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In front of a wash basin, a nude woman stands next to a woman in a red dress.

A light-skinned, slim woman with long red hair stands in a dark, wood-paneled room, holding a small white cloth to cover her pubic area. She is nude except for her red sandals. To the left is a convex mirror and a low cabinet with a small basin of water on it. The room is reflected in the mirror. On the right, a light-skinned woman in a red dress and white head covering stands in profile. She holds a spherical object in her right hand and a transparent bottle in her left.

Gallery Text

A contemporary of Jan van Eyck claimed that the artist painted a number of pictures of women bathing. Although these paintings are now lost, this panel, dating to the early sixteenth century, is believed to be a copy after one such work and, because of compositional similarities, has often been associated with van Eyck’s celebrated Arnolfini portrait.

The painting depicts a nude woman washing herself at her basin. Beside her is a fully clothed maid, who gazes toward a mirror in which both figures are reflected, their positions slightly distorted by the convex glass. Despite its contemporary setting, scenes like this often had allegorical or moral meanings, and scholars have suggested a number of identifications for the female figure, including Bathsheba, Venus, Eve, Luxuria and Vanitas. The painting’s enigmatic quality, however, was likely always part of its appeal.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1969.83
People
(?) After Jan van Eyck, Netherlandish (c. 1390 - 1441)
Previously attributed to Unidentified Artist
Title
Woman at her Basin
Other Titles
Former Title: Woman at Her Toilet
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
early 16th century
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Netherlands
Culture
Netherlandish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/227899

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2500, European Art, 13th–16th century, Art and Image in Europe
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on oak panel
Dimensions
27.2 x 16.3 x 0.7 cm (10 11/16 x 6 7/16 x 1/4 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Francis H. Burr, Louise Haskell Daly, Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing and William M. Prichard Funds
Accession Year
1969
Object Number
1969.83
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Peter Schabacker and Elizabeth Jones, "Jan van Eyck's 'Woman at Her Toilet': Proposals concerning its Subject and Context", Annual Report (Fogg Art Museum) (1974-1976), pp. 56-78, pp. 56-78, figs. 3, 4, 5
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990)
  • Norman Land, "Giovanni Bellini, Jan van Eyck, and the 'Paragone' of Painting and Sculpture", Source: Notes in the History of Art (Fall 1999), vol. XIX, no. 1, pp. 1-8, pp. 5-7, repr. as fig. 3
  • Jacques Paviot, "Les Nus Profanes de Jan van Eyck", Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6e periode (May 2000-June 2000), vol. CXXXV, no.1576/1577, pp.265-282, pp. 265-266, repr. as fig. 1
  • Bernard Aikema, ed., Renaissance Venice and the North: Crosscurrents in the time of Bellini, Durer and Titian, exh. cat., Bompiani Arte (Milan, Italy, 2000), repr. p. 230
  • Ron Spronk, "Three Boutsian Paintings in the Fogg Art Museum: Technical Examinations and Art Historical Implications", Bouts Studies: Proceedings of the International Colloquium [1998], ed. Bert Cardon, Uitgeverij Peeters (Leuven and Sterling, Virginia, 2001), p. 426, repr. in b/w p. 429
  • Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, The Liturgy of Love: Images from the Song of Songs in the Art of Cimabue, Michelangelo and Rembrandt, Spencer Museum of Art (Lawrence KS, 2001), repr. p. 102 as fig. 127
  • Till-Holger Borchert, The Age of Van Eyck: The Mediterranean World and Early Netherlandish Painting 1430 -1530, exh. cat., Ludion Amsterdam-Ghent (Bruges, Belgium, 2002), cat. no. 36, p. 239, repr. in colour
  • Peter Klein, "Dendrochronological Analyses of Netherlandish Paintings", Recent Developments in the Technical Examination of Early Netherlandish Painting, ed. Molly Faries, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge MA, 2003), pp. 65-81, p. 73; p. 80, in table 5
  • Gianfranco Pocobene and Ron Spronk, "The Fogg Art Museum's 'Virgin and Child' from the Workshop of Dirk Bouts: Findings from Technical Examinations and Recent Conservation Treatment": Methodology, Limitations, & Perspectives, Recent Developments in the Technical Examination of Early Netherlandish Painting, ed. Molly Faries, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2003), pp. 97-106, repr. as fig. 2
  • Teri Hensick, "The Fogg's Copy After a Lost van Eyck: Conservation History, Recent Treatment, and Technical Examination of the 'Woman at her Toilet'", Recent Developments in the Technical Examination of Early Netherlandish Painting, ed. Molly Faries, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2003), pp. 83-95, pp. 83-95; figs. 3 - 9; repr. in color as pls. 6 and 7
  • Henri Zerner, Renaissance Art in France: The Invention of Classicism, Flammarion (Paris, France, 2003), repr. p. 217 as fig. 228
  • Bernhard Ridderbos, "Objects and Questions", Early Netherlandish Paintings: Rediscovery, Reception and Research, Amsterdam University Press (Amsterdam, 2005), pp. 4-172, p. 68, repr. in color p. 68 as fig. 27
  • Koichi Motoki, Jan van Eyck, Shogakukan Inc. (Japan, 2007), repr. p. 78
  • Albert Châtelet, Hubert et Jan van Eyck: créateurs de l'Agneau mystique, Editions FATON (Dijon, France, 2011), pp. 188, 285, repr. on both pages
  • Jean-Philippe Postel, L'affaire Arnolfini: Enquête sur un tableau de Van Eyck, Actes Sud (Arles, 2016), pp. 124-126, repr. p. 124
  • Judith Noble, Daniel Zamani, and Merlin Cox, ed., Visions of Enchantment, Fulgur Press (Lopen, England, 2019), pp.39-41; repr. as fig.2 on p.40
  • Maximiliaan Martens and Till-Holger Borchert, ed., Van Eyck, exh. cat., Thames & Hudson (London, 2020), p. 50, fig. 2.10
  • Rebekah Compton, Venus and the Arts of Love in Renaissance Florence, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2021), p. 58, repr. as fig. 26

Exhibition History

  • Northern European Art from 1450 to 1550, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/13/1994 - 02/05/1995
  • The age of Van Eyck : the Mediterranean world and early Netherlandish painting,, Groeningemuseum, Brugge, 03/14/2002 - 06/30/2002
  • 32Q: 2500 Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu