Old Woman Plucking a Fowl
Rembrandt van Rijn·1650/1655
Historical Context
Rembrandt's genre scenes of domestic labor—servants plucking fowl, old women at kitchen tasks—occupy an important position in his engagement with humble subject matter he elevated to moral and pictorial significance. Influenced by the Utrecht Caravaggists' use of dramatic chiaroscuro for low-life subjects, Rembrandt transformed kitchen scenes into meditations on age, patience, and the dignity of ordinary life. The 1650s date places this follower work in the period of Rembrandt's domestic and financial difficulties, when he maintained a productive workshop despite personal crisis. Follower versions of his kitchen subjects demonstrate how thoroughly his combination of warm Rembrandtesque light and sympathetic characterization of aged faces had been absorbed as a recognizable pictorial language.
Technical Analysis
The oil-on-canvas demonstrates the Rembrandtesque technique of warm chiaroscuro with the figure emerging from dark shadow into concentrated light. The somewhat coarser handling and less subtle tonal transitions suggest a follower emulating the master's approach to domestic genre subjects.
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.
