One of Rembrandt van Rijn’s (1606–1669) best known and successful students, Ferdinand Bol followed his master’s techniques so closely that his work was often critiqued in comparison to Rembrandt’s work, and sometimes even mistaken for it. Bol moved to Amsterdam in 1635 to study under Rembrandt in his workshop and served as his assistant. By 1640 he achieved great success as an independent artist, although he continued to be compared to Rembrandt. In 1649 he received his first commission to paint a group portrait, which led to a series of commissions outside Amsterdam. Typical of Rembrandt and 17th-century Dutch art in general, Bol painted historical, allegorical, and mythological scenes. He followed Rembrandt stylistically but was often criticized for failing to achieve the psychological intensity of his master. By 1650 Bol turned away from Rembrandt’s influence and formed his own identifiable style. In 1669 he married a wealthy widow and quit painting entirely.
It has been questioned whether this painting is a portrait of a specific person, a portrait in which the sitter is playing a role in an allegorical or a historical scene, or merely a scene from everyday life. It has also been suggested that the woman in this painting bears a likeness to Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612–1642). However, the most likely conclusion is that this is a painting of a woman personifying the vice of Vanity, a well-known subject in 17th-century Dutch art. Intended to symbolize the transitory nature of earthly life and the inevitability of death, the woman sits at her vanity table admiring herself. She is depicted in a natural light and covered in an abundance of jewels, symbols of the impermanence of earthly possessions.
By not showing the mirror as the direct source of light and creating an elusive glow on the woman’s face, Bol highlights her gentle expression and allows the mood evoked from her face to be the central theme in this painting. This technique is referred to as chiaroscuro, an extreme contrast of light and dark. Chiaroscuro was popular with artists in the 17th century as a way to isolate the subjects they painted and to heighten emotional tension. In this painting, the carefully detailed jewels are dimly lit with shimmering yellows to subtly add brilliance. Bol’s palette, which contains a spectrum of reds arranged in patterns of dark to light to enhance the effect of shadow, details the expansive weight and volume of the woman’s dress.
After the end of the Eighty Years War with Spain in 1648, Amsterdam attained great wealth as the trading and cultural center of the world. By lending money to kings and emperors internationally, Amsterdam also held great political influence across the globe, and its ships set out for newly found colonies in the Americas and East Indies. With the emergence of wealth in the middle classes, and few demands for religious art in the Calvinist Netherlands, most art commissions came from private individuals or wealthy organizations. For most artists, including Rembrandt and Bol, portraits were the main source of income. For the first time artists were competing in the open market, with paintings being used as payment on debts, collateral on loans, and even as objects of investment and speculation.
