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pp.. 198, “This internationally acclaimed novel is the fictional monologue of Hendrickje Stoffels, Rembrandt’s mistress, with whom he spent the last twenty years of his life. This is her story. A sensitive innocent, Hendrickje escapes the harsh realities of her garrison hometown to become a servant in Rembrandt’s household. She soon becomes his lover and closest confidante, filling the void in his life resulting from the death of his wife and two of their children. “Reborn at twenty” in Rembrandt’s studio as his model and lover, and enlightened by the positive values of beauty, truth, love, and art, Hendrickje is fated to discover the hypocrisy and fickleness of Amsterdam society, which ostracizes her and precipitates Rembrandt’s final collapse”