An old woman reading (recto); Figure sketches (verso)

The style of the drawing is characteristic of Van Dijck’s graphic work: dry and irregular contour lines combined with rich tonal wash. The artist often depicted both young and mature women, in paintings and in drawings, seated alone knitting or reading. By isolating individual figures in his works, Van Dijck created a sense of concentrated monumentally that was greatly admired by many commentators and often caused his drawings to be attributed to his master Rembrandt Van Rijn (De Witt, op. cit., p. 45).

This drawing was in the collection of the important American art historian Bernard Berenson, who gifted it to his pupil Luisa Vertova.