The artist's mother in widow's dress and black gloves.

This etching (Bartsch 344) is more art historically fascinating than it is commercially valuable. Long regarded as a 1630s Rembrandt print, it was likely purchased as one by its former owner, Bishop Ditlev Monrad, who presented it to the Colonial Museum in 1869. It is closely based on Rembrandt's authentic portrait etching, entitled The artist's mother seated at a table, looking right: Three quarter length  (1631) (Bartsch 343). However, it is made in reverse and the sitter is given black gloves to match the widow's dress. 

The Rembrandt status of this etching was firmly rejected in the 20th century, when it was attributed by Ludwig Münz to Rembrandt's celebrated student Ferdinand Bol (1616-80) in Rembrandt's Etchings (1952). However, Christopher White and K.G. Boon, in Rembrandt's Etchings: An Illustrated Catalogue (1969), suggest it is by a talented member of the master's studio, possibly Karel van der Pluym, and this is repeated in the 'definitive' Hollstein catalogue.

Who was the artist of this print? Nobody knows for sure, but its contested status only emphasises the fascination that Rembrandt and his many followers hold in art history, and to a non-connoisseurial eye this fine study of  a widow in calm reflection could surely pass persuasively for a work by the great man! A dealer has recently advertised an impression for sale, calling it 'Rembrandt Rembrandt's Mother in Widow's Dress and Black Gloves 1632', adding that 'the work is accepted by some... and rejected by others' and offering a certificate of authenticity into the bargain. This curator refrains from comment.

See: Fitzwilliam Museum Collections Explorer, http://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer/index.php?qu=dress&oid=86573

Dr Mark Stocker  Curator, Historical International Art     September 2018