REMBRANDT ANNA : SEE CROMMIUS BIJBEL 1539
REMBRANDT - ALMAIN - FRANCIS CUTTING
Selfportrait , Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 1657-59
An Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Anna, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 1631
The portrait of Floris Soop
REMBRANDT - Hans Meijer lute
An Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Anna, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 1631
The old woman reading in such a thoughtful manner is Saint Anna the Prophetess. According to Luke 2:34-38 she was present when Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus to the Temple. Saint Anna immediately recognised Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.:
And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign .... And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all of them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Rembrandt shows Anna deeply absorbed in studying the Bible . The light comes from behind her, touching on her Oriental-looking headdress stitched with gold thread and her red velvet cloak and shining directly on the Bible and her hand pointing to the Hebrew letters. Rembrandt painted this old woman's hand with great care, with its thin wrinkled skin and clearly visible veins. Anna's face, however, is hidden in shadow.
It has been suggested that Rembrandt took his mother, Neeltje Willemsdochter van Zuydtbroeck, as his model for the prophetess. She was 60 years old in 1631 when this picture was painted. There is however no special reason to suppose that it is her. Rembrandt and his students often painted old women who were alleged to have been Rembrandt's mother, for example the Old Woman Reading a Lectionary (1630) of Gerard Dou.
RIJKSSTUDIO - Old Woman Reading, Gerard Dou, c. 1631 - c. 1632;
Portrait of Rembrandt's Mother, Neeltgen Willemsdr van Zuijdtbroeck
Rembrandt - Neeltgen Willemsdr van Zuijdtbroeck 1640)
