An Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Hannah  1631

Light comes in from behind the old woman: the vivid glow illuminates the book and her hand, so thickly painted that the wrinkles seem almost modelled in clay. Her face remains in shadow. The woman could be the biblical prophetess Hannah. According to the Gospel of Luke, she was an elderly widow who worshipped God night and day with fasting and prayer.