Rembrandt’s Mother/Old Woman Seated Looking to the Left

This work shows what is generally considered to be a portrait of Rembrandt’s mother wearing a widow’s dress. The artist often used his mother, Neeltgen Willensdr, as a model in his early career both in paintings and prints, but not strictly in terms of conventional portraiture. Sometimes she appears in the guise of historical or allegorical figures.

Many of Rembrandt’s portraits were created in the 1630s, when he was finding his way in the medium of etching. Often, his portraits display rich contrasts between light and dark and explore textures through complex areas of cross-hatched lines, as in this example.