Minerva in Her Study

1635

Rembrandt van Rijn
(Leiden 1606 – 1669 Amsterdam)oil on canvas
138 x 116.5 cm
signed and dated in dark paint, centered alongleft edge: “Rembrandt. f 1635”
RR-107
Currently on view at: The National Museum ofChina, Beijing© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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How To Cite
Manuth, Volker. "Minerva in Her Study." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock
Jr. New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
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© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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In this imposing masterpiece, Minerva looks up from her large folio andComparative Figures

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

Fig 1. Attributed to Ferdinand Bol,copy after Rembrandt’s Minerva
in Her Study, ca. 1636, pen andbrush in gray ink, black chalk, 257
x 202 mm, Rijksprentenkabinet,
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RPT-1975-85

strategy led to victory and she was therefore, paradoxically, also thegoddess of peace. She was also the goddess of 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 other Dutch artists because of hisability 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 styleand focus of his history paintings, executing works such asMinerva in Her
Study at a scale 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

Fig 2. Rembrandt van Rijn, Flora(Saskia van Uylenburgh in
Arcadian Costume), 1635, oil oncanvas, 123.5 x 97.5 cm, National
Gallery, London, Bought with
contributions from The Art Fund,
1938, inv. NG4930, © National
Gallery, London / Art Resource,NYand even compete with the achievements of Peter Paul Rubens(1577–1641), then universally recognized as the greatest history painter ofthe 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 van Uylenburgh, whom Rembrandt married in© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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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 tomodel 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-first century. The earliest records of its existence date to thefirst half of the eighteenth century, when it was in the possession of theearls 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

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 ofMichael Friedsam, 1931,
32.100.23, www.metmuseum.org

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 inclusionin the exhibition Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens andRembrandt in Athens and Dordrecht,[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 thepainting in 2008.
Probably because it was so rarely on view before 2002, Minerva in Her
Study played a relatively modest role in earlier publications on Rembrandt.

Fig 4. Rembrandt van Rijn,
Artemisia (or Sophonisba?), [alsoknown as Judith at the Banquet of
Holofernes], 1634, oil on canvas,
143 x 154.7 cm, Museo delPrado, Madrid, inv. P02132

Its attribution to Rembrandt was sometimes doubted, and it was evenproposed 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 he entered
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) (fig2) and his Standard-Bearer of 1636 (private collection, Paris).[7] The
production of drawn copies after the works of the master was a common
workshop practice. Rembrandt, according to a handwritten note of ca.
1636, sold painted copies of a Flora, Abraham [’s Sacrifice], and a

Fig 5. Rembrandt van Rijn,
Portrait of Saskia in the Guise of
Flora, 1635, oil on canvas, 123.5
x 97.5 cm, The State Hermitage
Museum, St. Petersburg, Scala /© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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Art Resource, NYStandard-Bearer by Bol and two fellow pupils.[8]Questions about the painting’s attribution ended in 1989 when theRembrandt Research Project asserted that the painting was a “wholly
autograph work from 1635.”[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 thesame 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 tothose of the canvas used for Belshazzar’s Feast of ca. 1635 (National
Gallery, London) and a workshop version of Abraham’s Sacrifice, dated
1636 (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). Although this observation does notconfirm that Minerva in Her Study was executed by Rembrandt himself, it
firmly places the painting within the master’s workshop.[11]Fig 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

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,
[12]

3),

1633

(Metropolitan

Museum

of

Art,

New

York) (figArtemisia (or Sophonisba?), 1634 (Museo del Prado, Madrid) (fig4),[18] Flora (Goddess of Spring and Flowers ), 1635 (Hermitage, St.
Petersburg) (fig 5), and Flora (Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian
Costume), 1635 (National Gallery, London).[19] These exceptional threequarter-length figures show Rembrandt’s particular interest in creatingstrong three-dimensional effects during the mid-1630s. He achieved
plasticity by contrasting a brightly illuminated figure against a dark
background, by juxtaposing contrasting textures such as soft fur or hairFig 7. Rembrandt van Rijn,
Minerva in Her Study, 1652, pen
and brown ink, brown and whitewash, 190 x 140 mm, Six
Collection, Amsterdam

