_Rembrandt_ (Dutch: 1606-1669). _See_ 45.
"Those who have been in Holland," says Mrs. Jameson, "must often
have seen the peasant girls washing their linen and trampling on it,
precisely in the manner here depicted. Rembrandt may have seen one
of them from his window, and snatching up his pencil and palette, he
threw the figure on the canvas and fixed it there as by a spell."
More probably, however, this is one of Rembrandt's many pictures of
his servant and model, Hendrickje Stoffels. "The finest of the whole
series," says M. Michel, "is the study of Hendrickje in the National
Gallery, the so-called 'Woman Bathing.' It bears the date 1654, and
is undoubtedly a masterpiece among Rembrandt's less important works.
The young woman, whose only garment is a chemise, stands facing the
spectator, in a deep pool. Her attitude suggests a sensation of
pleasure and refreshment tempered by the involuntary shrinking of the
body at the first contact of the cold water. The light from above
glances on her breast and forehead, and on the luxuriant disorder
of her bright hair; the lower part of her face and her legs are in
deep transparent shadow. The brown tones of the soil, the landscape
background and the water, the purple and gold of the draperies, make up
a marvellous setting alike for the brilliantly illuminated contour and
the more subdued carnations of the model. The truth of the impression,
the breadth of the careful but masterly execution, the variety of
the handling, proclaim the matured power of the artist, and combine
to glorify the hardy grace and youthful radiance of his creation"
(_Rembrandt: his Life, his Work, and his Time_, ii. 70).