Portrait of a woman in military costume

Portrait of a Woman in Military Costume from around 1650 in the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota depicts a figure whose combination of female gender and martial dress has generated significant scholarly attention. Women in armor in seventeenth-century Dutch painting almost invariably represent mythological or allegorical figures: Minerva, Bellona (goddess of war), or an allegorized virtue such as Fortitude or Justice. The possibility that this represents a real sitter in theatrical dress is less likely but cannot be entirely excluded — Amsterdam's theatrical culture occasionally featured women in martial roles. The Ringling Museum, built by circus magnate John Ringling in the 1920s as a monument to his collecting ambition, holds a concentration of Baroque art that includes this unusual Rembrandt alongside multiple works by Rubens that Ringling acquired as the centerpiece of his collection.

Rembrandt renders the military costume with attention to metallic reflections and fabric textures, creating an unusual contrast between the martial dress and the feminine features of the sitter.