with shiny metal or embroidery, and by opposing cool and warm colors.[20]The evolution of Rembrandt’s approach in these works is revealing. The
figure of 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 three-dimensional effects.[16] Flora(Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian Costume ) of 1635 is more successful
as a work of art as Rembrandt executed it with assured brushstrokes and© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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a subdued palette of cooler and warmer tints. Moreover, in that work heplaced the brightly illuminated figure against a dark background to createa strong suggestion of depth. Most comparable to Minerva in Her Study
is Artemisia of 1634. Both paintings depict an opulently dressed blonde
woman seated at a table and looking up from the book she is reading. Bothof these dramatically lit figures are set off against a dark background andshare a similar subtle color scheme of creams and grays and a 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 andpatron of the arts.[17] Already in 1631 he had used this unusual
iconography

in

a

small

panel

painting

Minervain

Her

Study (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) (fig 6).[18] Here she is likewise represented
in a cloak, her blonde hair crowned with laurels, and seated at a table withattributes 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 was listed as early as 1632 in the collection of the stadholder
Frederik Hendrik in The Hague.[19] The subject of the painting wasapparently unclear to the compiler of the inventory, as he believed it torepresent “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 the Leiden
Collection painting of 1635, the seated woman must represent Minerva
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 ofaround the same 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, hefollowed this same iconographical schema but made significant changes
to the composition. First of all, he enhanced Minerva’s physical presence
by depicting her close to the picture plane and greatly enhanced thepainting’s monumental effect with its large scale. In the illuminatedforeground he depicted embroideries and other objects in great detailcompared to those in the dark background, which he executed morecursorily. Instead of a red robe, he dressed the goddess in cooler© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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monochrome blues and grays that further enhance the strong threedimensional effect of the image.
Minerva’s long, flowing hair points to her virgin state; the fact that she iscrowned with a laurel wreath, however, is unusual. Traditionally, Minerva’s
attribute was an olive branch. Laurel was the plant dedicated to her halfbrother, 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 in rich clothingwith her arms and armor cast aside Rembrandt intended to show her
foremost as a goddess of erudition and peace. Only peace will provide thestability and prosperity under which scholarship and the arts canflourish.[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 thattime. In 1635, the same year that Rembrandt completed this painting, theStates General, under the leadership of Frederik Hendrik, decided that theDutch Republic should join forces with France and invade the Southern
Netherlands as part of its ongoing revolt against Spain. Amsterdam
regents, however, objected strongly to this military intervention, since suchan invasion could have led to the reopening of the River Scheldt, which
would

have

greatly

benefited

Antwerp’s

economicsituationatAmsterdam’s expense. It seems probable that Rembrandt’s depiction of
Minerva as the goddess of war who turns 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 oflearned Amsterdam regents is demonstrated by the pen and wash drawing
Rembrandt made of Minerva in her study in 1652 for the album amicorum(friendship album) of the classically cultivated connoisseur Jan Six(1618–1700) (fig 7).[26] Rembrandt, who knew this merchant, poet andburgomaster as a friend and business partner, depicted Minerva seated at
a desk before a window in her study, decorated with draped curtains and abust. He represented her in the act of writing and, just as in his painting of1635, depicted her shield with its Gorgon’s head. Her lance and helmet© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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hang on the wall next to her desk. For the learned humanist Jan Six, thus,
Rembrandt also chose to emphasize the peaceful character of Minerva.
Rembrandt’s Minerva places the artist decisively among those who turnedto the humanist ideal. His unconventional depiction of a friendly, erudite,and peaceful Minerva can be viewed in the context of Amsterdam’s culture
and politics of the 1630s, and is a powerful expression of a painter withlearned ambitions.

