Images(2)

Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)

1632

Medium/TechniqueOil on panel

Dimensions73.7 x 55.8 cm (29 x 21 15/16 in.)

Credit LinePromised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art

Accession numberL-R 249.2017

On View

On view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Here, the young Rembrandt—just twenty-six years old—captures the wisdom of age. The artist had just moved to Amsterdam, so he could not have known sixty-two-year-old Aeltje Uylenburgh long, but he already seems to know her very well. She was a cousin of the artist’s landlord (an important art dealer), and also of his future wife, Saskia. In exquisite condition, the picture shows Rembrandt’s extraordinary skill in evoking contrasting textures with paint; look for the thick touches of pink and white that animate her skin and the feathery strokes that define the fur of her cloak.

Provenance1632, Johannes Cornelisz. Sylvius (b. 1564 - d. 1638) and Aeltje Pietersdr. Uylenburgh (the sitter; b. 1570 - d. 1644), Amsterdam; to their son, Cornelis Jansz. Sylvius (b. 1608 - d. 1685), Amsterdam and Haarlem [see note 1]; to his son, Johannes Sylvius Jr. (b. 1653 - d. 1710), Haarlem; probably to his son, Cornelis Sylvius Jr. (b. 1687 - d. 1738), Haarlem. Around 1720, probably purchased in Holland by Jean Jacques Burlamaqui (b. 1694 - d. 1748), Geneva; by descent from Burlamaqui to the Chapeaurouge family, Geneva; about 1825, sold by the Chapeaurouge family to Dubois (dealer), Paris [see note 2]. 1828, William Coesvelt, London; May 2, 1828, consigned by Coesvelt for sale through John Smith (dealer; b. 1781 - d. 1855) at Stanley, London, lot 37, bought in [see note 3]; 1835, sold by John Smith to Albertus Brondgeest (b. 1786 - d. 1849), Amsterdam [see note 4]. 1843, Paul Périer, Paris; March 16-17, 1843, Périer sale, Paris, lot 34, to James de Rothschild (b. 1792 - d. 1868) and Betty de Rothschild (b. 1805 - d. 1886), Paris [see note 5]; to their son, Alphonse de Rothschild (b. 1827 - d. 1905) and his wife, Leonora de Rothschild (b. 1837 - d. 1911), Paris; to their son, Edouard de Rothschild (b. 1868 - d. 1949); about 1940/1941, confiscated from Edouard de Rothschild by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR no. R 49), and inventoried at the Jeu de Paume, Paris [see note 6]; moved to Alt Aussee (no. 850/2); June 26, 1945, recovered by Allied forces and taken to the Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP no. 1046/2) [see note 7]; March 26, 1946, released by the Munich Central Collecting Point and shipped to Paris for restitution to Edouard de Rothschild [see note 8]; by descent to his daughter, Bethsabée (Batsheva) de Rothschild (b. 1914 - d. 1999), Tel Aviv; December 13, 2000, posthumous Batsheva de Rothschild sale, Christie's, London, lot 52, to Noortman Master Paintings; 2005, sold by Noortman to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA.

NOTES:
[1] This painting and its companion, Rembrandt's portrait of Johannus Sylvius (now lost), were recorded in the 1681 will of their son, Cornelis Sylvius. See Rudi Ekkart and Quentin Bulevot, Dutch Portraits: The Age of Rembrandt and Frans Hals (The Hague and London, 2007), p. 186, cat. no. 52. For a full discussion of the provenance, see Ben Broos, "De lotgevallen van Rembrandts 'Portret van Aeltje Uylenburgh,' " Oud Holland 123, no. 2 (2010), pp. 89-107.

[2] On the provenance of the portrait in Geneva, see Broos 2010 (as above, n. 1) and Jean-Jacques Rigaud, Des beaux-arts à Genève (Geneva, 1849), p. 15.

[3] John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, part 7 (London, 1836), p. 182, cat. no. 573, recorded the painting as "in the possession of the writer." On the sale by Coesvelt, see Broos 2010 (as above, note 1), p. 94.

[4] This is recorded in Smith's own copy of his catalogue. See Broos 2010 (as above, note 1), p. 95.

[5] That James de Rothschild acquired the painting at the Périer sale is according to Charles Blanc, L'Oeuvre Complet de Rembrandt, vol. 2 (Paris, 1861), p. 454.

[6] The ERR was the National Socialist agency responsible for confiscating art and cultural goods. On the plundering of the collections of the Jewish Rothschild family in France, see Hector Feliciano, The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art (New York, 1997), pp. 43-51. This painting was ERR no. R 49, inventoried at the Jeu de Paume as "Bildnis einer alten Frau". National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD, Microfilm Publication M1943, ERR Card File and Related Photographs, No. R49. It was taken to "Lager Peter," or the salt mines at Alt Aussee, for storage.

[7] Allied troops recovered the artwork at Alt Aussee at the end of World War II and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. The Munich Central Collecting Point inventory card is held by the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland (RG 260; Property Card 1046).

[8] The painting was included in the exhibition "Les Chefs-d'Oeuvre des Collections Privées Françaises retrouvées en Allemagne par la Commission de Récupération Artistique et les Services Alliés" (Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, June - August 1946), cat. no. 79.