Explore the Model of this artwork, Bathsheba at Her Bath (Rembrandt).
The traditionally accepted identification of the model is of Rembrandt's partner Hendrickje Stoffels, who would have been 28 at the time of the painting. Sluijter has proposed otherwise, stating that the likeness is of an ideal type used by Rembrandt over a long period. Assuming Stoffels as the model, medical researchers have observed deformity in the left breast, and have offered various hypotheses including breast cancer, abscess due to tuberculosis and lactation mastitis following an unsuccessful pregnancy. The diagnosis of breast cancer is unlikely, given that Stoffels lived for another nine years.In "The medical enigma of Rembrandt's Bathsheba" Paolo Zamboni professor of Vascular Surgery University of Ferrara, solves the mystery of the model's breast.  According to Zamboni the model was effected by thrombophlebitis of a superficial vein of the breast, a condition described by Mondor in 1939. So not mastitis or carcinoma, as believed for centuries. This diagnosis became real thanks to the analysis of a Zamboni patient's right breast after confirmed by an ultrasound check. As proof, mammography was negative for both cancer and mastitis, confirming the validity of the diagnosis on canvas proposed by Paolo Zamboni.  The look of sorrow in the subject's face has been interpreted as evidence of Stoffels' illness and pregnancy (she gave birth to a daughter in October 1654), Rembrandt's difficulties with the Church stemming from his cohabitation with Stoffels, and the artist's impending bankruptcy. An alternative hypothesis for the model's identity has suggested that Stoffels' head was placed on the body of another model, which is consistent with the result derived from x-rays that Bathsheba's head had been repainted.
tuberculosis Paolo Zamboni canvas breast cancer mastitis Rembrandt left Bathsheba Hendrickje Stoffels