and business partner, depicted
Minerva seated at a desk before a window in her study, decorated with draped
curtains and a bust. He represented her in the act of writing and, just as in his paintingof 1635, depicted her shield with its Gorgon’s head. Her lance and helmet hang on thewall next to her desk. For the learned humanist Jan Six, thus, Rembrandt also chose toemphasize the peaceful character of Minerva.
Rembrandt’s Minerva places the artist decisively among those who turned to thehumanist ideal. His unconventional depiction of a friendly, erudite, and peaceful
Minerva can be viewed in the context of Amsterdam’s culture and politics of the1630s, and is a powerful expression of a painter with learned ambitions.

- Volker Manuth, 2017

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Endnotes
1. Bredius also believed that Saskia was the model for the Minerva; Abraham Bredius, Rembrandt
Schilderijen (Utrecht, 1935), no. 469.
2. Already in 1818 and 1819, John Southey, Lord of Somerville (1765–1819), brought the painting to
auction three times without it being sold; see Provenance.
3. Peter Schoon and Sander Paarlberg, eds., Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens and Rembrandt(Exh. cat. Athens, National Gallery—Museum Alexandros Soutzos and Netherlands Institute; Dordrecht,
Dordrechts Museum) (Athens, 2000), no. 61.
4. On this occasion a detailed discussion of the painting’s provenance and iconography was published; see
Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s “Minerva in Her Study” of 1635: The Splendor andWisdom of a Goddess, Sales cat. New York, Otto Naumann, Ltd. (New York, 2002).
5. Horst Gerson, Rembrandt Paintings (Amsterdam, 1968), no. 94. Jan Gerrit van Gelder, “Rembrandts
vroegste ontwikkeling,” Mededelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen 16, no.
5 (1953 ): 296; Werner Sumowski, “Nachträge zum Rembrandtjahr 1956,” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschriftder Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe) 7 (1957–58): 224,
253.
6. Werner Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, ed. and trans. Walter L. Strauss, 10 vols. (NewYork, 1979–92), 1:276, no. 126x.
7. For the documents he signed as a witness in Dordrecht in December 1635, see Albert Blankert,
Ferdinand Bol: Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 17, 71. As has been remarked in Josua Bruyn etal., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research
Project (The Hague, 1989), 3: 14, the relatively clumsy execution of the drawn copy of the Minerva is“just as one might expect from a newcomer” such as Bol.
8. According to a note in Rembrandt’s handwriting on the back of one of his drawings in theKupferstichkabinett in Berlin (Benesch 448) of around 1636–38. For the drawing see also Holm Bevers,
Rembrandt: Die Zeichnungen im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett—Kritischer Katalog (Ostfildern, 2006), no.
18 ill. For a discussion of the document see Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2:
1631–1634, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1986), 2: A 83 (the London
Flora).
9. Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation
Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1989), 3: A 114, 174.
10. See the essay on Rembrandt’s signatures of the period in Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt
Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1989),
3: 51–56, esp. 52. Compare nos. A 113 and A 120.
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11. Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation
Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1989), 3: A 114, A 110, and A 108, copies 2. See also Ernst
van de Wetering, Rembrandt: The Painter at Work (Amsterdam, 1997), 101, fig. 129, and 105, 107, 124.
12. Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2: 1631–1634, Stichting Foundation
Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1986), 2: A 70; see more recently, on the Bellona, Walter
Liedtke, Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2 vols. (New York, 2007), 2:596–604, no.
147 ill.
13. Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation
Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1989), 3: A 114; see recently Teresa Posada Kubissa, Pintura
Holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálago Razonado, (Madrid, 2009), 115–25, no. 46 (as“Judit en el banquete de Holofernes” [sic]).
14. Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation
Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1989), 3: A 112.
15. For a discussion of these effects in the three-quarter-length figures, see Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of
Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3: 1635–1642, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project (The
Hague, 1989), 3: 8–11.
16. According to the authors of the Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2: 1631–1634,
Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1986), 2: A 70, 330–31.
