Rijksmuseum

Saskia als Catharina van Alexandrië

Date

1638

Medium

paper

Institution

Rijksmuseum

This woman clearly has the facial features of Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia. She is dressed in a long, flowing shirt and wears her hair loose. The spiked wheel at the right identifies her as the martyr St Catherine of Alexandria. Perhaps in this way Rembrandt expresses her sorrow over the death of their second child, Cornelia, in 1638.

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