A Woman Holding a Pink

The painting is dated to 1656 and entered the French aristocratic collection of Pierre Crozat before 1740. On Crozat’s death it passed by inheritance to his nephews, first Louis-François Crozat, marquis du Châtel, and then to Louis-Antoine Crozat, baron de Thiers. After the latter’s death without male heirs, the work was purchased in 1772 through Denis Diderot and acquired for Catherine II’s Imperial Hermitage Gallery in Saint Petersburg.

It remained in Russia until March 1931, when it was sold via Matthiesen Gallery, Colnaghi, and Knoedler to Andrew W. Mellon. Mellon deeded the painting to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust in 1932, which in turn gifted it to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 1937.

A Woman Holding a Pink is currently held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it was accessioned as a gift in 1937 from the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. Prior to its arrival in the United States, the painting resided in the Imperial Hermitage Gallery in Saint Petersburg, having been acquired by Empress Catherine II in 1772. The work's provenance includes ownership by the Crozat family in Paris before its 1931 sale to Andrew W. Mellon through dealers in Berlin, London, and New York.

While the sources confirm its institutional location and detailed ownership trajectory, they do not list specific exhibition dates or venues for the artwork.

The painting entered the Hermitage after Catherine II acquired it in 1772, later passing to Andrew W. Mellon in 1931 and becoming part of the National Gallery of Art’s collection in 1937; this trajectory placed the work within two of the most prominent museum assemblages of European art. Its status as a Rembrandt portrait of a woman with a pink carnation has been cited in scholarly studies of the artist’s late portraiture, reinforcing its reputation as an exemplar of 17th‑century Dutch portraiture. The work’s inclusion in both the Hermitage and the National Gallery of Art underscores its enduring significance within major museum narratives and continues to inform contemporary interpretations of Rembrandt’s oeuvre.

A Woman Holding a Pink is an oil on canvas painting by Rembrandt van Rijn. It depicts a woman in modest attire, holding a pink flower and gazing directly forward. The artist's characteristic use of light and shadow defines the form, while the subject's serene expression exemplifies Rembrandt's ability to convey inner states through unadorned portraiture, a recurring theme in his oeuvre.

This work aligns with Rembrandt van Rijn's broader artistic practice, which often prioritized the emotional and psychological rendering of his subjects over idealized beauty or grand historical narratives. His skill in capturing the essence of individuals through understated means became a hallmark of his style, influencing subsequent generations of portrait painters and establishing a new standard for humanistic portrayal.