Head of an old woman, traditionally identified as Neeltgen Willemsdr. van Zuytbrouck (1569-1640), Rembrandt's mother, half-length, in a black costume with a fur hat

This image of an elderly woman is frequently identified as Rembrandt's mother, Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuytbrouck, who scholars believe sat for the artist on a number of occasions in the early part of his career. This panel is among the few surviving versions of a composition listed in the definitive Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, which scholars have concluded records a lost painting by Rembrandt, probably executed c. 1630/31, just before the artist's painting at Windsor Castle showing the same model (see Corpus, nos. C41 and A32). This lost work is known to have influenced several of Rembrandt's pupils: Gerard Dou (1613-1675), for instance, borrowed the expression and dress of the sitter for a number of his oval-shaped portraits that clearly depict the same woman. The present panel was probably executed in Rembrandt's studio in the 1630s.