17. For the general iconography of Minerva (Pallas Athena), see Stefan Grohé, “Rembrandt and Classical
Mythology,” in Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens and Rembrandt, ed. Peter Schoon and
Sander Paarlberg (Exh. cat. Athens, National Gallery—Museum Alexandros Soutzos and Netherlands
Institute; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum) (Dordrecht, 2000), 87–105, no. 61.
18. Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 1: 1625–1631: Stichting Foundation
Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1982), 1: A 3.8.
19. Here the painting is attributed to Jan Lievens. In this inventory, however, works by Rembrandt andLievens are often confused. For a discussion see Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings,
vol. 1: 1625–1631, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1982), A 38, 362.
20. Extract from the Inventory of His Excellency the Prince of Orange at the stadholder’s quarters and thehouse Het Noordeynde, The Hague, ARA. Nass. Dom. Hingman, 2e supplement, no. 96 (16 August
1632), 51, in Walter L. Strauss and Marjon van der Meulen, The Rembrandt Documents (New York,1979), 87, Doc. 1632/3.
21. See Ary Bob de Vries et al., Rembrandt in the Mauritshuis: An Interdisciplinary Study, trans. James
Brockway (Alphen aan de Rijn, 1978), 195–99 (as Circle of Rembrandt), ca. 1630.
22. Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 1: 1625–1631, Stichting Foundation
Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1982), 1: C 9. The painting is dated by the authors of the
Corpus to “in or soon after 1631.”© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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23. For a more elaborate discussion of the iconography of the victorious, peaceful Minerva, see Volker
Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s Minerva in Her Study of 1635: The Splendor and Wisdomof A Goddess (Sales cat. New York, Otto Naumann, Ltd.) (New York, 2002), 10–14.
24. Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s “Minerva in Her Study” of 1635: The Splendor andWisdom of a Goddess (Sales cat. New York, Otto Naumann, Ltd.) (New York, 2002), 14.
25. On possible patrons or buyers of the Minerva, see Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s“Minerva in Her Study” of 1635: The Splendor and Wisdom of a Goddess (Sales cat. New York, Otto
Naumann, Ltd.) (New York, 2002), 14–16.
26. The album amicorum, entitled “Pandora” by Jan Six, is still in the possession of his descendants in
Amsterdam; see Peter Schatborn in Rembrandt: The Master and His Workshop, Drawings and Etchings,
ed. Holm Bevers, Peter Schatborn, and Barbara Welzel, 2 vols. (Exh. cat. Berlin, Altes Museum;
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum; London, National Gallery [etchings only]), (New Haven and London, 1991),
109, no. 31(B).

ProvenanceJames, 13th Lord Somerville (1698–1765), Drum House, Scotland; by descent to his grandson John
Southey, 15th Lord Somerville (1765–1819) (possibly sale, European Museum, London, March 1818,
no. 166, unsold); sale, European Museum, London, June 1818, no. 166, unsold; sale, European Museum,London, March 1819, no. 166, unsold); by descent to Louisa Harriet Somerville Henry (1835–1923),
The Pavilion, Melrose, Roxburghshire, and of Malborough Buildings, Bath (her sale, Christie’s, London,
21 November 1924, no. 123 [6,200 guineas to Lewis & Simmons or 6,200 or 6,510 guineas to Smith;
Lewis & Simmons, New York, 1925–26; Lord Joseph Duveen, New York, by 1929].
Jules Semon Bache (1861–1944), New York, 1929 [Duveen Brothers, Inc., New York & Paris, £18,000
to Marczell von Nemes, October 1929].
Baron Marczell von Nemes (1866–1930), Munich (his sale, Munich, Mensing & Fils, F. Muller, P.
Cassirer, H. Helbing, 16–19 June 1931, no. 59 [80,000 marks to Mensing & Zoon, Amsterdam, or to an
unknown American buyer]).
Dr. Axel L. Wenner-Gren (1881–1961), Stockholm, by 1935 (his sale, London, Sotheby’s, 24 March
1965, no. 21 [£125,000 to Julius Weitzner, London, and Hallsborough Galleries, London; probably to
Antenor Patiño, Paris]).
Probably Antenor Patiño collection, Paris (sale, Palais Galliéra, Paris, 6 June 1975, no. 27, to Baron
Marcel Bich).
