Saint Catherine ('The Little Jewish Bride')

With the present and the following lot, two etchings are offered which share the same traditional, yet questionable title: ‘Jewish Bride’. They are however distinguished from each other not only by their size, but also by their very different etching style. The young woman portrayed in both prints, in profile facing right and left, respectively, with her long and fuzzy, open hair restrained only by a thin band of pearls, has the features of Rembrandt’s wife Saskia van Uylenburgh. The present, smaller print has strong echoes of her portrait at upper centre in Three Heads of Women, one lightly etched (see lot 8), created one year earlier. Here she impersonates Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a young noblewoman who became a martyr after condemning the persecutions of Christians by the Roman Emperor Maxentius (circa 283-312). She was finally decapitated, but her execution was first attempted with a toothed wheel, which became her attribute - relegated in this depiction to the right edge of the plate. Her attire is almost certainly not that of a Jewish bride, but may be inspired by a Dutch folk custom of processions of children singing tunes and collecting small donations at Whitsuntide: ‘One girl - the ‘pinxterblom’ herself - would be dressed in an elegant white dress, lavishly decorated with flowers and trinkets’ (Hinterding, 2008, no. 241, p. 578). This sensitive and intimate portrayal is rendered by Rembrandt with a free and delicate etched line, which adds to the overall airy feel of the scene and Saskia’s light-hearted prettiness.