Minneapolis Institute of Art

Rembrandt and His Wife Saskia

Rembrandt van Rijn

Date

1636

Medium

Etching and drypoint

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Saskia Uylenburgh was the daughter of a wealthy burgomaster from Leeuwarden. When orphaned at age twelve, she went to live with relatives in Amsterdam. These included the art dealer Hendrick Uylenburgh, who likely brokered many of Rembrandt's earliest portrait commissions. Saskia and Rembrandt met through Hendrick and married in 1634, a union that not only enhanced Rembrandt's social standing but also inspired some of his most tender etchings. Saskia with Pearls in Her Hair was made during the first year of their marriage. Surprisingly, the double portrait is the only one Rembrandt made with Saskia. Outfitted in a sixteenth-century hat, he gives the impression that we have just interrupted him while he was sketching her. Netherlands, Europe

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