Old Woman Plucking a Fowl

After learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting in his native Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn went to Amsterdam in 1624 to study for six months with Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), a famous history painter. Upon completion of his training Rembrandt returned to Leiden. Around 1632 he moved to Amsterdam, quickly establishing himself as the town’s leading artist, specializing in history paintings and portraiture. He received many commissions and attracted a number of students who came to learn his method of painting.

Traditionally, Old Woman Plucking a Fowl has been associated with a work listed in the 1734 sale of paintings owned by Willem Six, where "Een Hoenderwyf, van Rembrant" (A vendor of fowl, by Rembrandt) was purchased for 165 guilders. No one would confuse this painting as it looks today with a work by Rembrandt. It was reworked in the eighteenth century and then heavily restored in the early twentieth century. With so many layers of overpaint, it is virtually impossible to determine the original character of the image. The dead bird on the woman’s lap, which has survived fairly well intact, is the sole exception. The vigorous execution of this animal does reveal a boldness of touch that provides a glimpse of the qualities that the rest of the painting may originally have possessed.