A Corner of Rembrandt Studio by Rembrandt

It is rare to be able to have an exact record of Rembrandt's personal life. Such an insight is found in the inventory of his effects made at the time of his bankruptcy in 1656, but far more eloquent is the visual record of A Corner of Rembrandt's Studio in the drawing in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

The studio appears cluttered with easels, canvases and furniture, while the model, naked to the waist, is seated in the chair at the right. As is so often the case in his drawings, an immense amount of detail is suggested with the minimum of means, while the feeling of light which filters rather than streams through the relatively small and high window is masterly.

This drawing shows the room known as the Grootschilderskammer ('large picture room') which was in the house sold by Rembrandt in 1656.