Portrait of a young woman, half length, wearing a black dress and lace collar, a red sash and golden six-tier necklace on her shoulders

The sitter in the present lot has not hitherto identified; it has been suggested that she may be Saskia van Uylenburgh or Uylenborch (1612-1641) who was married to Rembrandt in 1634. The identification rests primarily on comparison with Rembrandts depictions of his wife. There are other persuasive reasons to support the identification. The costume suggests a dating of ca. 1630; and the sitter seems likely not to have been married at the time as she faces her left (the current convention, though not hard and fast, was for married women to be depicted facing their right). The artist responsible, Wybrand de Geest, specialised in portraying members of the Frisian nobility and patrician class, to which Saskia's family belonged. Indeed in 1622 he married Saskia's niece, and thus, she was no doubt known to him.
In 1628, Saskia became an orphan and was taken into the care of her guardians, her sister Hiscke and her husband Gerryt van Loo. In June 1633, Saskia then living with a married sister in Amsterdam, was bethrothed to Rembrandt, who had had dealings with her cousin, Hendrik van Uylenburgh, an art dealer in Amsterdam, for some time; indeed Rembrandt was living in his house from 1632, until his marriage

See colour illustration