Rembrandt · Amsterdam · 1634
Saskia en Flora
A recognizable wife, a Roman goddess and a costume that does not belong to any specific era: Rembrandt transforms the portrait into a painting theater.
The short answer
A mythological portrait, not a simple disguise
Saskia en Flora combines the features of Saskia van Uylenburgh, wife of Rembrandt, with the attributes of Flora, Roman goddess of flowers, spring and fertility. It is neither a conventional commissioned portrait nor a faithful reconstruction of Antiquity.
Rembrandt paints a mobile identity: Saskia remains recognizable, but the ancient clothing, the plant crown, the bouquet and the leafy staff place her in a pastoral fiction. The work belongs to the vast Dutch taste for historical portraits, the tronies and the characters in fancy costumes.
The model behind the goddess
Who was Saskia van Uylenburgh?
Born in Leeuwarden in 1612 into a wealthy family, Saskia met Rembrandt through the network of her cousin Hendrick Uylenburgh, an art dealer and employer of the painter in Amsterdam. The couple became engaged in 1633 and married in 1634.
The years that followed corresponded to Rembrandt's social ascension. But family history is marked by mourning: four children are born, and only Titus reaches adulthood. Saskia died in 1642, at the age of twenty-nine, less than a year after Titus' birth.
The images left by Rembrandt do not form a neutral album. He draws it in privacy, engraves it topped with pearls, paints it in costume and integrates it into biblical or mythological stories.
Identity card
The Hermitage Flora
The 1634 painting is the starting point of the file. It bears Rembrandt's signature and date, and its dimensions give Saskia an almost life-size presence.
Mythology and pastoral poetry
Why Flora?
Flora is the Roman deity of flowering and spring renewal. In the image, she is identified less by a narrative scene than by a set of attributes: flowers, leaves, young woman and plant abundance.
The United Provinces of the 17th century did not slavishly copy an ancient model. They invented an Arcadia of theater, nourished by poetry, pastoral care and ancient costumes. The National Gallery recalls that these personifications - seasons, virtues, gods and goddesses - were popular in the arts.
Historiated portrait or tronie ?
Categories overlap. A historical portrait transforms an identifiable person into a mythological or biblical character. A tronie instead, study a type, expression, or costume without functioning as a social portrait. Saskia en Flora borrows from both: readable identity, but dominant fiction.
Visual analysis
Eight details to read the 1634 painting
The face
Gently lit, it remains the psychological center despite the richness of the accessories.
The crown
Flowers and leaves immediately transform Saskia into a seasonal figure.
The look
He does not seek direct worldly exchange; he maintains an almost meditative reserve.
The bouquet
The irregular cluster contrasts light touches with the dark mass of the garment.
The stick
Wrapped in foliage, it connects the figure to the pastoral world rather than to the Roman court.
The sleeves
Transparency and pleats give Rembrandt the opportunity to compare skin, fine fabric and brocade.
Jewelry
The occasional reflections animate the shadow without imposing a single symbolic reading.
The bottom
The silent brown does not describe any place: it concentrates the light on the painted presence.
Make people believe in materials
The real demonstration is pictorial
Rembrandt constructs less an archeology of costume than a catalog of sensations: matte, shiny, transparent, thick, supple. The light does not fall uniformly; she chooses the surfaces that will move the figure forward.
Skin
Soft transitions give volume to the forehead, cheeks and neck without hardening the shape.
Flowers
Freer, more contrasting touches suggest petals, stems and foliage without describing everything.
Brocade
Light accents catch the ornaments; the eye completes the richness of the fabric in dark areas.
Sail
The superposition of fine tones reveals the body and contrasts lightness with the density of the coat.
Don't call everything "the same Flora"
Four works, four statutes
The name "Saskia en Flora" circulates between several paintings. Bringing them together is useful; confusing them is not. The date, institution and degree of identification must always accompany the image.
The young wife in Flora
The version shown at the opening is most directly linked to the year of the wedding. Saskia, standing mid-body, wreath holder, flowers, fabrics and plant stick. The museum classifies it as Flora.
See reproduction
Flora, shepherdess... and maybe Judith
The tall silhouette, the spring bouquet and the leafy staff justify the name Flora or Arcadian shepherdess. But technical examination reveals a major transformation of the composition.
Consult the museum information sheet
Saskia with the red flower
The framing gets closer, the ample costume remains, but the single flower replaces the abundant bouquet. The work is also known as Saskia en Flora. It is painted in the year of Titus' birth.
A Flora after Saskia
Painted approximately twelve years after Saskia's death, this figure is not a posed portrait of the wife. The Met indicates that it could be based in part on his visual memory. The touch becomes rougher and the palette darker.
