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REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (LEIDEN 1606-AMSTERDAM 1669)
Agatha Bas (1611-1658)
Signed and dated 1641Oil on canvas | 105.4 x 83.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 405352
In art of this date a woman’s charm is usually shown through hesitancy – making eye-contact, but only with shrinking bashfulness. There is no precedent for Agatha Bas’s direct, steady and confident gaze. She is even painted in an uncompromising way: in the illusion of her thumb and fan, which seem to project beyond the ebony frame; and in the encrusted paint, sculpted into her lace and jewellery.
