A Woman Bathing In A Stream/Rembrandt 1654

You might have thought radio is not the best medium to present an art programme but I always enjoy Moving Pictures on Radio 4 presented by Cathy Fitzgerald.

The picture  subject matter is on the programme website but I prefer to consult my Works of Rembrandt by the publisher Taschen which had a full page colour plate.

It is thought that the model was Hendtikje, a cleaning woman who was Rembrandt’s lover and carer of his young son Titus after his wife Saskia died.  It has been argued that there is a biblical subject matter and the woman represents Susanna a person hypocritically adjudged a whore as she would not have sex with a group of elders.

The picture can be found in the Rembrandt Room of the National Gallery.  The woman is holding up her white night shift as she enters a stream.  The contrast of the shift to her skin and the revealing of her thighs makes the picture quite erotic and even scandalous especially as Hendrikje. and Rembrandt were an item and he was at the top of his powers  and fame and wealth but were not married.  You recognise the genius of Rembrandt  in making the white so brilliant and incandescent.

The Dutch art of the 17th  century was the first free art market. Rembrandt was neither a court painter nor had a patron. He could paint what he liked … and did.

Some of his early pictures like The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Cuip are distinctly ghoulish as are his biblical representations. He painted over 600 portraits but there never was a distinct style. When he needed money he still painted boldly. He was truly a master of paint, drawing and composition. All of these skills can be seen in A Woman Bathing.