Portrait of a Woman

By 1635 Rembrandt had been living in Amsterdam for four years and portraits were his business. The city's merchants wanted one, and to keep up with them he ran a workshop of assistants, which is why Cleveland now catalogues this panel as Rembrandt and studio rather than Rembrandt alone. The skin is worked in smooth, fluid strokes. The lace collar and the gold are laid on thicker so they catch the light, which is the kind of display a wealthy client was paying for. She was not meant to hang alone. The panel was made as one of a pair with a portrait of a man, and both were later cut down from rectangles into ovals. That companion picture is now at the Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art in Japan.