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House
Hausu
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
Fri, Aug 27 7:00 PM Sat, Aug 28 7:00 PM Sun, Aug 29 5:00 PM
 more info
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Portrait of a Young Woman
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 return
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Rembrandt van Rijn
Portrait of a Young Woman
25 ¾ x 19 ¼ inches
Oil on wood
2004.3
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Rembrandt van Rijn´s Portrait of a Young Woman is an exceptionally beautiful example of the Dutch artist´s genius for portraiture, and only the second painting by the artist in a Texas museum. The painting, signed and dated 1633, had not been seen in public for nearly 50 years until 2002 when it appeared on the art market. Since its reappearance, the portrait, an oval, has been cleaned and re-framed in an octagonal, period-style frame.
Portrait of a Young Woman encapsulates the artistic development of Rembrandt´s early years in Amsterdam, when he established himself as the leading portrait painter of his generation. The subject, thought by some to be a young woman named Oepjen Coppit, is portrayed in fashionable attire with a large, double-layered lace collar, ribbon and rosette around her waist, pearls at her throat, lace cap, and elegant drop earrings. "Rembrandt´s ability to capture an animated and memorable likeness," said Edgar Peters Bowron, the Audrey Jones Beck Curator of European Art at the MFAH, "is vividly demonstrated in this sympathetic and acutely observed portrait. But perhaps even more important for our visitors is its revelation of the artist´s methods and technique at a critical moment in his career. One can readily see, in the varied and subtle handling of the paint depicting the sitter´s flesh and hair and costume, why Rembrandt is considered one of the greatest painters in the history of art."
The Rembrandt Research Project (RRP), a team of art historians founded in 1968, whose ongoing mission is to examine Rembrandt´s painted oeuvre and compile a critical catalogue of his paintings, has thoroughly studied this portrait. All indications are that ultimately the RRP will accept no more than 250 paintings as authentic works by the master, down from over 700 paintings in the early 20th century. The Rembrandt Project´s analysis of Portrait of a Young Woman explains why the picture is such an outstanding example of Rembrandt´s style and technique:
"This very deftly and subtly painted portrait exhibits in every respect features that are characteristic of Rembrandt...The rendering of form, too, which has pronounced, lively but never obtrusive contours, together with the vivid yet never disjointed plasticity, has all the hallmarks of Rembrandt´s style. Finally, the way the light plays around the figure and produces frequent areas of reflected light suggested superbly in the shadows, and the associated subtle interplay of warm and cool tints, are typical of his approach. There cannot, therefore, be any doubt as to the authenticity of the work."
David Bull, one of the foremost painting conservators in America, described the portrait, saying, "It is a wonderful painting and in very good condition...The handling of the paint with subtle contrasts between the translucent passages with thicker, opaque paint is quite masterly." There has been some question as to whether the painting was cut down from a rectangle, but Bull says, "I have no doubt that [the painting] was conceived as an oval. There are many brushstrokes around the edges that distinctly follow the curve of the panel. Had the panel been cut, the flow of brushstrokes out to the edges of the composition would have been interrupted." This finding is also supported by conservator Nancy Krieg, who restored the painting in 2003.
Besides Portrait of a Young Woman, the only other Rembrandt painting in Texas is Portrait of a Young Jew (1663) at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Other Rembrandt paintings shown at the MFAH in recent years include Minerva (1635), on loan from a private lender, in 2002, Old Woman Seated (early 1650s) in an exchange of masterpieces with the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, in 2001, and Girl at a Window (1645) in the 1999 exhibition Rembrandt to Gainsborough: Masterpieces from England´s Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Portrait of a Young Woman is now the centerpiece of a collection from the golden age of Dutch painting that includes landscapes, still lifes, and domestic scenes. Among the highlights is Woman at Her Dressing Table, c. 1645, by Ferdinand Bol, a pupil and close friend of Rembrandt; Still Life of Flowers and Fruit, c. 1710-15, a superb example by the most successful of all Dutch flower painters, Jan van Huysum; and Banquet Piece with Ham, 1656, by one of the leading still-life painters of the time, Willem Claesz. Heda. In addition, works by Frans Hals, Jacob van Ruisdael, Salomon van Ruysdael, Nicolaes Berchem, and Jan Weenix round out this small but growing area of the MFAH´s permanent collection of European paintings.
Rembrandt (1606-1669) began his artistic career as a teenager with apprenticeships in Leiden and Amsterdam, eventually setting up a joint studio in Leiden with the artist Jan Lievens in 1625. He moved permanently to Amsterdam in late 1631 or early 1632, and soon established himself as the leading portrait painter in that city. It was at this time that he received the important commission for a group portrait of the Amsterdam surgeons´ guild, known as the Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, a tour-de-force of portraiture. Portrait of a Young Woman was painted during Rembrandt´s prosperous early years in Amsterdam, where he became famous for the highly finished likenesses he produced.
During his decade-long run of prosperity in Amsterdam, Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenborch, a burgomaster´s daughter who brought him a considerable dowry and good connections. The couple immediately began to live beyond their means. When Saskia died in 1642, Rembrandt´s business began to decline, and bankruptcy followed in 1656. From 1660 on, Rembrandt lived with Hendrickje Stoffels, his devoted housekeeper and love of many years, and his son, Titus, in an arrangement designed to bring him relief from creditors. In his later years, he continued to receive important commissions and to produce work that contributed to his vast influence on generations of European artists. His prodigious life´s work includes several hundred paintings, of which nearly 60 are self-portraits, as well as about 300 etchings and 1,500-2,000 drawings.
Gift of Isabel B. and Wallace S. Wilson, Caroline Wiess Law, Fayez Sarofim, the Blanton and Wareing families in honor of Laura Lee Blanton, the Fondren Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc., Mr. and Mrs. George P. Mitchell, Ethel G. Carruth, Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Duncan, Jr., Marjorie G. Horning, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Hudson, Jr., Mrs. William S. Kilroy, Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Tate, and Nina and Michael Zilkha; with additional gifts from the Linda and Ronny Finger Foundation, Ann Trammell, and Mr. and Mrs. Temple Webber in memory of Caroline Wiess Law; and additional funding from the Alice Pratt Brown Museum Fund and the Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment Fund.
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Related Exhibitions & Collections:
European Painting and Sculpture
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