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

Portrait of Margaretha de Geer, Wife of Jacob Trip

Probably by Rembrandt

Room 22

About the work

Overview

Margaretha de Geer was married to Jacob Trip – an extremely wealthy merchant and arms dealer – for nearly 60 years. Rembrandt painted large-scale likenesses of each, which were originally designed to hang together. Both are now in the National Gallery.

This smaller portrait of Margaretha was painted at about the same time, in 1661. It is dated and signed ‘Rembrandt’, but technical analysis and some differences between the way that this and the larger portrait were painted have raised questions about authorship. Although it is a convincing likeness painted with great skill, the signature is not authentic, and this has led some to think this may be a contemporary or slightly later version of Rembrandt’s original. But the painting is of such high quality that this is not a satisfying solution to the problem either.

In-depth

This is an excellent example of how tricky it is to be sure who painted a picture made more than 350 years ago. Until recently, people thought this portrait must be by Rembrandt. After all, on the left, a little below shoulder height, you can just make out the signature in his usual style, along with the date, 1661.

Another strong clue is that this is clearly Margaretha de Geer, the wife of the extremely wealthy arms dealer Jacob Trip – Rembrandt painted portraits of each of them in or around 1661. They are very large canvases and hang together in the National Gallery today. This painting is a smaller version of the portrait of Margaretha – the face is very similar, as are the clothes she is wearing. Surely, we might think, she liked the way Rembrandt depicted her first time around, and immediately commissioned him to make another portrait, either for herself or perhaps for one of her children or grandchildren. Lastly, the quality of painting is extremely high – this is a convincing likeness, rendered with great skill and worthy of an artist of Rembrandt’s stature.

However, in the late 1980s, technical analysis revealed unexpected differences between this and other paintings produced by Rembrandt. In particular, the materials used for the ground are unusual, though not unknown, for the seventeenth century, and certainly different from the kind Rembrandt usually used. The way that the canvas was mounted on the frame also differs from his normal practice. Neither of these inconsistencies are hard proof that Rembrandt or his workshop did not prepare the canvas. But, because they are unusual, they have also focused attention on some differences in style between the two portraits of Margaretha.

In this version, the paint has been applied with more fluidity and speed. Look, for example, how the brush has made swirls around her mouth and the sides of her nose, compared with the more precisely applied colour in the other portrait. And while Rembrandt has worked on the face of the larger portrait with enormous care, there are several places where the artist of this version has left the ground unpainted – the areas around her left temple and above her left eye are good examples. The folds and highlighted outlines of Margaretha’s ruff are also rendered slightly differently in each painting.

Again, such variations in technique do not prove that Rembrandt had no part in the painting. Maybe he was forced to work much faster on this portrait than on the other. Perhaps, having just done one, he felt more confident of capturing a likeness, so simply worked more swiftly. Perhaps he was simply experimenting with different techniques – he had used a more rapid, fluid technique in, for example, his portrait of Margaretha’s husband.

As for the signature, unfortunately we can’t rely on that either. Rembrandt’s name was often forged on unsigned paintings which have survived from when he was alive, and also on some made long after his death. However, in this case, the date is consistent with the other portrait, and it is unlikely that it would have been added without a signature.

We will probably never know for sure. But because the two paintings normally hang near each other in the same gallery, they provide a good opportunity to try to divine, and get closer to understanding, the hand of Rembrandt.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Portrait of Margaretha de Geer, Wife of Jacob Trip
Artist: Probably by Rembrandt
Artist dates: 1606 - 1669
Date made: 1661
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 75.3 × 63.8 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit: Presented by the Art Fund, 1941
Inventory number: NG5282
Location: Room 22
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Samuel Jones Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone
Frame: 20th-century Replica Frame

Provenance

In the collection of Lord Charles Townshend by 1818, when it was exhibited at the BI; [Lord Charles Townshend] sale, London, 4 June 1819 (lot 26), bought in (235 gns); Lord Charles Townshend sale, London, 11 April 1835 (lot 49), bought by John Smith (£231). By 1836 in the collection of Baron J. G. Verstolk van Soelen, The Hague, which was bought en bloc in 1846 by Thomas Baring, Humphrey Mildmay, S. Jones Loyd (later Baron Overstone) and Chaplin, the present picture falling to Jones Loyd who exhibited it at the BI in 1848. Inherited by his daughter, Lady Wantage, in 1883. Given by Lady Wantage to the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres in 1920; on loan to the Mauritshuis, The Hague, in 1921. Purchased from the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres by the NACF in 1941 and presented to the National Gallery.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2015

Vermeer and Rembrandt: The Masters of the 17th Century Dutch Golden Age.

Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art

24 October 2015 - 5 January 2016

Mori Arts Centre Gallery

14 January 2016 - 31 March 2016
2019

Art in Exile

Imperial War Museum

5 July 2019 - 5 January 2020

Bibliography

1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1857

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], translated from German by Elizabeth Eastlake, 3 vols, London 1857, vol. 3
1897

W. von Bode and C. Hofstede de Groot, The Complete Work of Rembrandt, 8 vols, Paris 1897
1905

Catalogue of Pictures forming the Collection of Lord and Lady Wantage at 2 Carlton Gardens, London, London 1905
1907

C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
1928

C. Hofstede de Groot, 'De portretten van het echtpaar Jacob Trip en Margaretha de Geer door de Cuyp's, N. Maes and Rembrandt', Oud Holland, XLV, 1928, pp. 255-64
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1982

H.R. Hoetink, 'The Evolution of the Art Market and Collecting in Holland', International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, I/2, 1982, pp. 107-18
1983

National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, January 1983 – December 1983', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, VIII, 1984, pp. 71-2
1985

G. Schwartz, Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintings, Harmondsworth 1985
1988

D. Bomford et al., Rembrandt (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 12 October 1988 - 17 January 1989), London 1988
1988

A. Moore, Dutch and Flemish Painting in Norfolk: A History of Taste and Influence, Fashion and Collecting (exh. cat. Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, 10 September - 20 November 1988), London 1988
1989

J. Mills and R. White, 'Paint Media Analyses', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIII, 1989, pp. 69-71
1991

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
1992

P.J.J. van Thiel, 'De Rembrandt-tentoonstellung van 1898', Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 1, 1992, pp. 11-93
1993

C. Tümpel, Rembrandt: All Paintings in Colour, Antwerp 1993
1995

N. MacGregor, 'To the Happier Carpenter': Rembrandt's War-Heroine Margaretha de Geer, the London Public and the Right to Pictures, Gerson Lecture 8, Groningen 1995
1998

'Noises Off', Sunday Times, 1998
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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