Old Woman in an Armchair

Old Woman in an Armchair is dated to 1640 and attributed to Jacob Adriaensz Backer, with some sources also suggesting a connection to Rembrandt, in whose circle Backer worked. Executed in oil on canvas, the work measures 128 cm in height and 99.4 cm in width and belongs to the mid-seventeenth-century Dutch Golden Age portrait tradition. In its ownership history the painting was held by Arthur Sanderson and then by Benjamin Altman before entering the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains part of the permanent collection.

The specific circumstances of the original commission are not documented, and the available sources do not list an accession number or detailed public exhibition history.

Old Woman in an Armchair exemplifies Dutch Golden Age portraiture and entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art through the Altman bequest, having previously been owned by Benjamin Altman and Arthur Sanderson. Scholarship situates Backer within a circle that included Rembrandt, noting both the occasional attribution to the master and the influence of his workshop on the composition's psychological depth. The painting's reception is documented in museum catalogues, which regard it as a representative example of seventeenth-century portraiture and an insight into the period's private patronage.

Jacob Adriaensz Backer, a prominent painter of the Dutch Golden Age, completed Old Woman in an Armchair in 1640. This oil painting exemplifies his skill in portraiture, a significant genre during the early 17th century. The work captures an elderly woman seated, reflecting the period's artistic traditions and Backer's prolific output of approximately 140 paintings over two decades. It is currently housed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.