Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels
- Artist: Rembrandt
- Date: probably 1654-6
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels by Rembrandt, painted in the mid-1600s. The sitter has an almost regal poise and looks down on us from a slight height. Her right hand rests on what must be part of the arm of a chair, but which has the air of a sceptre. She wears expensive pearl earrings and jewellery, and what seems to be a fur mantle.
All these might hint at the trappings of royalty, yet this is also an intimate – even erotically charged – portrait. Her dress seems to be unfastened and the mantle falls slightly open, revealing much more of her breast than would have been acceptable in a formal portrait of the time.
Rembrandt didn't name his subject, but we know she's likely Hendrickje Stoffels, Rembrandt's housekeeper and lover. They had a daughter together in 1654. This portrait is probably from around that time, and it's one of several informal paintings Rembrandt made of Hendrickje during their relationship.
See it in person
Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
