Rijksmuseum Vermeer show prompts Philly museum to reassess its ‘Lady with a Guitar’

Johannes Vermeer, Dutch (active Delft, 1632 – 1675), ‘The Guitar Player (Lady with a Guitar),’ around 1670–1720. Oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson collection, 1917, cat. 497. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Johannes Vermeer, Dutch (active Delft, 1632 – 1675), ‘The Guitar Player (Lady with a Guitar),’ around 1670–1720. Oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson collection, 1917, cat. 497. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Johannes Vermeer, Dutch (active Delft, 1632 – 1675), ‘The Guitar Player (Lady with a Guitar),’ around 1670–1720. Oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson collection, 1917, cat. 497. Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art

PHILADELPHIA – Throughout the 20th century and to the present day, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Lady with a Guitar has been the subject of deep fascination and many questions. Long cataloged as a ‘Copy after Vermeer’ in the John G. Johnson collection at the museum, the work is a replica or close duplicate of Johannes Vermeer’s The Guitar Player (circa 1672), today in the collection of Kenwood House, London. The hairstyles of the sitter are different – the Philadelphia musician does not have corkscrew ringlets – but otherwise the images are nearly identical.

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Climate activists get a month in prison for Vermeer protest

The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands, photographed in 2011. On November 2, two Belgian climate change activists who used Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in a stunt meant to draw attention to their cause were each sentenced to one month in prison. A third suspect will appear in court on November 4. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Wolfgang Pehlemann. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.
The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands, photographed in 2011. On November 2, two Belgian climate change activists who used Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in a stunt meant to draw attention to their cause were each sentenced to one month in prison. A third suspect will appear in court on November 4. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Wolfgang Pehlemann. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.
The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands, photographed in 2011. On November 2, two Belgian climate change activists who used Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in a stunt meant to draw attention to their cause were each sentenced to one month in prison. A third suspect will appear in court on November 4. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Wolfgang Pehlemann. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) – Two Belgian activists who targeted Johannes Vermeer’s iconic Girl with a Pearl Earring painting in a climate protest last week were sentenced on November 2 to two months in prison, with prosecutors saying their action “crossed a line” of acceptable protest. Half of the sentence was suspended by a judge in The Hague, meaning the men will serve one month. A third suspect is due in court Friday. Their identities were not released, in line with Dutch privacy rules.

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Vermeer’s Maps book offers new perspective on Dutch master

Cover of ‘Vermeer’s Maps,’ released on October 11 and authored by Rozemarijn Landsman.
Left, Johannes Vermeer, ‘Officer and Laughing Girl,’ circa 1657. Oil on canvas, 19 7/8 by 18 1/8in. (50.5 by 46cm). The Frick Collection. Photo credit Joseph Coscia Jr. Right, Balthasar Florisz van Berckenrode and Willem Jansz Blaeu, ‘Map of Holland and West-Friesland,’ circa 1621. Engraving, 45 11/16 by 67 3/4in. (116 by 172cm). Westfries Museum, Hoorn
Left, Johannes Vermeer, ‘Officer and Laughing Girl,’ circa 1657. Oil on canvas, 19 7/8 by 18 1/8in. (50.5 by 46cm). The Frick Collection. Photo credit Joseph Coscia Jr. Right, Balthasar Florisz van Berckenrode and Willem Jansz Blaeu, ‘Map of Holland and West-Friesland,’ circa 1621. Engraving, 45 11/16 by 67 3/4in. (116 by 172cm). Westfries Museum, Hoorn

NEW YORK – With stunning reproductions and incisive text, Vermeer’s Maps (Delmonico Books / The Frick Collection, $39.95), a 128-page hardcover released on October 11, is the most comprehensive study of the artist’s depiction of wall maps to date. Drawing on rare surviving examples of the maps and other primary sources, author Rozemarijn Landsman examines this intriguing aspect of Vermeer’s work, greatly enriching and expanding our understanding of the art and life of the man dubbed the “Sphinx of Delft.”

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Vermeer exhibition to unite Milkmaid, Girl with a Pearl Earring

Left, Johannes Vermeer, ‘The Milkmaid,’ circa 1660; right, Johannes Vermeer, ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ 1665. Both works will appear in a blockbuster show opening in February 2023 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam that will feature 27 of the 35 known works by Vermeer. Images courtesy of the Rijksmuseum
Left, Johannes Vermeer, ‘The Milkmaid,’ circa 1660; right, Johannes Vermeer, ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ 1665. Both works will appear in a blockbuster show opening in February 2023 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam that will feature 27 of the 35 known works by Vermeer. Images courtesy of the Rijksmuseum

AMSTERDAM (AP) – The Rijksmuseum will unite two iconic paintings from Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer early next year – The Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Milkmaid. In an unprecedented blockbuster exhibit starting in February 2023, the most famous museum in the Netherlands will bring together 27 of the 35 known paintings of the 17th-century artist who had the uncanny genius of letting a soothing inner light exude from his canvas.

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‘Vermeer’s Secrets’ to be unveiled at DC’s National Gallery of Art

Johannes Vermeer, ‘Girl with the Red Hat,’ circa 1666-1667. Oil on panel. Painted surface: 22.8 by 18cm (9 by 7 1/16in); framed, 40.3 by 35.6 by 4.4cm (15 7/8 by 14 by 1 3/4in). National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Johannes Vermeer, ‘Girl with the Red Hat,’ circa 1666-1667. Oil on panel. Painted surface: 22.8 by 18cm (9 by 7 1/16in); framed, 40.3 by 35.6 by 4.4cm (15 7/8 by 14 by 1 3/4in). National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Johannes Vermeer, ‘Girl with the Red Hat,’ circa 1666-1667. Oil on panel. Painted surface: 22.8 by 18cm (9 by 7 1/16in); framed, 40.3 by 35.6 by 4.4cm (15 7/8 by 14 by 1 3/4in). National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection

WASHINGTON, DC — Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) is one of the most significant artists of the 17th century, yet much of the Dutch painter’s life and practice remains a mystery. On view at the National Gallery of Art from October 8 through January 8, 2023, Vermeer’s Secrets will unveil new findings about him and his process. The exhibition offers a behind-the-scenes look at how National Gallery curators, conservators, and scientists investigated the museum’s four treasured paintings by and attributed to Vermeer — as well as two 20th-century forgeries — to understand “what makes a Vermeer a Vermeer.”

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