Rembrandt, 'Portrait of Margaretha de Geer, Wife of Jacob Trip', about 1661

Margaretha de Geer was the wife of Jacob Trip and their two portraits were made to hang together, almost certainly in one of the grand reception rooms of a palatial new residence, the Trippenhuis, which was being built in Amsterdam for their two sons from 1660 to 1662.

Jacob and Margaretha’s marriage seems to have been of economic advantage to both their families. Trip was a young Dordrecht merchant, and his brother was in business with Margaretha’s arms- and iron-dealing brother. They were together nearly 60 years and had 12 children, at least five of whom were still alive when these paintings were made.

It would have been conventional to portray the couple in symmetrical, mirrored poses – each turned slightly towards the other. But here Rembrandt is inventive. Jacob, who was close to death or may even have recently died when his portrait was made, sits askew, his face and hands half in shadow. He doesn’t meet our gaze but instead stares down and out of the picture with, perhaps, a slight air of melancholy. Margaretha, however, is presented face-on and looks directly at us with determination. She seems to perch upright and intent, somewhat uneasily even, slightly to one side of the chair. Rembrandt had to work on this pose before he got it right: X-ray images show that her left hand at first rested in her lap, but was then repositioned, gripping the arm of the chair. This not only makes her seem more active – about to rise towards us – but pushes the hand forwards, into our space.

And what a hand. Rembrandt had many extraordinary skills, but in his ability to depict flesh, and most especially ageing skin, he has no equal. He used the semi-transparent qualities of oil paint to build up layers, textures, colours – the blue veins and dry yellowy sheen of an old woman’s fingers and the back of her hands. On her brightly lit face, the pinks and greys, and the furrows of her brow, are worked with similar intensity, and this marks another contrast in Rembrandt’s approach to the two portraits. He used quicker, much more sparing brushwork to paint Jacob’s shadowy features.

There is difference too in their clothing. While Jacob’s is suggested with minimal efficiency – look at the long, simple brushstrokes used to suggest his scarf – Margaretha’s splendid collar, a millstone ruff, is depicted with extreme delicacy. It is the centrepiece of the portrait. The starched precision of the pleats fills the painting with light which glows around her face. The ruff, highly fashionable in the 1620s, is, by now, 40 years out of date, but its crisp resilience seems to reflect her own inner vitality. Margaretha was 79 years old, and had another ten years to live; her husband was dying, or had already died. The white handkerchief in her right hand may simply be fashion accessory, or it may a sign of mourning added by Rembrandt after Jacob’s death.

The National Gallery also has another smaller portrait of Margaretha at about the same age and dressed in similar clothes, although its attribution to Rembrandt is not entirely secure.