Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Anna
Also titled Oude lezende vrouw, waarschijnlijk de profetes Hanna
Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden, 1606–1669)
1631
- Medium
- panel, oil paint (paint)
- Classification
- painting
- Dimensions
- height 60 cm x width 48 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
About this work
Here the light comes from behind the old woman: the brightest illumination falls on the book and her wrinkled hand, modelled with paint. Her face remains in shadow. She could be the prophetess Anna, an elderly widow who, according to the Bible, served God through fasting and prayer. Tradition has it that Rembrandt’s mother posed for this painting.
