Woman at her Dressing Table
- Woman at her Dressing Table
Frame (outer): 64 × 49 3/4 in. (162.6 × 126.4 cm)
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The handsome woman admiring herself in the mirror may represent a personification of the vice of vanity. The theme of vanitas, Latin for "emptiness," was popular in 17th-century Dutch art, intended to symbolize the transitory nature of earthly life and the inevitability of death.
Ferdinand Bol was one of Rembrandt van Rijn's most gifted and successful pupils. Bol enjoyed considerable success as an independent artist, but his works reflect the strong debt in both style and subject to the work of his master. Like Rembrandt, Bol was interested in the effects of light, as can be seen here in the idealized face of the young woman bathed in a warm light against a dark background. The glistening details of her costume and jewelry glow with a vivid naturalness, the strong contrasts worked up very much in a Rembrandtesque manner of chiaroscuro, or arrangement of light and dark. Bol also captures something of the mood and tender character of Rembrandt's art of this period with the manner in which the young woman gazes at herself in the mirror. Her identity has not been confirmed, but she may be Rembrandt's wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, who was repeatedly painted in fancy costume by Rembrandt and his pupils.
ProvenanceCount Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato (1813–1870); William Skinner; R. Stewart Kilbourne; Mrs. Harry C. Hanszen; given to MFAH, 1969.
Exhibition History"Rembrandt and his Pupils," Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, January 9–February 23, 1969.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, March 14–April 27, 1969
"In the Company of Women: Selection from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," 1998 International Fine Art Fair, Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, May 6–13, 1998.
“Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.
Published References The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, A Guide to the Collection, 1981, p. 54, no. 97 (illus.). Marzio, Peter, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: A Permanent Legacy, Hudson Hills Press: New York, 1989, p. 140 (commentary), p. 141 (illus.) Bowron, Edgar Peters and Mary G. Morton, Masterworks of European Painting in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2000, p. 72-74, (illus. p. 73). Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, published by the Museum of Art, Ehime; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum; Mie Prefectural Art Museum; Fukuoka Art Museum; and the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Japan Association of Art Museums, 1999. (Exhibition catalogue in Japanese only.) p. 116, illus. p. 117, cat. no. 33.
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