Study of a seated woman, her arms outstretched

This particularly expressive study is a new addition to the drawn œuvre of Backer, which consists mainly of figure studies in black chalk on blue paper, heightened with white (W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, I, New York, 1979, nos. 1-78, ill.; P. van den Brink et al. in Jacob Backer (1608/9-1651), exhib. cat., Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, and Aachen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, 2008-2009, pp. 69-82, nos. 39-57, ill.). Exceptionally, the drawing bears the artist’s monogram, as seen on some of his works (for instance Van den Brink et al., op. cit., nos. 24, 34, 41, ill.). The same young model as in the sheet offered here, one breast exposed, appears in a similar pose in a drawing now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Orléans (Sumowski, op. cit., no. 22, ill.). Although they cannot be related directly to any known paintings by Backer, the figures in the two drawings can be compared to some in history paintings from around 1640, such as those in the Nieuwe Kerk, Middelburg, and the Museul Brukenthal, Sibiu, inv. 46 (Van den Brink et al., op. cit., nos. A 72, A 81, ill.). Like the sheet in Orléans, the present work may date from around the same time. We are grateful to Peter van den Brink for confirming the attribution and for his help in writing this note.