Who knows where this woman is looking and what she is waiting for. Attractive, untidy, with one hand resting on the pillow, she looks out with interest because of the retracted canopy. Is this a portrait, episode from the Bible or a mythological plot?
Whoever she is, since she posed for Rembrandt, it means that this is probably one of his women: Saskia, Herthier or Hendrickje. So which of them? The answer may suggest the date of writing the picture. It was usually thought that the canvas was created between 1641 and 1650, but recently it was more precisely dated, 1645.
By that time, Saskia had already died, and Hendrickje had not yet entered the artist’s life. It remains Gertie, Titus’ nanny and Rembrandt’s girlfriend from 1642 until about 1647, when the connection was finally broken. In favor of this hypothesis speak the middle-aged age of the woman depicted, a very intimate setting and, typical of the nurse, flowering appearance.
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