In early inventories of Rembrandt’s prints the subject of this etching was referred to as ‘het slapende vrouwtje’ ('the sleeping girl’). Later, around 1800, she was identified as a ‘negress lying down’. Rembrandt would have seen black Africans in Amsterdam; he made figure sketches of some individuals and on occasion included black subjects in his paintings, particularly those of historical or religious scenes. However, it is almost certain that the identification of the subject in this work as a black African woman is an incorrect interpretation of the artist’s intention to portray a (white) female nude in a dark interior.