Unknown portrait of Rembrandt’s wife discovered in the Netherlands

A portrait of Saskia van Oylenburg (Saskia van Uylenburgh, 1612 - 1642), the wife of the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), was discovered in a private collection. This was reported today by the press service of the Dutch Cultural Foundation of the province of Friesland (Stichting Culturele Herdenkingen in Fryslân), quoted by De Telegraaf.

Until now, this picture was completely unknown. Saskia very often acted as a model for her husband, therefore, even before the examinations, authorship was attributed to Rembrandt. A collector, whose name is not disclosed, says he bought a masterpiece several years ago in Sweden, for a "reasonable" price.

The authorship of Rembrandt has not yet been officially confirmed, some isselovateli creativity of the great artist suggested that the portrait was probably painted by his student Govert Flinck (Govert Flinck, 1615-1660). For some time, Flink studied with the artist Jacob Lambert (Lambert Jacobsz, 1598 - 1636), whose neighbor was Saskia’s father, Rombertus van Oylenberg (Rombertus van Uylenburgh, 1554-1624). Flink later became famous among artists of the so-called Golden Age of Dutch painting as a portrait painter and author of paintings on historical topics. Between 1635 and 1657, he painted a magnificent oil painting, Rembrandt as sheperd with staff and flute, which can be seen today in the Amsterdam Museum.

In October 2012, the Fund will hold a series of events dedicated to the 400th anniversary of Saskia, and on this occasion, the organizers expressed a desire to put on a portrait in Levarden, the capital of Friesland.

Portraits of Rembrandt’s wife are now in the collections of the largest museums in the world; one of the most interesting is owned by the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

Anna Sidorova