Saskia van Uylenburgh, the Wife of the Artist
probably begun 1634/1635 and completed 1638/1640
Artist, Dutch, 1606 - 1669

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.
Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, came from a patrician family in Leeuwarden, the capital of the province of Friesland; her father served as the town’s burgomaster. Hendrik van Uylenburgh, Saskia’s cousin, was a painter and flourishing art dealer in Amsterdam. After moving to Amsterdam Rembrandt invested in Van Uylenburgh’s business and came to live in the art dealer’s house. The promising young painter must have met Saskia soon thereafter. They married in 1634, a year after their betrothal, and were together until her death in 1642. The couple had four children, but only Titus, born in 1641, survived infancy.
Rembrandt’s many drawings, etchings, and paintings of Saskia have left us with varied depictions of her personality, including her warmth and tenderness, but also a certain aloofness; her zest for life, but also the debilitating illness that frequently weakened her after the mid-1630s. Rembrandt probably began this painting around 1634–1635, shortly after their marriage. Saskia, wearing a fashionable dress, glances over her right shoulder toward her husband and the viewer. The diaphanous shawl that drapes her head enabled Rembrandt to present a softer, more intimate portrayal of his wife than a conventional bonnet would have allowed.

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 48
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on panel
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 62.5 × 49 cm (24 5/8 × 19 5/16 in.)
framed: 88.6 x 75.6 x 11.4 cm (34 7/8 x 29 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1942.9.71
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Bourchier Cleeve [d. 1760], Foots Cray Place, Kent; by inheritance to his daughter, Elizabeth; by marriage 1765 to her husband, Sir George Yonge, Bart., London; (his sale, at his residence by Mr. White, London, 24-25 March 1806, 2nd day, no. 79); Foster. William Wells [1760-1847], Redleaf, near Penshurst, Kent, by 1831;[1] by inheritance to his grandnephew, William Wells [1818-1889], Redleaf; (his granduncle's estate sale, Christie & Manson, London, 12-13 May 1848, no. 67, probably bought in for or by Wells); (his estate sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 10 and 12 May 1890, no. 93); (P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London); Henry Bingham Mildmay [1828-1905], Shoreham Place, Kent, and Flete House, Devon; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 24 June 1893, no. 58); (Wertheimer, London). (Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris); sold 30 July 1894 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] Wells lent the painting to an 1831 exhibition at the British Institution.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1831
British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom, London, 1831, no. 85.
1909
The Hudson-Fulton Celebration, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1909, no. 81.
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. 2, 12, repro.
2003
Dutch and Flemish Treasures from the National Gallery of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 2003, no cat.
2005
Loan for display with permanent collection, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York, 2005.
2013
Amsterdam DNA, Amsterdam Museum, 2013-2015, no catalogue.
2019
Inside Rembrandt. 1601-1669, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne; Narodni galerie v Praze, Praque, 2019-2021 (shown only in Cologne), no. 77, repro.
2021
Rembrandt in Amsterdam: Creativity and Competition, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt am Main; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2021 - 2022, pl. 7.
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):183, no. 576.
1836
Passavant, Johann David. Tour of a German artist in England. 2 vols. Translated by Elizabeth Rigby. London, 1836: 2:71-72.
1885
Catalogue of Paintings Forming the Collection of P.A.B. Widener, Ashbourne, near Philadelphia. 2 vols. Paris, 1885-1900: 2(1900):241, repro.
1894
Sedelmeyer, Charles. Illustrated Catalogue of 100 Paintings by Old Masters of the Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French and English Schools belonging to the Sedelmeyer Gallery. Paris, 1894: 38, no. 31, repro.
1897
Bode, Wilhelm von, and Cornelis Hofstede de Groot. The Complete Work of Rembrandt. 8 vols. Translated by Florence Simmonds. Paris, 1897-1906: 3:6, 50, no. 153, repro.
1899
Bell, Malcolm. Rembrandt van Rijn and His Work. London, 1899: 185.
1904
Rosenberg, Adolf. Rembrandt: des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 2. Stuttgart, 1904: 98, repro.
1906
Rosenberg, Adolf. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 2. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1906: repro. 98.
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):297, no. 615.
Bell, Malcolm. Rembrandt van Rijn. The great masters in painting and sculpture. London, 1907: 156.
Rosenberg, Adolf. The Work of Rembrandt, reproduced in over five hundred illustrations. Classics in Art 2. New York, 1907: 98.
1908
Rosenberg, Adolf. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 2. 3rd ed. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1908: repro. 129.
1909
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Catalogue of a collection of paintings by Dutch masters of the seventeenth century. The Hudson-Fulton Celebration 1. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1909: xx, 82, no. 81, repro., 155, 161.
Rosenberg, Adolf. Rembrandt: Des Meisters Gemälde. Edited by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 2. Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1909: repro. 98.
1910
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Old Dutch Masters Held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Connection with the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. New York, 1910: 9, 278, no. 81, repro. 279.
1913
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis, and Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Pictures in the collection of P. A. B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early German, Dutch & Flemish Schools. Philadelphia, 1913: unpaginated, repro.
Rosenberg, Adolf. The Work of Rembrandt, reproduced in over five hundred illustrations. Classics in Art 2. Edited by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. 2nd ed. New York, 1913: repro. 129.
1914
Sedelmeyer, Charles. Hundred masterpieces. A selection from the pictures by old masters which form or have formed part of the Sedelmeyer Gallery. Paris, 1914: 72, no. 34, repro.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. The Art of the Low Countries. Translated by Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. Garden City, NY, 1914: 244, no. 24.
