Celebrating Vermeer: Six Vermeer Surveys

In recent years only two new painting has been seriously proposed as an addition to Vermeer's canon: the Leiden Collection Young Woman Seated tat a Virginal and Saint Praxedis, a virtual duplicate of an original 1645 painting f the same name by the Florentine painter, Felice Ficherelli, whose nickname was il Riposo. Saint Praxedis was a second-century Roman Christian who, along with her sister, Pudentiana, cared for the often-severed bodies of those martyred for their faith.

After the painting appeared in a 1969 show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Michael Kitson, an art historian with the University of London, endorsed its very tentative attribution to Vermeer. But his recommendation became much more meaningful when, in 1986, the curator of Northern Baroque painting at the USA's National Gallery of Art, Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., gave his imprimatur. During the heralded Vermeer exhibit held in Washington D.C. and The Hague in 1995–1996, Wheelock displayed Saint Praxedis prominently; it shared an opening room with Vermeer's two large early history paintings, Diana and her Companions and Christ in the House of Mary and Martha. The painting received little attention for years until it was exhibited as an authentic Vermeer during the major Vermeer retrospective held in 2023 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

resources:

• Kitson, Michael. "Florentine Baroque Art in New York." Burlington Magazine, June 1969.
  
• Wheelock, Aurthur K. Jr. "Saint Praxedis " in exh. cat. Johannes Vermeer. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Ben Broos, London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995, 86-89.
• Boone, Jon. "Saint Praxedis: Missing the Mark." Essential Vermeer, July 11, 2002. Accessed January 6, 2024, URL: http://www.essentialvermeer.com/saint_praxedis.html
• Wadum, Jørgen. "Contours of Vermeer." In Studies in the History of Art, 55, edited by I. Gaskel and M. Jonker, 201-223. Symposium Papers XXXIII. Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, 1998.
  
• Gaskell, Ivan. "Problems." In Vermeer's Wager: Speculations on Art History, Theory and Art Museums, 19-42. London: Reaktion Books, 2013.
• "Johannes Vermeer: Catalogue Notes. Saint Praxedis." Christie's, 2014. Accessed January 6, 2024. https://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/2014/CATALOUGE_NOTE_Johannes_Vermeer_Delft_1632_1675_Saint_Praxedis_lot_39.pdf
• Solomon, Tessa. "Rijksmuseum Authenticates Three Vermeer Paintings Ahead of Blockbuster Exhibition in 2023." ARTnews.com. November 29, 2022. Accessed January 6, 2024. URL: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/rijksmuseum-vermeer-paintings-authenticated-1234648344/
  

On March 30, 2004, Sotheby's announced the sale of A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals (not to be confused with the London painting of a similar theme and title) as an authentic painting by Johannes Vermeer. This small, unsigned canvas (approximately 25 x 20 centimeters) was first identified by modern collectors at an Amsterdam sale in 1814. Since 1960, it has been held in the private collection of Baron Freddy Rolin in Brussels, who passionately believed in the painting's authenticity. Although the work never elicited more than a lukewarm critical response, experts such as Hofstede de Groot, Phillip Hale, and P.T.A. Swillens had accepted it as an authentic Vermeer. Lawrence Gowing included only a photograph of it in his 1952 monograph but did not provide a comment on its artistic merits. In a later publication, he referred to it as a "melancholy relic." The painting's fortune began to change when Walter Liedtke, curator of the comprehensive Vermeer and the Delft School show in New York and London (2001), decided at the very last minute to include it in that exhibition, even though it was not included in the catalogue.

Despite acceptance by important Vermeer experts, a number of art specialists do not support the work's authenticity. In a scathing article, critic Brian Sewell peremptorily rejected the painting, labeling it a "dud." In 2023, Jonathan Janson, the founder of Essential Vermeer, illustrated the technical and compositional weaknesses of the painting in a lecture at the International Vermeer Symposium held during the Vermeer retrospective at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

resources:

• "Young Woman Seated at a Virginal: Critial Assessments." Essential Vermeer, Accessed January 4, 2023, URL: http://www.essentialvermeer.com/cat_about/baron.html
• Liedtke, Walter. "Young Woman Seated at a Virginal" in Vermeer: The Complete Works, (London: Abrams, 2008), 175-177.
• Janson, Jonathan. "Questions of Authenticity: What Science Can’t Tell Us." Lecture presented at the International Vermeer Symposium, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, March 29, 2023. Accessed January 4, 2023, URL: http://www.essentialvermeer.com/cat_about/lecture.html
• "Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, Essential Vermeer catalogue entry. Accessed January 4, 2023, URL: http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/baron_rolin.html
• Sewell, Brian. "Vermeer cannot be genuine." The Standard, April 12, 2012. Accessed January 4, 2023, URL: https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/vermeer-cannot-be-genuine-7229240.htm
• Solomon, Tessa. "Rijksmuseum Authenticates Three Vermeer Paintings Ahead of Blockbuster Exhibition in 2023." ARTnews.com. November 29, 2022. Accessed January 6, 2024. URL: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/rijksmuseum-vermeer-paintings-authenticated-1234648344/
  

