[1][2] In 1628, the fourteen-year-old Dou became the first pupil of Rembrandt, only seven years his senior, who shared a studio in Leiden with fellow painter Jan Lievens.

[3][4] In Old Woman Reading, Dou shows his talent and an exceptional technical skill for his young age.

Not only the old woman and her clothes are painted with great precision, but also the Biblical text in the lectionary and the accompanying print are also extremely detailed and clearly visible.

What she reads is plain to see: the beginning of the 19th chapter of the Gospel of Luke, where it states that whoever really wants to do good should give as much of his earthly possessions to the poor.

In 2005 it was one of the major works in the exhibition "Rembrandt's Mother, Myth and Reality", in the Museum De Lakenhal, in Leiden.