Portrait of a Lady with an Ostrich-Feather Fan (1656-1658)

Rembrandt (1606-1669)

Portrait of a Lady with an Ostrich-Feather Fan
c.16561658
Oil on canvas transferred to canvas, 99.5 x 83 cm
National Gallery of ArtWashington

There is little doubt that these two portraits by Rembrandt van Rijn (see also NGA 1942.9.67) were conceived as pendants, or companion pieces. In both, light illuminates the subjects from exactly the same angle. Unfortunately, the identity of the sitters remains a mystery. The man and woman interact with reserved yet poignant warmth; he gestures toward her while looking at the viewer, and she glances in his direction while holding her feather fan so that it inclines toward him. The woman’s hairstyle and costume, including the elegant yet restrained jewelry, are all datable to the 1650s. The translucent lace collar with the elaborate lower edge that covers her shoulders and continues horizontally across her body is of a type seen in a number of portraits from this period. Her plain white cuffs edged with lace are similar to those in Rembrandt’s painting of A Woman Holding a Pink dated 1656. The early history of these paintings is shrouded in mystery, but by 1803 they had entered the collection of Prince Nicolai Yusupov (1751–1831) in Saint Petersburg. The first published descriptions of the pair, in 1864, already mention their “extraordinary energy,” and the paintings made a tremendous impression at the great Rembrandt exhibition in Amsterdam in 1898. When Nicolai’s great-great-grandson, Prince Felix Yusupov (1887–1967), escaped Russia at the start of the Revolution in 1917, he brought the family jewels and these two Rembrandt paintings with him to London. Joseph E. Widener, the future benefactor of the National Gallery of Art, purchased the pair in 1921 when the Prince’s need for cash forced him to part with his family heirlooms. A woman with pale skin, wearing a black dress and holding a full, billowing white ostrich feather, is shown from the hips up against a dark background in this vertical portrait painting. She has dark eyes, faint, arched brows, a slightly pink nose, and her pink lips are parted. Light falls from our left, creating shadows under the other cheekbone and along the side of her neck. Her shoulders are covered by a transparent, white, lace-edged wrap fastened with a bow. Her black dress also has wide, white cuffs, exposing a thick, possibly jeweled bracelet on each wrist. She wears two gold rings, one with a clear gem, perhaps a diamond, gold, dangling earrings, and a round pendant necklace. The lush white ostrich feather arches down from her right hand, held at her waist by her opposite hand, clasping that wrist. (NGA)

Companion:

Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Gentleman with a Tall Hat
c.16561658
National Gallery of ArtWashington