AFTER REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (LEIDEN 1606-1669 AMSTERDAM)
The Prophetess Anne, (Portrait of the artist's mother)
oil on panel (cradled)
72 x 56 cm

After the painting of 1639 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

This depiction of an elderly woman found in many of Rembrandt’s early paintings has traditionally been seen as a portrait of his mother. Her walking-stick and prayer shawl indicate that she is the prophetess Anna, who in the Gospel According to Luke (2:36–38) recognised the boy Jesus in the temple as the Redeemer. The original work is regarded as a copy by Govaert Flinck of a Rembrandt painting that has been lost. The present panel rendered with thin and almost transparent paintwork, represents a faithful copy to the known original panel, as the original displays a departure in technique from Rembrandt's brushwork which was loose and expressive, giving his paintings a sense of energy and movement, and his use of thick impasto to create texture and depth.