Rembrandt van Rijn
, Dutch, 1606-1669
Studio of
Rembrandt van Rijn
, Dutch, 1606-1669
Title
Portrait of a Lady Holding GlovesDate1632-1633
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
72 x 62 cm
Credit LineBequeathed, Sir Hugh Lane, 1918
Object numberNGI.808
DescriptionThis painting caused a stir when it was sold at the auction of Prince Demidoff’s collection in Florence in 1880 for one of the highest prices that had hitherto been paid for a Dutch picture. The painting subsequently acquired fame as the ‘Demidoff Rembrandt’. Soon after, however, scholars started questioning its attribution, with some suggesting it may have been painted by Rembrandt’s pupil Ferdinand Bol. In all likelihood the picture is the product of at least three different artists. Rembrandt is likely to have started the painting, completing most of the woman’s face; a second artist from his workshop probably finished the costume, her left hand and the glove; and a third artist, perhaps not even part of Rembrandt’s studio, painted the cuff around the woman’s right hand in the bottom left corner. Based on a comparison with other paintings, Portrait of a Lady Holding a Glove probably dates from the early 1630s, when Rembrandt lived in Amsterdam and worked for the art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh, who secured numerous portrait commissions for him. March 2016
ProvenanceAnon sale, Paris, 1809; The Count Pourtales sale, Phillips, London, 19-20 May 1826, lot 53, bt. C. Maud; Anon (Charles Maud) sale, Sotheby's, Wilkinson & Hodge, London, 2 July 1873, lot 53, bt. Agnew; Prince Demidoff sale, San Donato, Florence, 15 ff. March 1880, lot 1139; Madame isaac Periere, Paris by 1897 and until at least 1909; Sir Hugh Lane, from whom purchased by Max Michaelis, 1913; received back by Sir Hugh Lane, by whom bequeathed, 1915, and received in the Gallery, 1918.Exhibition HistoryManchester, 1857
Leeds, 1868
Grosvenor Gallery, 1913
Dutch Painting, Royal Academy of Arts, London, Winter 1952-1953
Art Treasures Centenary Exhibition, Manchester, 1957
Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964
Rembrandt, his Teachers and his Pupils, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 15 April - 14 June 1992; Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, 7 August - 20 September 1992
Label TextThis painting caused a stir when it was sold at the auction of Prince Demidoff’s collection in Florence in 1880 for one of the highest prices that had hitherto been paid for a Dutch picture. Soon after, however, scholars started questioning its attribution. In all likelihood, Rembrandt started the painting, completing most of the woman’s face. An artist from his workshop probably finished the costume, her left hand and the glove. A third artist, perhaps not even part of Rembrandt’s studio, painted the cuff around the woman’s right hand in the bottom left corner.
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