Rembrandt was fascinated by stories of women being observed while bathing, such as the Old Testament stories of Susannah, falsely accused of adultery by two lecherous old men who spied on her as she undressed, and Bathsheba, whose beauty seduced King David, or the mythological story of the Roman goddess Diana, caught bathing naked in the woods by Actaeon. Rembrandt may have been referring to one of these stories in his portrayal of Hendrickje.
However, in the 17th century, the subject of a woman bathing generally gave artists licence to paint a nude. The fact that Rembrandt's model remains clothed and is also possibly pregnant has more of a parallel with the story of Callisto, one of Diana's attendants. When bathing, Callisto was reluctant to undress for fear of revealing the fact that she was pregnant.
Rembrandt also liked to paint ordinary women engaged in normal, everyday activities. It may have simply been something about his model's action of lifting her dress as she waded into the water that inspired him.
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Main image:
Reni, 'Susannah and the Elders', 1620-5. London, The National Gallery.
Top detail :
Detail from style of Giordano, 'The Toilet of Bathsheba', after 1705. London, The National Gallery.
Bottom detail: Detail from follower of Rembrandt, 'Diana bathing Surprised by a Satyr', 17th century. London, The National Gallery.
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