# Old Woman Reading a Bible [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [DOU, Gerrit]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on wood, 71 x 56 cm ## Commentary Old Woman Reading a Bible c. 1630 Oil on wood, 71 x 56 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Young Dou admired and imitated Rembrandt, his teacher, closely. He frequently used Rembrandt's schemes and paraphernalia. A comparison of his Old Woman Reading a Bible \(also called Rembrandt's Mother\) with Rembrandt's Old Woman Reading \(1631\) in the same museum shows the master's superiority and the pupil's limitations. The face Dou painted is like a mask; it has a frozen surface which appears to have been over-exposed to the light. The woman is reading about the entry of Jesus into Jericho, an episode from St Luke's Gospel. The illustration shows the tax-collector Simon, who climbed into a tree to observe the event. Jesus, who is shown looking up at him, went to the man's house despite his disciples' objections to his visiting a tax-collector, for the profession was considered corrupt. To Protestants, the story proved that sinners are saved by faith. ## Related artworks - [A Fisherman's Wife]() - [A Soldier of the Leiden Civic Guard with an Arms Still-Life \(detail\)]() - [A Soldier of the Leiden Civic Guard with an Arms Still-Life]() - [An Evening School]() - [Astronomer]() - [Astronomer]() - [Cardplayers at Candlelight]() - [Girl at a Window]() - [Girl with Burning Oil Lamp]() - [Old Woman Praying]() - [Old Woman Reading a Bible \(detail\)]() - [Old Woman Unreeling Threads]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()