A Girl with a Broom

probably begun 1646/1648 and completed 1651

Dutch 17th Century

Painter

Carel Fabritius

Painter, Dutch, c. 1622 - 1654

A pale-skinned young girl leaning over a low fence and holding a broom gazes in our direction in this vertical painting. Her red hair is pulled back from her round face, and she has large hazel eyes under thin brows, a petite nose, and her coral-red mouth is slightly open. She is shown from the chest up, behind a wooden partition that spans the width of the painting. She wears a loose, ivory-white shirt under a garment with pumpkin-orange straps on the shoulders and chest. She leans forward with her elbows hooked over the partition as she holds a long-handled broom to her chest. A wooden pail with a bronze handle is overturned to the right of the broom. A blocky brown object to our left is difficult to make out. A dark brown semicircular object close to us in the center of the composition resembles the mouth of a well. Soft light from the upper left illuminates the girl and the left side of the caramel-brown wall behind her and throws the right side into shadow. A signature near the lower left looks like it had been painted on the inner edge of the well. It reads, “Rembrandt f. 1651.”

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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.

Leaning over the gate of a wooden fence a young girl, holding a broom, stares directly at the viewer. The fence appears to surround a well, whose dark, round form is visible in the foreground. The well is flanked by a large overturned bucket on the right and a dark object, perhaps a trough, on the left. This attractive model has been repeatedly identified as a young servant girl in Rembrandt’s household. Mainly because of the appealing features of the young girl, A Girl with a Broom was long admired as one of Rembrandt’s most sensitive genre scenes.

A Girl with a Broom appears, however, to have been executed by an artist from Rembrandt’s immediate circle rather than by the master himself. Although no documentary proof has survived that clarifies the different roles of student and assistant in Rembrandt’s workshop during the 1640s, it seems probable that the more advanced of his students, for example Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–1678) and Carel Fabritius worked as assistants in the workshop after they finished their apprenticeships. In all likelihood they continued to help execute paintings that would be sold under Rembrandt’s name, even after they had begun working independently and signing their own paintings. The paintings they created in Rembrandt’s workshop were often free adaptations of the master’s own compositions. Once Rembrandt accepted these works as worthy of his production, they would be inscribed with his signature and the date, and A Girl with a Broom appears to fit into this scenario. Fabritius was the artist in Rembrandt’s circle most capable of both the nuanced modeling of the face and hands and the rough bravura brushwork found in the sleeves.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 51

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 107.3 × 91.4 cm (42 1/4 × 36 in.)
    framed: 135.26 × 120.65 × 7.62 cm (53 1/4 × 47 1/2 × 3 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.74

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: A Girl with a Broom, probably begun 1646/1648 and completed 1651

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

Almost certainly Herman Becker [c. 1617-1678], Amsterdam.[1] Pierre Crozat [1665-1740], Paris, before 1740; by inheritance to his nephews, first to Louis-François Crozat, marquis du Châtel [1691-1750], Paris, and then [on Louis-François' death without a male heir] to Louis-Antoine Crozat, baron de Thiers [1699-1770], Paris; the latter's heirs; purchased 1772, through Denis Diderot [1713-1784] as an intermediary, by Catherine II, empress of Russia [1729-1796], for the Imperial Hermitage Gallery, Saint Petersburg; sold February 1931, as a painting by Rembrandt, through (Matthiesen Gallery, Berlin; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London; and M. Knoedler & Co., New York) to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 1 May 1937 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] For Becker's collection, see Hugo J. Postma, "De Amsterdamse verzamelaar Herman Becker (c. 1617-1678) Nieuwe gegevens over een geldschieter van Rembrandt," Oud-Holland 102 (1988): 1-21. The painting appears in the 1678 inventory (fol. 285r as "Een vrouwtje aende put van Rembrandt van Rijn").

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1969

  • Rembrandt in the National Gallery of Art [Commemorating the Tercentenary of the Artist's Death], National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, no. 11, repro., as by Rembrandt.

1992

  • Rembrandt Och Hans Tid [Rembrandt and His Age], Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 1992-1993, no. 83, as by Carel Fabritius and Rembrandt Workshop.

2021

  • Rembrandt in Amsterdam: Creativity and Competition, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt am Main; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2021 - 2022, pl. 151.

Bibliography

1755

  • La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Jean-Baptiste de. Catalogue des tableaux du cabinet de M. Crozat, baron de Thiers. Paris, 1755: 17.

