Old Woman Plucking a Fowl

1650/1655

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After learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting in his native Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn went to Amsterdam in 1624 to study for six months with Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), a famous history painter. Upon completion of his training Rembrandt returned to Leiden. Around 1632 he moved to Amsterdam, quickly establishing himself as the town’s leading artist, specializing in history paintings and portraiture. He received many commissions and attracted a number of students who came to learn his method of painting.

Traditionally, Old Woman Plucking a Fowl has been associated with a work listed in the 1734 sale of paintings owned by Willem Six, where "Een Hoenderwyf, van Rembrant" (A vendor of fowl, by Rembrandt) was purchased for 165 guilders. No one would confuse this painting as it looks today with a work by Rembrandt. It was reworked in the eighteenth century and then heavily restored in the early twentieth century. With so many layers of overpaint, it is virtually impossible to determine the original character of the image. The dead bird on the woman’s lap, which has survived fairly well intact, is the sole exception. The vigorous execution of this animal does reveal a boldness of touch that provides a glimpse of the qualities that the rest of the painting may originally have possessed.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Timme

  • Dimensions

    overall: 133 x 104.7 cm (52 3/8 x 41 1/4 in.)
    framed: 162.6 x 136.2 cm (64 x 53 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1956.1.1

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: Old Woman Plucking a Fowl, 1650/1655

This horizontal painting shows a group of eight light-skinned musicians and onlookers gathered closely around a rectangular, carpet-covered table. The front edge of the table runs parallel to the bottom edge of the painting, and seems close to us. Shown from about the waist up, the men and women’s vivid lapis-blue, coral-red, buttercup-yellow, lilac-purple, and moss-green garments fall in crisp folds. Bright reflections on the fabric suggest a satin-like material. Two women wear feathers in their hair and one man’s hat is plumed. One man, wearing crimson red and black, sits with his back to us to our left on the near side of the table. He holds the neck of a bass viol, about the size of a cello, with his left hand, and points to pages of an open music book with the bow in his right hand. The other people cluster on the far side of the table. A man to the left plays a violin; a woman at the center plays a guitar-sized bandora, and a woman to our right plays a lute. The musicians, along with a man who leans over the table from between the two women, look down at the music books. A young man behind the woman at the center holds up a glass of pale liquid with his right hand as he touches his left forefinger to his smiling lips. A man and woman stand close together in the background to our right, in the top right corner of the canvas.

Scholarly Series:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly Willem Six [1662-1733], Amsterdam;[1] possibly (his estate sale, Amsterdam, 12 May 1734, no. 170); possibly Wilkins. Possibly John(?) or W.(?) Blackwood; possibly (his sale, Mr. Prestage, London, unknown dates in 1757, 2nd day, no. 70).[2] Francis Charteris, de jure 7th earl of Wemyss [1723-1808], Gosford House, Longniddry, East Lothian, Scotland; Ralph Willett [1719-1795], Great Canford, Dorset; bequeathed to his cousin, John Willett Adye [d. 1815], who later assumed the surname Willett in lieu of Adye; (his sale, Peter Coxe & Co., London, 31 May-2 June 1813, 2nd day, no. 62, bought in); (sale, Christie's, London, 8 April 1819, no. 124); Anthony Stewart [1773-1846], London; sold to Andrew Geddes [1789-1844], London, by December 1820; (sale, Christie & Manson, London, 23 May 1835, no. 94, bought in); by inheritance to his wife, Mrs. Andrew Geddes; (Geddes estate sale, Christie & Manson, London, 8-12 and 14 April 1845, 5th day [12 April], no. 646, bought in); (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 30 November 1867, no. 53); (Alimonde).[3] Étienne-Edmond Martin, baron de Beurnonville [1825-1906]; (his sale, by Paul Chevallier, Paris, 3 June 1884 and days following, no. 295). Madame Levaigneur, Paris; (her estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 2-4 May 1912, no. 29); (F. Kleinberger & Co., Paris and New York); (Kleinberger sale, American Art Association, New York, 18 November 1932, no. 50); (L.J. Marion); Dr. and Mrs. Walter Timme, Cold Spring, New York; gift 1956 to NGA.
[1] Francis Kleinberger, letter to the editor, The Burlington Magazine 11 (July 1912): 296–297, reconstructs much of the earlier provenance of the painting, through the 1912 sale, based on “the researches of Mr. W. Roberts.” His account does not include the 1757 Blackwood sale, and instead speculates that Charteris might have acquired the painting on the continent during his tour from 1739 to 1744.
[2] This information comes from a two-volume manuscript in the library of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, containing transcripts of collection and sale catalogues from the years 1711 to 1759; these volumes are partially examined by Frank Simpson, "Dutch Paintings in England before 1760," The Burlington Magazine 95 (January 1953): 42.
[3] Helen Smailes, Andrew Geddes, 1783–1844, Painting-Printmaker, “A Man of Pure Taste”, Edinburgh, 2001: 49–50, 113 n. 76.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1861

  • British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom, London, 1861, no. 17.