Following a major restoration completed in 2021 of Vermeer's Girl Reding a Letter at an Open Window, a large ebony-framed painting of Cupid on the wall behind the reading girl was revealed, as well as brighter colors concealed fro centuries by heavy, yellowed layers of varnish. Many have changed their view or interpretation of the painting, now that the "painting-within-a-painting" has been revealed as part of the original work, covered up, presumably, by someone long after Vermeer died.

The existence of the concealed Cupid was first detected in 1979 during an X-ray analysis of the painting. Researchers suspected at the time that Vermeer himself had painted over the Cupid image, leaving a blank white wall behind the young woman. In 2017, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden’s painting conservator, Christoph Schölzel, began a more comprehensive inspection of the canvas that revealed the overpainting was added sometime during the eighteenth century, after Vermeer’s death.

The restoration of the painting has radically altered the painting's appearance. While many art historians and art afficionados have accepted the results, not all are satisfied, with some believing the Cupid, in particular, should have never been exposed.

resources:

• Hickley, Catherine. "A Vermeer Restoration Reveals a God of Desire." New York Times, September 9, 2021. Accessed January 4, 2023, URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/arts/design/vermeer-cupid-restoration.html.
• Interactive study of the Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (Essential Vermeer). Accessed January 4, 2023, URL: http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_reading_a_letter_by_an_open_window.html
• Koja, Stephan, and Uta Neidhardt. Johannes Vermeer: On Reflection. Dresden: Sandstein Verlag, 2021
• Kemény, Gyula. "Doubts about the Restoration of Vermeer's 'Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window'" https://www.academia.edu/44795703/Doubts_about_the_Restoration_of_Vermeers_Girl_Reading_a_Letter_at_an_Open_Window_

The painting of Vermeer is often associated with the use of the camera obscura, an early optical device that projects an image of its surroundings onto a screen. This device is considered by some art historians and researchers to be a tool Vermeer may have used to trace his compositons and achieve the extraordinary light effects and spatial accuracy in his paintings. Some supporters, such as theLondon architect Philip Steadman and the English painter David Hockney, strongly support the idea that Vermeer used the camera obscura.

Other art historians, such as the late Vermeer expert and curator of Nothern Painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walter Liedtke argue that Vermeer's techniques could have been achieved through traditional painting methods and a deep understanding of light and perspective. Some consider that the use of such of a device would be tantamout to cheating.

Despite the compelling arguments, there is no conclusive evidence that Vermeer used a camera obscura, as it leave sno trace on the artist's canvas. Nor have any historical documents been found that directly indicate Vermeer's use of this device.

resources:

• Vermeer and the Camera Obscura, an illustrated three-part online analyhsis of Vermeer's involvemnt with an optical device.
• Steadman, Philip. Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Liedtke, Walter. "Appendix A: Vermeer and the Camera Obscura," in Vermeer: The Complete Works, (London: Abrams, 2008), 179-188.

The National Gallery of Art’s painting Girl With a Flute has been hovering on the edges of the authentic Vermeer canon for decades. Following a two-year investigation during the Covid-19 period, the Gallery announced that new research, including sophisticated imaging analysis, has definitively proved the work to be the product of someone likely close to Vermeer, but not the painter himself, may finally push the work out of contention for authenticity. Or maybe not. It has been in and out of the canon for so long it is unclear whether any research would ever convince all the skeptics. The curators of the Vermeer retrospective at the Rijksmusem in 20023, the curators Pieter Roelofs and Gregor Weber included the work as an authentic painting by Vermeer's hand.

resources:

• Janson, Jonathan. "Girl with a Flute: Essential Vermeer Interactive Catalogue." Essential Vermeer. Accessed January 6, 2024. http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_flute.html.
  
• Wieseman, Marjorie E. , Alexandra Libby, E. Melanie Gifford, and Dina Anchin, "Vermeer’s Studio and the Girl with a Flute: New Findings from the National Gallery of Art," Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 14:2 (Summer 2022) DOI: 10.5092/jhna.2022.14.2.3
• Christian Tico Seifer, "Early Ambitions," in VERMEER, ed. Pieter Roelofs & Gregor Weber, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2023, 128-130.
  
• Solomon, Tessa. "Rijksmuseum Authenticates Three Vermeer Paintings Ahead of Blockbuster Exhibition in 2023." ARTnews.com. November 29, 2022. Accessed January 6, 2024. URL: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/rijksmuseum-vermeer-paintings-authenticated-1234648344/