An Old and a Young Woman in Conversation
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 12,3 x 7,1 cm
Inventory numberNMH 2037/1863
Other titlesTitle (sv): En gammal och en ung kvinna samtalar Title (en): An Old and a Young Woman in Conversation
DescriptionDescription: Pen and brown ink, 123 x 71 mm. No watermark. Chain lines: 26 mm. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 1838 (Sparre), 190 (struck out) and 188? (struck out). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638). Valentiner believed that the two figures represent Vertumnus disguised as an old woman, arguing his case before Pomona. Tümpel, on the other hand, suggests that the drawing represents Ruth and Naomi on their way to Bethlehem. Naomi tried in vain to dissuade her stepdaughter from following her. The air of respectful listening on the part of the younger woman fits better with Ruth than with the disdainful Pomona, who was unmoved by Vertumnus’ arguments. Most scholars, including Benesch, have accepted the traditional attribution to Rembrandt. The economy of the drawing, with a first sketch in fine lines, reworked with broader strokes, and the delicate rendering of the features of the intensely listening “Ruth/Pomona” would seem to support that attribution. However, Bol’s authorship has repeatedly been proposed, and Sumowski attributes the drawing to him on stylistic grounds and lists several drawings probably by the same hand, dating them to the early 1640s. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 80]
Collection
Geographical origin
TechniqueDrawing
Object category