1930

  • The Thirteenth Loan Exhibition of Old Masters. Paintings by Rembrandt, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1930, no. 31.

Bibliography

1829

  • Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 7(1836):70, no. 164.

1861

  • British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. Catalogue of pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, Franch, and English masters. Exh. cat. British Institution, London, 1861: 8, no. 17.

1881

  • Dutuit, Eugène. Tableaux et dessins de Rembrandt. Paris, 1881: 3, no. 385.

1897

  • Bode, Wilhelm von, and Cornelis Hofstede de Groot. The Complete Work of Rembrandt. 8 vols. Translated by Florence Simmonds. Paris, 1897-1906: 8:158, no. 18, repro.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 6(1916):176-177, no. 298.

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 6(1915):150-151, 298.

1912

  • "Illustrated Catalogues of Sales in May." The Burlington Magazine 21, no. 110 (May 1912): 122.

  • "Rembrandt’s ‘Woman Plucking a Fowl'." The Connoisseur 33 (June 1912): 138.

  • Bode, Wilhelm von. "Neu entdeckte und wiedererstandene Gemälde von Rembrandt." Der Cicerone 4 (1912): 504-508, repro.

  • Bredius, Abraham, and Francis Kleinberger. "Letters to the Editor. 'The Old Woman Plucking a Fowl' from the Levaigneur Collection." The Burlington Magazine 22, no. 116 (November 1912): 121-122.

  • Bredius, Abraham. "On Two Paintings Usually Ascribed to Rembrandt." The Burlington Magazine 21, no. 111 (June 1912): 164–169, repro. 165.

  • Bredius, Abraham. "Letter to the Editor. 'The Old Woman Plucking a Fowl' from the Levaigneur Collection." The Burlington Magazine 21, no. 114 (September 1912): 359–360.

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. "Nieuw Ontdekte Rembrandts, II." Onze Kunst 22 (December 1912): 174, 178-181, pl. 2.

  • Kleinberger, Francis. "Letter to the Editor. 'The Old Woman Plucking a Fowl' from the Levaigneur Collection." The Burlington Magazine 22, no. 115 (October 1912): 49-50.

  • Kleinberger, Francis. "Letter to the Editor. 'The Old Woman Plucking a Fowl' from the Levaigneur Collection." The Burlington Magazine 21, no. 112 (July 1912): 296-297, repro. 248.

  • Dell, Robert E. (R.E.D.). "Art in France." The Burlington Magazine 21, no. 109 ( April 1912): 113.

  • "A Rembrandt Controversy." Boston Evening Transcript (21 August 1912): 15.

1913

  • Bredius, Abraham. "Darft die Kritik sich nicht mit Bildern in Privatbesitz befassen?" Kunstchronik 24, no. 20 (February 1913): 273–276.

  • Graves, Algernon. A Century of Loan Exhibitions, 1813–1912. 5 vols. London, 1913-1915: 3(1914):1008, no. 17.

1921

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt: wiedergefundene Gemälde (1910-1922). Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 27. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921: x, xix, 45, repro.

1923

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt: wiedergefundene Gemälde (1910–1920). Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 27. 2nd ed. Berlin, 1923: x, xix, 45, repro. (also 1923 2nd ed: xv, xxiv, 50, repo.).

1930

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. The thirteenth loan exhibition of old masters, paintings by Rembrandt. Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts, 1930: no. 31, repro.

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Important Rembrandts in American Collections." Art News 28, no. 30 (26 April 1930): 4, 84, repro.

1931

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt Paintings in America. New York, 1931: no. 67, pl. 67.

1953

  • Simpson, Frank. "Dutch Paintings in England before 1760." The Burlington Magazine 95, no. 599 (January 1953): 40, 42.

1965

  • National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 111, as by Rembrandt.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 98, repro., as by Rembrandt.

1974

  • Salvadori, Fabia Borromi. "Le Esposizioni d'Arte à Firenze, 1674-1767." Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 18 (1974): 115.

1975

  • National Gallery of Art. European paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Washington, 1975: 292, repro., as Manner of Rembrandt.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 335, repro.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 326-330, repro. 327.

2001

  • Smailes, Helen, Peter Black, and Lesley Stevenson. Andrew Geddes, 1783-1844, painter-printmaker: 'a man of pure taste'. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2001: 48-50, fig. 38.

2004

  • Scallen, Catherine. Rembrandt, Reputation, and the Practice of Connoisseurship. Amsterdam, 2004: 233-234, fig. 56, 252, 367 n. 75, 370 n. 27.

Wikidata ID

Q20177332

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