Portrait of Mary, 1936 by Mark Rothko

The Dutch old masters Rembrandt and Vermeer are a huge source of inspiration for Mark Rothko. Rothko's artworks reveal how the artist discovered the old masters' oeuvre and how his artistic appreciation of them developed. In the late 1920s, Rothko was particularly interested in Rembrandt’s paintings – In particular, Rembrandt's Self-portrait caught his eye and echoed in Mark Rothko's self-portrait from 1936.

Rothko first saw the original of The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer in the 1950s. In Portrait of Mary, the way Mary stands, her blue dress, and window are simply the modernized version of the same subject.