Baron Marcel Bich (1914–94), Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, France.
Private collection, Japan, by 1988 [Alfred Bader Fine Arts, Milwaukee, and Otto Naumann, Ltd., New
York, 2001].
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From whom acquired by the present owner in 2008.

Exhibition History
Karlstad, Sweden, Värmlands Museum, “Old Master Paintings from the Collection of Axel WennerGren,” 2 April–16 October 1940, no. 2 [lent by Axel L. Wenner-Gren, Stockholm].
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, “Rembrandt: sextiosex bilder från utställiningen i nationalmuseum,” 21January–15 April 1956, no. 16 [lent by Axel L. Wenner-Gren, Stockholm].
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, “Rembrandt Tentoonstelling ter Herdenking van de Geboorte vanRembrandt op 15 juli 1606,” 18 May–5 August 1956; Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 8
August–21 October 1956, no. 28 [lent by Axel L. Wenner-Gren, Stockholm].
Bordeaux, Musées de Bordeaux, “L’Europe et la découverte du monde,” 20 May–31 July 1960, no. 30[lent by Axel L. Wenner-Gren, Stockholm].
Tokyo, Bridgestone Art Museum (Ishibashi Foundation), 21 September 1988–21 May 2001, on loan
with the permanent collection, [lent by a private collection, Japan].
Tokyo, Bunkamura Museum of Art, “Rembrandt: His Teachers and His Pupils,” 15 April–7 June 1992;
Chiba, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, 13 June–2 August 1992; Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi
Prefectural Museum of Art, 7 August–16 September 1992, no. 6 [lent by a private collection, Japan].
Athens, National Gallery/Alexandros Soutzos Museum, “Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens
and Rembrandt,” 28 September 2000–8 January 2001; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, 3 February–8
May 2001, no. 61 [lent by a private collection, Japan].
Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, 13 May 2002–15 January 2003, on loan with the permanent collection[lent by Alfred Bader and Otto Naumann Ltd.].
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 27 February–12 September 2004, on loan with thepermanent collection in gallery 258, [lent by Alfred Bader and Otto Naumann Ltd.].
Stockholm, Åamells Konsthandel, 25 September–22 October 2004 [lent by Alfred Bader and Otto
Naumann Ltd.].
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, 15 June 2005–31 March 2006, on loan with the permanentcollection [lent by Alfred Bader and Otto Naumann Ltd.].
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. 18 [lent by
Alfred Bader and Otto Naumann Ltd.].
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, November 2006–11 September 2008, on loan with thepermanent collection [no number, lent by Alfred Bader and Otto Naumann Ltd.].
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, “Historias de Rembrandt / Rembrandt, Painter of Stories,” 15© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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October 2008–6 January 2009, no. 20 [lent by the present owner].
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2009–March 2011, on loan with the permanentcollection [lent by the present owner].
Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, “Rembrandt: The Quest for Chiaroscuro,” 12 March–12 June
2011; Nagoya, Nagoya City Art Museum, 25 June–4 September 2011, no. 91 [lent by the present
owner].
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship,” 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. 40 [lent by the present
owner].
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, on loan with the permanent collection, April 2013–October 2014 [lent by
the present owner].
Budapest, Szépművészeti Múzeum, “Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age,” 30 October 2014–15
February 2015, no. 99 [lent by the present owner].
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, on loan with the permanent collection, May 2015–April 2016 [lent by thepresent 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 [lent by the present
owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpiecesof 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 the present owner].
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May 2019 [lent by the present
owner].
Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam, “Rembrandt and his Contemporaries: History Paintings from The
Leiden Collection,” 4 February–27 August 2023, no. 7 [lent by the present owner].

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Revolution. Münster, 1990, 101–2, fig. 105.
Grimm, Claus. Rembrandt selbst: Eine Neubewertung seiner Porträtkunst. Stuttgart and Zürich, 1991, 61,
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Tokyo, 1992, 204.
Brown, Christopher, Jeroen Giltaij, and Toshiharu Nakamura eds. Rembrandt: His Teachers and His
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Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1992, 68–69, 223–24, no. 6.
