Rembrandt often used the women in his life as models, and he would sometimes paint them in the guise of goddesses or Biblical heroines. This painting shows his first wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, as Flora, the Roman goddess of spring.

Rembrandt made numerous drawings and paintings of Saskia. She bore Rembrandt four children, although only one, their son Titus, survived.

Following Titus's birth, Saskia became ill and she died in 1642. A wealthy woman, she left her fortune to her husband and son, but the terms of her will stipulated that Rembrandt would lose most of his share of the inheritance if he were ever to remarry.

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