Saskia as Flora
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| Saskia as Flora |
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| Rembrandt van Rijn , 1634 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 125 × 101 cm |
| Hermitage (Saint Petersburg) |
Saskia as Flora is one of Rembrandt van Rijn painted portrait from the year 1634. The 125 centimeters high and 101 centimeters wide painting shows Rembrandt's wife Saskia van Uylenburgh in the role of Flora who in Roman mythology, the deity of the flower and the spring was . The portrait is in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg .
Image description
The portrait of Saskia as Flora shows Rembrandt's wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, in the year of their wedding. It is the central motif; shown standing. The clothes are decorated with opulent embroidery and stand out brightly against the dark background. Saskia is clearly identified as flora with floral elements as attributes . She wears flowers on her head and holds a staff adorned with flowers in her hand. Rembrandt accentuates Saskia's face through the use of light.
background
The flower attributes generally recognize the portrait as a representation of flora. However, whether it really represents Saskia is debatable. Proponents cite similarities between a drawing of her that Rembrandt made shortly after their engagement in 1633, a portrait of Saskia as Flora in the National Gallery in London, and the Saint Petersburg portrait. Even if the painting grounds are different, the similarities of the faces and bodies couldn't be coincidental. The experts at the Rembrandt Research Project were not convinced of this in their 1986 work A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings Volume II .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Kitson: Rembrandt . Phaidon Press Inc., New York City 2007. page 50.
literature
- Michael Kitson: Rembrandt . Phaidon Press Inc., New York City 2007. ISBN 9780714827438 .