1773

  • Imperial Hermitage Museum [probably Ernst von Münnich, ed.] "Catalogue raisonné des tableaux qui se trouvent dans les Galeries, Sallons et Cabinets du Palais Impérial de S. Pétersbourg, commencé en 1773 et continué jusqu’en 1785.” 3 vols. Manuscript, Fund 1, Opis’ VI-A, delo 85, Hermitage Archives, Saint Petersburg,1773-1783 (vols. 1-2), 1785 (vol. 3): no. 1007, as La balayeuse.

1774

  • Imperial Hermitage Museum [probably Ernst von Münnich, ed.]. Catalogue des tableaux qui se trouvent dans les Cabinets du Palais Impérial à Saint-Pétersbourg. Based on the 1773 manuscript catalogue. Saint Petersburg, 1774: no. 1007, as La balayeuse.

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):74, no. 177.

1838

  • Imperial Hermitage Museum. Livret de la Galérie Impériale de l'Ermitage de Saint Petersbourg. Saint Petersburg, 1838: 126, no. 18.

1863

  • Köhne, Baron Bernhard de. Ermitage Impérial, Catalogue de la Galérie des Tableaux. Saint Petersburg, 1863: 169, no. 826.

1864

  • Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Die Gemäldesammlung in der kaiserlichen Ermitage zu St. Petersburg nebst Bemerkungen über andere dortige Kunstsammlungen. Munich, 1864: 184, no. 826.

1868

  • Vosmaer, Carel. Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, sa vie et ses oeuvres. 2nd ed. The Hague, 1877: 582.

1870

  • Köhne, Baron Bernhard de. Ermitage Impérial: Catalogue de la Galérie des Tableaux. 3 vols. 2nd ed. Saint Petersburg, 1870: 2:141, no. 826.

1872

  • Massaloff, Nicolas. Les Rembrandt de l’Ermitage Impérial de Saint-Pétersbourg. Leipzig, 1872: 36.

1877

  • Vosmaer, Carel. Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn: sa vie et ses oeuvres. 2nd ed. The Hague, 1877: 582.

1879

  • Mollett, John W. Rembrandt. Illustrated biographies of the great artists. London, 1879: 94.

1883

  • Bode, Wilhelm von. Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei. Braunschweig, 1883: 504, 603, no. 348.

1885

  • Dutuit, Eugène. Tableaux et dessins de Rembrandt: catalogue historique et descriptif; supplément à l'Oeuvre complet de Rembrandt. Paris, 1885: 39, 64, 69, no. 410.

1886

  • Wurzbach, Alfred von. Rembrandtgalerie. Stuttgart, 1886: no. 415.

1893

  • Michel, Émile. Rembrandt: Sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps. Paris, 1893: 392-393, repro.

1894

  • Michel, Émile. Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, and His Time. 2 vols. Translated by Florence Simmonds. New York, 1894: 2:75-76, repro., 246.

1895

  • Somov, Andrei Ivanovich. Ermitage Impérial: Catalogue de la Galérie des Tableaux. 2 vols. 3rd ed. Saint Petersburg, 1895: 2:292-293, no. 826.

1897

  • Bode, Wilhelm von, and Cornelis Hofstede de Groot. The Complete Work of Rembrandt. 8 vols. Translated by Florence Simmonds. Paris, 1897-1906: 5:34, 206, no. 598, repro.

1899

  • Bell, Malcolm. Rembrandt van Rijn and His Work. London, 1899: 80, 180, no. 826.

1901

  • Somov, Andrei Ivanovich. Ermitage Impérial: Catalogue de la Galérie des Tableaux. 2 vols. 4th ed. Saint Petersburg, 1901: 2:329, no. 826.

1902

  • Neumann, Carl. Rembrandt. Berlin, 1902: 358, fig. 83.

1904

  • Bryan, Michael. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, biographical and critical. 5 vols. Revised and expanded by George C. Williamson. New York and London, 1903-1905: 4(1904):239.

  • Rosenberg, Adolf. Rembrandt: des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 2. Stuttgart, 1904: 178, repro.

1906

  • Michel, Émile. Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn: A Memorial of His Tercentenary. New York, 1906: 93.

  • Rosenberg, Adolf. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 2. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1906: repro. 273, 401.

  • Wurzbach, Alfred von. Niederlandisches Kunstler-Lexikon. 3 vols. Vienna, 1906-1911: 2(1910):410.

