Saskia con sombrero rojo

Rembrandt met Saskia van Uylenburgh around 1633 and married her the next year, when both were young and his career was climbing. He began this portrait of her in those early days, in profile, richly dressed, a red hat glowing against the dark. But he did not finish it for years, not until after 1642, the year Saskia died, not yet 30, soon after giving birth to their son. In her hand is a sprig of rosemary, a plant long tied to remembrance and to weddings both. Rembrandt held onto the picture through the hard times that followed and let it go only when debt forced him to sell.