Woman with a high headdress

Rembrandt etched this old woman twice, wearing different clothes. They seem to be somewhat impatient, impromptu studies. This is due not only to the loose etching style, but certainly also to the singular way in which both images are cropped. Rembrandt did this by applying varnish to some areas of the small copperplates on which he had already drawn. His reason for doing this can no longer be explained.