Aert de Gelder

Aert de Gelder, one of the last pupils of Rembrandt van Rijn, served as a valuable stylistic intermediary between the earthy realism of the 17th century and the refinement of the 18th century. Born in Dordrecht, de Gelder apprenticed under Samuel van Hoogstraten before serving as a member of Rembrandt’s Amsterdam workshop from 1661 to 1663. He then returned to Dordrecht, where he specialized in paintings of biblical subjects, particularly from the Old Testament, and portraits of the elite. Only around 100 paintings survive from de Gelder’s 60-year career, suggesting that painting was not his primary source of income. 

De Gelder’s history paintings feature a minimal number of figures, allowing him to explore the psychological relationships among the protagonists. The artist returned to the same subjects, such as the seduction of the patriarch Judah by the young Tamar, throughout his career. In later works he incorporated softer colors and 18th-century costume, which shows how he moved beyond the limits of Rembrandt’s style.

The Art Institute’s Portrait of a Young Woman follows the conventions of the character study established by Rembrandt in his Old Man with a Gold Chain and others: fanciful costume, even lighting, and a lack of descriptive context. Yet the model’s direct gaze, parted lips, and proximity to the viewer—her right hand reaching over a railing into the viewer’s space—lends her a captivating immediacy. The highly textural paint layer, with skeins of paint drawn over each other with a dry brush, contributes to the painting’s seductiveness.

De Gelder was a talented draftsman as well. Two drawings attributed to the artist, a sensuous reclining female nude and a Biblical scene of Joseph’s bloody coat shown to Jacob, demonstrate his command of the drawn line. Like his paintings, de Gelder’s drawings continue to be untangled from the extensive but rich oeuvre of Rembrandt van Rijn.