Slatkes, Leonard J. Rembrandt: Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1992, 170, no. 92.
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2000, 101, fig. 129, 105, 107, 124.
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Nagoya City Art Museum. Tokyo, 2011.
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Ember, 364–65, no. 99. Exh. cat. Budapest, Szépművészeti Múzeum. Budapest, 2014.
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Complete Survey. With the collaboration of Carin van Nes. Edited and translated by Murry Pearson.
Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project. Dordrecht, 2015, 229, 550, no. 139.
Surh, Dominique. “Minerva in Her Study.” In Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection: The Age of
Rembrandt. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Dominique Surh, 24, no. 2. Exh. cat. Paris, Musée du Louvre.
Paris, 2017.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Rembrandt and His Time: China and the Dutch Republic in the Golden Age.” In
Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 9;14, no. 18. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Minerva in Her Study.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The
Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 56–57; 176, no. 18. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat.
Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Weiming, Zhang, “Mythological World in Rembrandt’s Paintings.” In Journal of National Museum ofChina 169, no. 8 (2017): 11.
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The Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund. Shanghai, 2017, 74–75.
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and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 18, 21, fig. 4, 22; 29,
32. Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum ofFine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara “Minerva in Her Study.” In The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of
The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 172–73; 243–44, no. 53. Translated by Daria
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Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu
Dhabi. London, 2019, 54, 104–5, no. 35. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]
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Cologne, 2019, 95, 231, 500, 563, no. 104.
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Edited by Stephanie S. Dickey and Jochen Sander, 191, 195n2. Exh. cat. Ottawa, National Gallery ofCanada; Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum. New Haven, 2021.
Giltaij, Jeroen. Het Grote Rembrandt Boek: Alle 684 schilderijen. Zwolle, 2022, 340, no. 510.
Van Cauwenberge, Caroline. “Rembrandt van Rijn, Minerva in Her Study.” In Rembrandt and His
Contemporaries: History Paintings from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. andCaroline Van Cauwenberge, 46–47, no. 7. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam. Zwolle, 2023.
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Dutch.]© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Versions
Drawing
1. Ferdinand Bol (attributed to), copy after Rembrandt’s Minerva in Her Study, ca. 1636, pen and brush ingray ink, black chalk, 257 x 202 mm, Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-T-1975-85.

Technical Summary
The support, a medium-weight, plain-weave, rectangular fabric, has been lined. The left tacking margins
have been turned out and the composition extended and the remaining tacking margins have been removed.
Cusping along the outer edges indicates the support dimensions have not been significantly altered. Papertape, which has been toned dark, extends into the face of the painting, and two small canvas inserts arelocated along the lower portion of the brown tablecloth.[1] There is an embossed liner stamp, one canvas
stamp, five paper labels, and various numerical inscriptions, but no wax seals or stencils along the stretcher or
lining reverse.
“In ca. 1989 the Rembrandt Research Project examined the painting . . . and suspected the fabric supports ofRembrandt’s Belshazzar’s Feast from the National Gallery in London and Abraham’s Sacrifice from the State
Hermitage [Museum], St. Petersburg, are from the same canvas bolt.”[2]A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied overall followed by paint applied smoothly inopaque layers of rich paste through the flesh tones, drapery, and open book pages and with areas of low
impasto through the pearls, drapery folds, and the figure’s bodice. The paint has been thinly applied with abroad wet brush allowing the light-colored ground to show through along the upper half of the composition,
including the background in the upper left quadrant, the shield along the upper right quadrant, and, to a lesser
extent, the tablecloth along the lower right quadrant.
No underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000
nanometers or in the X-radiograph.
The painting is signed and dated in dark paint along the center of the left edge.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2001 and remains in a good state of preservation.
Further technical information about this artwork is available in The Rembrandt Database.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. Approximately 13 cm up from the lower edge, 42 cm apart.
2. According to the RR-107 research memo provided by Sara Smith, collections manager. It is possible the© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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Thread Count Automation Project (TCAP) codirectors, C. Richard Johnson Jr. (Cornell University) andDon H. Johnson (Rice University) could determine weave matches that link the supports of the three
paintings.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection