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Mystery about a portrait by Rembrandt

Portrait of a 17th-century servant.

The woman looks elderly with a stolid and severe face. She is wearing the

whitish bonnet of a servant but also a luxurious dark fur collar. Why was a woman of her class painted in such a manner?

When the painting was first received, the experts considered it a Rembrandt.

Afterwards, they changed their minds for two essential reasons:

On the one hand, there was a mistake in the way the woman was dressed. Rembrandt would never have painted a servant with a whitish bonnet and a wonderful expensive fur collar.

On the other hand, Rembrandt would never have made a technical mistake.

The light reflected on the woman's face seemed to come from the dark fur collar. That was impossible, the dark collar should have absorbed the light.

They came to the conclusion that this portrait couldn't be a genuine “Rembrandt”.

However a few years later, Mr Van der Wetering, a well-known expert and a former head of conservation for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, was intrigued by the portrait.

For this expert, there was no doubt about it. It was a Rembrandt.

His reasons:

1. The way the bonnet was painted: the wisps of hair spilling out of the bonnet. (Rembrandt was known for adding these sorts of details).

2. The portrait's wood panel was the same as the one Rembrandt used to paint his self-portrait, with a hat (1633), which is in the Louvre.

3. Foremost, the light falling obliquely from behind the servant  left her face in shadows. Only Rembrandt was able to paint that way.

The expert added: 'The fur collar had been painted and had been added by someone”.

X-rays tests of the pigment confirmed that the oil of the collar was not the same as the rest of the portrait.

The fur collar was removed and underneath a white collar appeared.

It was actually a genuine Rembrandt. The light on her face was reflected off the white collar.

Adapted from  

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1. In that period, a servant Dutchwoman was wearing a lace bonnetsimple white bonnetbonnet attached with a white ribbonI don't know

2. A servant wouldn't be wearing a black fur collarluxurious black woollen collarluxurious black shawlI don't know

3. The servant's hairstyleclothesbonnetI don't know were not correct.

4. There was another technical mistake involving the reflection of lightshadowcolourI don't know.

5. Would a dark collar reflect a light on the servant's face? yesnoI don't know

6. Rembrandt had added a detail on the servant's face like a dimplewisp of hairbeauty spotI don't know

7. The self-portrait of Rembrandt with a hat (1633) is in the RijksmuseumLouvreNational Gallery in LondonI don't know

8. The fur collar was removed and a white scarfa white collara light-coloured collarI don't know appeared; This portrait was a genuine Rembrandt.

9. The fur collar was added by a student of RembrandtsomeoneRembrandtI don't know

10. The painter'sx-rayexpert'sI don't know tests of the pigments attested to the fact that the oil of the collar was not the same as that of the rest of the portrait.