See reproductionLondon painting changes identity
From Judith to Flora?
X-rays and examinations of the painting from 1635 show that Rembrandt profoundly revised the composition. According to the National Gallery's educational presentation, Saskia could have been conceived first as Judith, holding the head of Holofernes, before becoming an Arcadian figure with flowers.
This discovery changes the reading. The costume is not a stable code added from the start: the painting is an object in the works. Hands, props and narration can be reoriented without replacing the face.
Separate evidence and interpretation
Love, pregnancy, marriage: what can we really say?
Saskia is the model
The face matches Saskia's other images, and institutions clearly identify Rembrandt's wife in the 1634, 1635, and 1641 versions.
Solidly documentedFertility matters
Flora and spring evoke life, abundance and fertility. This reading is consistent with marriage, but it does not prove a single private intention.
Contextual interpretationA portrait of pregnancy
The National Gallery envisions a pregnancy in 1635 based on the pose, belly and support of the stick. The museum formulates a possibility, not a certain diagnosis.
Hypothesis, not certaintyA "declaration of love"
Marital proximity makes reading attractive, but it simplifies the work. Rembrandt could also paint to show his talent and sell a fantasy image.
Sentimental formulaAn authentic Roman costume
The garment brings together ancient, Renaissance and theatrical references. It does not document the fashion of ancient Rome.
To be ruled outA market work
Historiated sections and portraits were circulating. The National Gallery recalls that the 1635 painting may have been intended for sale, despite the intimate identity of the model.
Strong economic hypothesis
After 1642
The motif survives Saskia
The Met Flora, circa 1654, should not be captioned "Saskia posing": it was painted long after her death. The museum believes, however, that the figure can partly take up an image of the deceased.
Memory is therefore not necessarily a copy of traits. It can be a repertoire: profile, headdress, flowers, costume, association between a woman and a poetic figure. Rembrandt then transforms an ancient motif with the manner of its maturity: rough paste, muted colors, shapes that emerge slowly.
The Met also brings this Flora closer to the influence of Italian art, particularly Titian. This shift helps to understand that Flora is not a closed episode of the marital biography, but an available pictorial theme.
See the original works
Four museums, four experiences
St. Petersburg
Flora, 1634, room dedicated to Rembrandt. Check the hanging before moving.
London
Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian Costume, 1635, inv. NG4930, usually room 22.
Dresden
Saskia with the red flower, 1641, inv. Gal.-Nr. 1562, a closer and later framing.
New York
Flora, circa 1654, inv. 26.101.10, generally gallery 616.
Hand painted reproductions
Compare Rembrandt's youth and maturity
Two Flora from the store allow you to observe twenty years apart: the rich and ceremonial sharpness of 1634, then the freer and darker material of the 1650s.
Saskia in Flora
Plant crown, bouquet, stick and luminous costume: the version directly associated with Saskia.
See formats and optionsFlora
A more massive figure, a deeper palette and a touch that lets the painting speak as material.
See formats and optionsRembrandt van Rijn Collection
604 works were referenced during the preparation of this file: portraits, mythology, Bible, landscapes and self-portraits.
Frequently asked questions
Saskia en Flora in eight answers
Who is depicted in Saskia en Flora?
The 1634, 1635 and 1641 versions depict Saskia van Uylenburgh, Rembrandt's first wife, under a floral or Arcadian identity.
Where is the 1634 painting?
At the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, under the title Flora, inventory GE-732. The hanging may change: always check the museum website.
Why is Saskia holding flowers?
Flowers identify Flora and construct the idea of spring, abundance and renewal. It is risky to attribute a fixed meaning to each species without a precise contemporary source.
Was Saskia pregnant in the painting?
For the London version of 1635, the National Gallery considers this possibility from pose and costume. This is not a medical or documentary certainty.
Does the painting celebrate Rembrandt's wedding?
The Flora de l'Ermitage dates from 1634, the year of the marriage. The coincidence is significant, but we do not have a document proving a wedding order or a strictly private destination.
Why is the 1635 version called the Arcadian costume?
Because his clothing and his staff evoke an idealized shepherdess of literary Arcadia. The costume mixes eras and is more theater than archeology.
Does the Met Flora represent Saskia?
The Met writes that the goddess may be based in part on a portrait of the late Saskia. Since it dates from around 1654, this is not a posing session with her.
Are there several Saskias in Flora?
Yes. The main comparisons bring together 1634 at the Hermitage, 1635 in London, 1641 in Dresden and a Flora around 1654 in New York, whose link with Saskia is more indirect.
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