Rembrandt exhibit focuses on mother

LEIDEN, Netherlands — She is one of the most famous female models of the 17th century. Her wrinkled, oval face with its pointed nose appears in scores of paintings by her son and by his friends or pupils.

An exhibition devoted to Rembrandt's mother launched celebrations in the Netherlands to mark next year's 400th anniversary of the Dutch master's birth.

Queen Beatrix inaugurated "Rembrandt's Mother: Myth and Reality," the first of more than 20 events over the next year bringing Rembrandt's works together in a variety of displays.

Collectors at De Lakenhal Museum in Leiden drew on museums and private collections from Europe and the United States for the exhibit of paintings, drawings and etchings of Corneilia Willemsdr van Zuytbrouck, known as "Neeltgen," who was in her early 60s when most of the pieces were done.

No one can be sure the woman was actually Rembrandt's mother. But a vital clue came from an inventory of Rembrandt's etchings in 1679, just 10 years after his death. It was drawn up by art dealer Clement de Jonghe, who knew the artist and owned 74 of his plates. Among them he listed "Rembrandt's mother." Only one elderly woman appeared to fit.

"This model recurs all the time. The amount of works of that woman is exceptional," said curator Christiaan Vogelaar.

"It's very probable that she's Rembrandt's mother," said Vogelaar. "It's the father who's a problem."

The display includes several famous images of the man who for centuries was thought to be Neeltgen's husband, Herman Gerritsz van Rijn, a well-off miller in Leiden, 25 miles south of Amsterdam.

But in 1907, a drawing was published in Oxford, England, of a different man, inscribed in Rembrandt's hand with his father's name. Sketched in 1630, he is portrayed with his eyes closed, an indication that he already was dead.

The same man appears in only a handful of other works, compared with the far more widely used visage of the other man. So who was he?

"Probably a paid model," said Vogelaar. "He had the right kind of face," of experience and wisdom, which lent itself to exotic costumes or historical settings.

Though it's not clear whether or how often she actually posed, Neeltgen's face was frequently painted not only by Rembrandt but by his Leiden colleague, Jan Lievens, and his student, Gerrit Dou.