Rembrandt’s An Old Woman Reading: subtle drama and rugged human experience

Rembrandt’s An Old Woman Reading, 1655 (detail; full image below). Photograph: John McKenzie/National Galleries of Scotland

Golden oldies …

In 17th-century Netherlands, the detailed depiction of careworn, lived-in elderly faces became an artist’s calling card. Though this was created in 1655, when Rembrandt was middle aged, in his youth the artist painted many “tronies” or faces like this one, establishing his reputation as a master of rugged human experience.

Supermum …

As has been supposed with this painting, his model was frequently his mother. A baker’s daughter who raised 10 children, in his art she became a figure of subtle drama in everyday scenarios that frequently had biblical overtones.

Walk the lines …

The hood and cloak give her gravitas, while her face seems to be illuminated by the pages. The attention to human physiognomy for which the artist was famed is evident in her hollow cheeks, shadowed eyes and veined hands.

Life less ordinary …

The mix of the grand and ordinary, the recognisably human and the sublime, is one of the things that makes Rembrandt’s art so thrilling.

Rembrandt’s An Old Woman Reading, 1655. Photograph: John McKenzie/National Galleries of Scotland

Rembrandt: Britain’s Discovery of the Master, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, to 14 October