-Volker Manuth© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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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 thepainting 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/Alexandros Soutzos Museum; Dordrecht,
Dordrechts Museum) (Dordrecht, 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 and Wisdom of a Goddess (New York, 2002).
5. Horst Gerson, Rembrandt Paintings (Amsterdam, 1968), no. 94. Jan G. van Gelder,“Rembrandts vroegste ontwikkeling,” Mededelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie
van Wetenschappen 16, no. 5 (1953 ): 296; Werner Sumowski, “Nachträge zum
Rembrandtjahr 1956,” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin(Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe) 7 (1957–58): 224, 253.
6. Werner Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School , 10 vols. (New York, 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 beenremarked in Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt
Paintings, vol. 3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989),
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 Stichting
Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2,
1631–1634, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and Lancaster, 1986), A 83 (theLondon Flora).
9. Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol.
3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989), A 114, 174.
10. See the essay on Rembrandt’s signatures of the period in Stichting Foundation Rembrandt
Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol. 3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
Page 10 of 17al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989), 51–56, esp. 52. Compare nos. A 113 and A 120.
11. Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol.
3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989), 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. Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol.
2, 1631–1634, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and Lancaster, 1986), A 70; seemore recently, on the Bellona, Walter Liedtke, Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museumof Art, 2 vols. (New Haven and London, 2007), 2:596–604, no. 147 ill.
13. Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol.
3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989), A 114; seerecently Teresa Posada Kubissa, Pintura Holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado.
Catálago Razonado, (Madrid 2009), 115–25, no. 46 (as “Judit en el banquete deHolofernes” [sic]).
14. Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol.
3, 1635–42, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989), A 112.
15. For a discussion of these effects in the three-quarter-length figures, see Josua Bruyn and
Ernst van de Wetering in Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of
Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, andLondon, 1989), 8–11.
16. According to the authors of the Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A
Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2, 1631–1634, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht,
Boston, and Lancaster, 1986), A 70, 330–31.
17. For the general iconography of Minerva (Pallas Athena), see Stefan Grohé, “Rembrandt andClassical Mythology,” in Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens and Rembrandt , ed.
Peter Schoon and Sander Paarlberg (Exh. cat. Athens, National Gallery/Alexandros Soutzos
Museum; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum) (Dordrecht, 2000), 87–105, no. 61.
18. Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol.
1, 1625–1631, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (The Hague, Boston, and London, 1982), A 3.8.
19. Here the painting is attributed to Jan Lievens. In this inventory, however, works by
Rembrandt and Lievens are often confused. For a discussion see Stichting Foundation
Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol. 1, 1625–1631, ed.
Josua Bruyn et al. (The Hague, Boston, and London, 1982), A 38, 362.
20. Extract from the Inventory of His Excellency the Prince of Orange at the stadholder’squarters and the house 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.
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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21. See Abraham B. de Vries et al., Rembrandt in the Mauritshuis (Alphen aan de Rijn, 1978),195–99 (as Circle of Rembrandt), ca. 1630.
22. Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings , vol.
1, 1625–1631, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (The Hague, Boston, and London, 1982), C 9. The
painting is dated by the authors of the Corpus to “in or soon after 1631.”
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 Wisdom of A Goddess (New York, 2002), 10–14.
24. Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s “Minerva in Her Study” of 1635: The
Splendor and Wisdom of a Goddess (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(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(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 toSmith; 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,© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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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].
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2008.

Exhibition History
Karlstad, Sweden, Värmlands Museum, “Old Master Paintings from the Collection of Axel
Wenner-Gren,” 2 April–16 October 1940, no. 2 [lent by Axel L. Wenner-Gren, Stockholm].
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, “Rembrandt,” 21 January–15 April 1956, no. 16 [lent by Axel
L. Wenner-Gren, Stockholm].
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, “Rembrandt Tentoonstelling ter Herdenking van de Geboorte
van Rembrandt 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 Ageof 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 permanentcollection [lent by Alfred Bader and Otto Naumann Ltd.].
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 27 February–12 September 2004, on loan withthe permanent collection in gallery 258 [lent by Alfred Bader and Otto Naumann Ltd.].
Stockholm, Åamells Konsthandel, 25 September–22 October 2004 [lent by Alfred Bader andOtto Naumann Ltd.].
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, 15 June 2005–31 March 2006, on loan with the© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Minerva in Her Study
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permanent collection [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 the permanent collection [no number, lent by Alfred Bader and Otto Naumann Ltd.].
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, “Historias de Rembrandt / Rembrandt, Painter of
Stories,” 15 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 thepermanent collection [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.
91 [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 ofArt, 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 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].

