Master Copy Detail of Rembrandt Portrait of Aechje Claesdr 1634

Aechje Claesdr was painted by Rembrandt when she was 83 and he 28.  She was the widowed matriarch of prosperous brewery owners but her family was persecuted for being members of a liberal offshoot from the official Dutch Calvinism of the early 17th century.  At times she had to hide one of her preacher sons to save him from detention. In my study I omitted her chaste period cap and ruffled collar to emphasize her similarity to a contemporary elder woman whose face reflects the experiences of a life.