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):177, no. 299.

  • Bell, Malcolm. Rembrandt van Rijn. The great masters in painting and sculpture. London, 1907: 75, 151.

  • 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):151, no. 209.

1908

  • Rosenberg, Adolf. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 2. 3rd ed. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1908: repro. 325, 560.

1909

  • Dacier, Emile. Catalogues de Ventes et Livrets de Salons. 7 vols. Paris, 1755: 1:unpaginated, no. 17.

  • Wrangell, Baron Nicolas. Les Chefs-d’Oeuvre de la Galérie de Tableaux de l’Ermitage Impérial à St. Pétersbourg. London, 1909: repro. 130.

  • Rosenberg, Adolf. Rembrandt: Des Meisters Gemälde. Edited by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 2. Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1909: repro. 325, 560.

1913

  • Rosenberg, Adolf. The Work of Rembrandt, reproduced in over five hundred illustrations. Classics in Art 2. 2nd ed. New York, 1913: repro. 325.

1920

  • Errera, Isabelle. Répertoire des peintures datées. 2 vols. Brussels and Paris, 1920-1921: 267.

1922

  • Neumann, Carl. Rembrandt. 2 vols. Revised ed. Munich, 1922: 2:358, fig. 100.

1923

  • Weiner, Peter Paul von. Meisterwerke der Gemäldesammlung in der Eremitage zu Petrograd. Revised ed. Munich, 1923: 140, repro.

  • Meldrum, David S. Rembrandt’s Painting, with an Essay on His Life and Work. New York, 1923: 197, pl. 285.

1925

  • Conway, William Martin. Art Treasures of the Soviet Union. London, 1925: 162.

1935

  • Bredius, Abraham. Rembrandt Schilderijen, 630 Afbeeldingen. Utrecht, 1935: no. 378. repro.

  • Bredius, Abraham. Rembrandt Gemälde, 630 Abbildungen. Vienna, 1935: no. 378, repro.

1936

  • Bredius, Abraham. The Paintings of Rembrandt. New York, 1936: no. 378, repro.

1937

  • Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 39.

1941

  • National Gallery of Art. Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1941: 164-165, no. 74.

1942

  • National Gallery of Art. Book of illustrations. 2nd ed. Washington, 1942: 74, repro. 30, 240, as by Rembrandt van Ryn.

  • Bredius, Abraham. The Paintings of Rembrandt. 2 vols. Translated by John Byam Shaw. Oxford, 1942: 1:21, no. 378; 2:repro.

1943

  • Benesch, Otto. "The Rembrandt Paintings in the National Gallery of Art." The Art Quarterly 6, no. 1 (Winter 1943): 24 fig. 6, 26-27.

1948

  • Rosenberg, Jakob. Rembrandt. 2 vols. Cambridge, MA, 1948: 1:52-53; 2:fig. 80.

1949

  • National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 82, repro., as by Rembrandt van Ryn.

1951

  • King, Marian. Portfolio Number 3. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: no. 5, color repro.

1957

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. London, 1957: pl. 113, as by Rembrandt.

1960

  • Baird, Thomas P. Dutch Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art 7. Washington, 1960: 42, color repro. on cover, as by Rembrandt van Ryn.

1962

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 96, color repro., as by Rembrandt.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 313, repro., as by Rembrandt van Rijn.

1964

  • Rosenberg, Jakob. Rembrandt: Life and Work. Revised ed. Greenwich, Connecticut, 1964: 92, 93, 95, fig. 80.

1965

  • National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 109, as by Rembrandt van Ryn.

1966

  • Bauch, Kurt. Rembrandt Gemälde. Berlin, 1966: 15, no. 270, repro.

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1: 226, color repro., as by Rembrandt.

1968

  • Stuffmann, Margret. "Les tableaux de la collection de Pierre Crozat." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 72 (July-September 1968): 102, no. 374, repro.

  • Gerson, Horst. Rembrandt Paintings. Amsterdam, 1968: 499, no. 284, fig. 284, repro. 368.

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

1969

  • Bredius, Abraham. Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings. Revised by Horst Gerson. 3rd ed. London, 1969: repro. 295, 580, no. 378.

  • National Gallery of Art. Rembrandt in the National Gallery of Art: Commemorating the tercentenary of the artist's death. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1969: 7, 21, no. 11, repro.

1970

  • Benesch, Otto. Otto Benesch Collected Writings. 2 vols. Edited by Eva Benesch. London and New York, 1970: 1:143, fig. 113.

