Rembrandt, 'Portrait of Aechje Claesdr.', 1634

Portrait of Aechje Claesdr.

Rembrandt

Room 22

About the work

Overview

The optical illusion created by this painting is a powerful one. Rembrandt has used contrasts between light and dark – for example, the blacks and whites of the sitter’s clothes, the highlights on her nose and the heavy shadow under her chin – to create a highly convincing three-dimensional effect. The old lady’s head seems to project forward out of the picture.

It isn’t only light effects that make this portrait seem so lifelike. Rembrandt has evoked the old lady’s blotched, blemished and sagging skin using different textures and thicknesses of paint. The furrows and shadows, the wrinkles and pudginess make her face seem almost tangible. He did this with a lively brush, applying the paint fluidly with short and curving strokes as well as dabs and stipples.

Long thought to be a portrait of Rembrandt’s grandmother, the sitter has now been identified as Aechje Claesdr. (1551–about 1635), the widow of the Rotterdam brewer Jan Pesser, who died in 1619.

In-depth

The optical illusion created by this painting, is a powerful one. Rembrandt has used contrasts between light and dark – for example, the blacks and whites of the sitter’s clothes, the highlights on her nose, the heavy shadow under her chin and the lighter, subtle greys of her headdress – to create a highly convincing three-dimensional effect. The old lady’s head seems to project forward out of the picture.

But it isn’t only the light effects which make the portrait seem so lifelike. Rembrandt has evoked the old lady’s blotched, blemished and sagging skin using different textures and thicknesses of paint. The furrows and shadows, the wrinkles and pudginess make her face seem almost tangible. He did this with a lively brush, applying the paint fluidly with short and curving strokes, as well as dabs and stipples.

The painting was made when Rembrandt was 28 years old, soon after he arrived in Amsterdam to set up his own studio. The oval shape was conventional in the city at that time, but the energetic and creative way of applying paint to the canvas represents a significant change in Rembrandt’s style from his more smoothly painted portraits of only a year or two earlier. He was clearly excited by the possibilities of his art and keen to experiment.

The painting does not record the sitter’s name, though it does give her age (83), as well as the date it was made (1634) and Rembrandt’s signature. Because of a misinterpreted label on a printed copy of the painting, it was thought for some time to be the artist’s grandmother, but about 25 years ago the sitter was identified as Aechje Claesdr. She was the widow of the Rotterdam brewer Jan Pesser (who died in 1619) and one of the leading figures among Rotterdam’s Remonstrant community.

The Remonstrants were Protestants, but their beliefs were slightly different from the Calvinist orthodoxy that dominated religion in Holland at the time. In 1619, they were banned from practising and many of their preachers were persecuted. Two of Aechje’s sons-in-law were Remonstrant preachers and she had to hide one of them in her house, but she managed to escape persecution herself. In 1634 Rembrandt came to Rotterdam to paint not only Aechje’s portrait but also those of her son Dirck and his wife Haesje van Cleyburgh. It may be that the famous preacher Johannes Wtenbogaert, whose portrait Rembrandt had painted in 1633 and who was living in Rotterdam at that time, introduced him to the family.

Aechje’s costume is not a fashionable one for 1634 – she is dressed in a style which was in vogue during her youth. Over a plain bodice she is wearing a sleeveless coat, or graingat, with large shoulder wings. Her pleated ruff is of moderate size, and she has tied an apron over her coat. Despite her wealth, her clothes are relatively modest – the only hint of luxury are the three tiny gold pins which hold her two-piece headdress in place.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Portrait of Aechje Claesdr.
Artist: Rembrandt
Artist dates: 1606 - 1669
Date made: 1634
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 71.1 × 55.9 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated and inscribed
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1867
Inventory number: NG775
Location: Room 22
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Sir Charles Lock Eastlake

Elizabeth Rigby, Lady Eastlake

William Wells
Frame: 18th-century French Frame

Provenance

Most probably in the Klaas van Winkel et al. sale, Rotterdam, 20–21 October 1791 (lot 6). In the possession of the dealer, C. S. Roos, Amsterdam, in 1814. Chevalier Sébastien Erard sale, Paris, 7 sqq. August 1832 (lot 121), bought in (4,000 francs); S. Erard sale, London, 22 June 1833 (lot 16), bought in (210 gns). It was in the collection of William Wells, Redleaf, by 1835, when it was exhibited at the BI; William Wells sale, London, 12–13 May 1848 (lot 115), bought by (Sir) Charles Eastlake (£252). Purchased from Sir Charles Eastlake’s widow, 1867.

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

2019

Young Rembrandt

Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal

1 November 2019 - 9 February 2020

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

27 February 2020 - 1 November 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
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1877

C. Vosmaer, Rembrandt: Sa vie et ses oeuvres, La Haye 1877
1893

É. Michel, Rembrandt, sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps, Paris 1893
1897

W. von Bode and C. Hofstede de Groot, The Complete Work of Rembrandt, 8 vols, Paris 1897
1907

C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
1932

A.P. Laurie, 'A Doubtful Rembrandt', Apollo, 1932, pp. 176-80
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1980

J. Mills and R. White, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, IV, 1980, pp. 65-7
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
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
1991

C. Grimm, Rembrandt selbst: Eine Neubewertung seiner Porträtkunst, Stuttgart 1991
1991

W. Froentjes, H.J.J. Hardy and R. ter Kuile-Haller, 'Een schriftkundig onderzoek van Rembrandt signaturen.', Oud Holland, CV, 1991, pp. 185-204
1991

C. Brown, J. Kelch and P.J.J. van Thiel, Rembrandt: The Master and his Workshop (exh. cat. Gemäldegalerie SMPK at the Altes Museum, 12 September - 10 November 1991; Rijksmuseum, 4 December - 1 March 1992; The National Gallery, London, 25 March - 24 May 1992), New Haven 1991
1992

S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, 'Enkele observaties bij het portet van een 83-jarige dame uit 1634 door Rembrandt', Maandblad Amstelodamum, LXXIX, 1992, pp. 6-15
1993

C. Tümpel, Rembrandt: All Paintings in Colour, Antwerp 1993
1994

S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, 'De remonstrantse wereld van Rembrandts opdrachtgever Abraham Anthoniszn de Recht', Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, IV, 1994, pp. 334-46
1999

S. Schama, Rembrandt's Eyes, New York 1999
2000

C. Wright, Rembrandt, Paris 2000
2000

S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, 'Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606-Amsterdam 1669): De schilder, zijn leven, zijn vrouw, de min en het dienstmeisje', Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis, 1-2, 2000, pp. 2-40
2001

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

E. van de Wetering and B. Schnackenburg, The Mystery of the Young Rembrandt, (exh. cat. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, 3 November 2001 - 27 Jnaury 2002), Wolfrathausen 2001
2006

S.A.C. (Bas) Dudok van Heel, De jonge Rembrandt onder tijdgenoten: Godsdienst en schilderkunst in Leiden en Amsterdam, Nijmegen 2006
2007

R. Ekkart and Q. Buvelot, Dutch Portraits: The Age of Rembrandt and Frans Hals (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 27 June - 16 September 2007; Mauritshuis, 13 October 2007 - 13 January 2008), London 2007

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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