References
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Kunst 59 (1925–26): 267, 270.
Bredius, Abraham. The Paintings of Rembrandt. London, 1937, 27, no. 469. Translated from
Rembrandt Gemälde. Vienna, 1935.
Hamann, Richard. Rembrandt. Potsdam, 1948, 216–17, fig. 148.
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Rosenberg, Jakob. Rembrandt. 2 vols. Berlin, 1948, 1:43, 164.
Van Gelder, J. G. “Rembrandt’s vroegste ontwikkeling.” Mededelingen der Koninklijke
Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde. Nieuwe Reeks 16, no. 5(1953): 296, pl. 14, fig. 26.
Dahlbäck, Bengt and Bjurström, Per. “Minerva.” In Rembrandt. Exh. cat. Stockholm,
Nationalmuseum. Stockholm, 1956, 13, 27, no. 16, pl. 11.
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Van Schendel, Arthur, ed. Rembrandt Tentoonstelling ter herdenking van de geboorte vanRembrandt 15 juli 1606. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum; Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans
van Beuningen. Amsterdam, 1956, 58–59, no. 28.
Sumowski, Werner. “Nachträge zum Rembrandtjahr 1956.” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschriftder Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe) 7(1957–58): 224, 253, fig. 17.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. “Notes on Old and Modern Drawings: Drawings by Bol.” Art Quarterly
20 (Spring 1957): 48, fig. 1, 55.
Martin-Méry, Gilberte. L’Europe et la Découverte du Monde . Exh. cat. Bordeaux, Musées de
Bordeaux. Bordeaux, 1960, 19–20, no. 30, pl. 26.
Bauch, Kurt. Rembrandt: Gemälde. Berlin, 1966, 14, no. 259.
Gerson, Horst. Rembrandt: Paintings. Amsterdam, 1968, 248, 492, no. 94.
Bredius, Abraham. Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings.

Edited by Horst

Gerson. London, 1969, 378, 592, no. 469.
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1969, 103, no. 161.
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University Park and London, 1969, 1:114–15.
Tümpel, Christian. Rembrandt: All Paintings in Colour . Antwerp, 1993, 405, no. 106.
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3, 1635–1642. Edited by Josua Bruyn et al. Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989, 168–74,
no. A114.
Pfeif, Ruprecht. Minerva in der Sphäre des Herrscherbildes von der Antike bis zur
französischen Revolution. Münster, 1990, 101–2, fig. 105.
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Zürich, 1991, 61, fig. 107, 63, fig. 120.
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Workshop. 2 vols. Exh. cat. Berlin, Altes Museum; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum; London,
National Gallery. New Haven and London, 1991, 1:261, under no. 43.
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Bunkamura Museum of Art; Chiba, Kawakura Memorial Museum of Art; Yamaguchi,
Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1992, 204.
Brown, Christopher, ed. Rembrandt: His Teachers and His Pupils . Exh. cat. Tokyo,
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Slatkes, Leonard J. Rembrandt: Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1992, 170, no. 92.
Liedtke, Walter, ed. Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspectsof Connoisseurship. 2 vols. Exh. cat. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York,
1995, 2:50, under no. 4, 56 n. 12, under no. 7.
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Scotland; London, Royal Academy of Arts. Edinburgh, 2001, 100–1, under no. 26, fig. 93.
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Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Zwote and Amsterdam, 2006, 274–75, no. 18.
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Haven, and London, 2007, 2:600.
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Meesters van de Stad Amsterdam: Schilderijen tot 1800. Bussum, 2008, 51, fig. 69.
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Alejandro Vergara. Exh. cat. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2008, 30.
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99.

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

Versions Notes

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© 2017 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Minerva in Her Study
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have been removed. Cusping along the outer edges indicates the support dimensions have notbeen significantly altered. Paper tape, which has been toned dark, extends into the face of thepainting, and two small canvas inserts are located along the lower portion of the brown
tablecloth.[1] There is an embossed liner stamp, one canvas stamp, five paper labels, andvarious 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 thefabric supports of Rembrandt’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 appliedsmoothly in opaque 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 a broad 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.

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

© 2017 The Leiden Collection