1972

  • Roberts, Keith. "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: London." The Burlington Magazine 114, no. 830 (May 1972): 353.

  • La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Jean-Baptiste de. Catalogue des Tableaux du Cabinet de Crozat, Baron de Thiers. Reprint of the 1755 ed. Geneva, 1972: 17.

1975

  • Koslow, Susan. "Frans Hals’s Fisherboys: Exemplars of Idleness." _The Art Bulletin _ 57 (September 1975): 429, 431, fig. 29.

  • National Gallery of Art. European paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Washington, 1975: 284, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 273, no. 361, color repro.

1976

  • Sonnenburg, Hubertus von. "Maltechnische Gesichtspunkte zur Rembrandtforschung." Maltechnik-Restauro 82 (1976): 12-13, repro.

1984

  • Schwartz, Gary. Rembrandt: Zijn leven, zijn schilderijen. Maarssen, 1984: 244, no. 270, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 273, no. 355, color repro., as by Rembrandt van Ryn.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 329, repro.

  • Schwartz, Gary. Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintings. New York, 1985: 244, no. 270, repro.

1986

  • Tümpel, Christian. Rembrandt. Translated by Jacques and Jean Duvernet, Léon Karlson, and Patrick Grilli. Paris, 1986: repro. 263, 426, A59.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 91.

1992

  • Cavalli-Björkman, Görel. Rembrandt och hans tid: människan i centrum = Rembrandt and his age: focus on man. Exh. cat. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 1992: 248-255, no. 83, color repro.

  • Liedtke, Walter A. "Stockholm: Rembrandt and His Age. Review of the exhibition 'Rembrandt och Hans Tid'." The Burlington Magazine 124 (December 1992): 829-830, repro.

1993

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "A Girl with a Broom: A Problem of Attribution." In Rembrandt and His Pupils. Edited by Görel Cavalli-Björkman. Stockholm, 1993: 142-155, repro.

  • Sumner, Anne. "Influence and Interpretation: The legacy of Rembrandt's 'Girl at a window'." Apollo: The international magazine of arts 372 (February 1993): 122 n. 1.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 287-296, color repro. 289.

  • Liedtke, Walter A. Rembrandt/not Rembrandt in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: aspects of connoisseurship. Vol. 2, Paintings, drawings, and prints: art-historical perspectives. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995: 28, fig. 37, as attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten.

1997

  • Neverov, Oleg, and Mikhail Piotrovsky. The Hermitage: Essays on the History of the Collection, Saint Petersburg, 1997: 168, repro.

1999

  • Schama, Simon. Rembrandt's Eyes. New York, 1999: 524, repro.

2000

  • Il'in, Nikolas, and Natalia Semënova. Prodannye sokrovishcha Rossii [Sold Treasures of Russia]. Moscow, 2000: 144-145, repro.

  • Wright, Christopher. Rembrandt. Collection Les Phares 10. Translated by Paul Alexandre. Paris, 2000: 276, fig. 276, repro.

2005

  • Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project. A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. Vol. 4: The Self-Portraits. Edited by Ernst van de Wetering. Dordrecht, 2005: 242.

2006

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "A Museum Curator’s Perspective." IFAR Journal: International Foundation of Art Research 8, no. 3-4 (2006): 96, repro.

2009

  • Odom, Anne, and Wendy R. Salmond, eds. Treasures into Tractors: The Selling of Russia's Cultural Heritage, 1918-1938. Washington, D.C., 2009: 90, 103 n. 46, 135 n. 62.

2011

  • Fiedler, Susanne, and Torsten Knuth. "Vexierbilder einer Biographie: Dr. Heinz Mansfeld (1899-1959)." Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher 126 (2011):307.

2013

  • Semyonova, Natalya, and Nicolas V. Iljine, eds. Selling Russia's Treasures: The Soviet Trade in Nationalized Art 1917-1938. New York and London, 2013: 138, 139, 170-171, repro.

2016

  • Wecker, Menachem. "Famed Arts Patron Catherine the Great had Many Lovers, But She was a Prude." Washington Post 139, no. 120 (April 3, 2016): E2, repro.

  • Jaques, Susan. The Empress of Art: Catherine the Great and the Transformation of Russia. New York, 2016: 397.

Inscriptions

lower left on rim of well: Rembrandt f. 1651

Wikidata ID

Q20177232

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