Studies for the Sick Woman in the ‘Hundred Guilder Print’
Painter: Rembrandt van Rijn
Year:
Medium: pen and brown ink, with brown wash and opaque white; framing line in brown ink
Description: Through his wife Saskia, Rembrandt had direct experience with sick women. For an ailing figure in the Hundred Guilder Print, he abandoned an earlier study of a seated woman with her hands raised in prayer. She seemed too ‘healthy’. Here he explored two solutions: one woman has both hands down, the other is half reclining, with one hand raised to attract Christ’s attention. Eventually he opted for drama: a frail, recumbent woman who can barely lift her arm.