1921
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt: wiedergefundene Gemälde (1910-1922). Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 27. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921: 129, repro.
Rosenberg, Adolf. The Work of Rembrandt. Edited by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Classics in Art 2. 3rd ed. New York, 1921: 129, repro.
1923
Van Dyke, John C. Rembrandt and His School. New York, 1923: 124.
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.
Meldrum, David S. Rembrandt’s Painting, with an Essay on His Life and Work. New York, 1923: 20, 41, 67, 68, 69, 192, pl. 167.
1930
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Important Rembrandts in American Collections." Art News 28, no. 30 (26 April 1930): 3.
1931
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt Paintings in America. New York, 1931: intro., no. 51, pl. 30.
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 60, repro.
1935
Bredius, Abraham. Rembrandt Schilderijen, 630 Afbeeldingen. Utrecht, 1935: no. 96, repro.
Bredius, Abraham. Rembrandt Gemälde, 630 Abbildungen. Vienna, 1935: no. 96, repro.
1936
Bredius, Abraham. The Paintings of Rembrandt. New York, 1936: no. 96, repro.
1938
Waldmann, Emil. "Die Sammlung Widener." Pantheon 22 (November 1938): 336, 341.
1942
National Gallery of Art. Works of art from the Widener collection. Washington, 1942: 6.
Bredius, Abraham. The Paintings of Rembrandt. 2 vols. Translated by John Byam Shaw. Oxford, 1942: 1:7, no. 96, repro.
1948
National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. Washington, 1948: 36, repro.
1959
National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. Reprint. Washington, DC, 1959: 36, repro.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 312, repro.
1965
National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 111.
1966
Bauch, Kurt. Rembrandt Gemälde. Berlin, 1966: 25, Harris, Neil. Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience. Chicago, 2013:no. 488, repro.
1968
Gerson, Horst. Rembrandt Paintings. Amsterdam, 1968: 292, 495, no. 174, repro.
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 96, repro.
1969
Haak, Bob. Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, His Time. Translated by Elizabeth Willems-Treeman. New York, 1969: 92, no. 134, repro.
Bredius, Abraham. Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings. Revised by Horst Gerson. 3rd ed. London, 1969: repro. 85, 555, no. 96.
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, 12, no. 2, repro.
1973
Louttit, Margaret. "The Romantic Dress of Saskia van Ulenborch: Its Pastoral and Theatrical Associations." The Burlington Magazine 65 (May 1973): 317-326, repro. no. 76.
1975
National Gallery of Art. European paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Washington, 1975: 290-291, repro.
1977
Kettering, Alison McNeil. "Rembrandt’s Flute player: a unique treatment of pastoral." Simiolus 9 (1977): 19-44.
Bolten, J., and H. Bolten-Rempt. The Hidden Rembrandt. Translated by Danielle Adkinson. Milan and Chicago, 1977: 180, no. 166.
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 49, pl. 26.
1981
Janson, Anthony F. "Rembrandt in the Indianapolis Museum of Art." Perceptions 1 (1981): 6-21.
Miller, David A. "Conservator’s Report." Perceptions 1 (1981): 23-33.
1984
Schwartz, Gary. Rembrandt: Zijn leven, zijn schilderijen. Maarssen, 1984: 190, no. 204, repro.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 273, no. 352, color repro.
1985
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 333, repro.
Schwartz, Gary. Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintings. New York, 1985: 190, no. 204, repro.
1986
Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Washington and Grand Rapids, 1986: 312, no. 467, repro.
Tümpel, Christian. Rembrandt. Translated by Jacques and Jean Duvernet, Léon Karlson, and Patrick Grilli. Paris, 1986: repro. 114, 410, no. 183.
Guillaud, Jacqueline, and Maurice Guillaud. Rembrandt: das Bild des Menschen. Translated by Renate Renner. Stuttgart, 1986: no. 331, repro.
Guillaud, Jacqueline, and Maurice Guillaud. Rembrandt, the human form and spirit. Translated by Suzanne Boorsch et al. New York, 1986: no. 331, repro.
1989
Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project. A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. Vol. 3: 1635-1642. Edited by Josua Bruyn, et al. Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989: 651-656, repro.
1990
Liedtke, Walter A. "Dutch Paintings in America: The Collectors and their Ideals." In Great Dutch Paintings from America. Edited by Ben P.J. Broos. Exh. cat. Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Zwolle, 1990: 42.
Liedtke, Walter A. "Dutch Paintings in America: The Collectors and their Ideals." In Great Dutch Paintings from America. Edited by Ben P.J. Broos. Exh. cat. Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The Hague and Zwolle, 1990: 42.
1991
Grimm, Claus. Rembrandt selbst: Eine Neuhewertung seiner Porträtkunst. Stuttgart, 1991: 61, fig. 105, 72, color repro. 36 (detail).
1995
Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 210-215, color repro. 211.
1999
Schama, Simon. Rembrandt's Eyes. New York, 1999: 354, repro.
2000
Wright, Christopher. Rembrandt. Collection Les Phares 10. Translated by Paul Alexandre. Paris, 2000: 306, fig. 307.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 202, no. 158, color repro.
2013
Harris, Neil. Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience. Chicago and London, 2013: 235, 248, 250.
2014
Wheelock, Arthur K, Jr. "The Evolution of the Dutch Painting Collection." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 50 (Spring 2014): 2-19, repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20177135