A little bit mud by no means damage anybody—except, maybe, you’re making an attempt to this point a Vermeer.
Conservation work on Younger Girl Seated at a Virginal, the one Vermeer nonetheless in personal palms, has uncovered a layer of Seventeenth-century air air pollution between layers of paint that helped date the uncommon Previous Grasp image, in response to The Artwork Newspaper.
Particularly, feldspar particles—byproducts of the booming Delftware ceramics trade in Vermeer’s hometown—have been trapped within the composition, seemingly after it was first put aside. Their presence suggests Vermeer returned to the canvas years later so as to add the yellow scarf draped over the sitter’s bodice. That ultimate contact could make Younger Girl Seated at a Virginal, his final portray.
Now on view in Amsterdam’s H’ART Museum as a part of From Rembrandt to Vermeer, the portray sits within the assortment of Thomas Kaplan, the American billionaire and self-styled custodian of Dutch Golden Age masterpieces. His Leiden Assortment exhibition contains 75 works, 18 of that are Rembrandts. The Vermeer is the showstopper—and for good cause.
The portray has had a tangled provenance. Its attribution was doubtful for many years, however by the point it re-emerged at Sotheby’s in 2004, professional consensus had tilted in its favor.
Kaplan, who opened the bidding however misplaced out to on line casino magnate Steve Wynn, finally acquired it 4 years later when Wynn determined to promote. He purchased it together with a Rembrandt self-portrait.
Kaplan just lately had the Vermeer examined and conserved by David Bull (who died in December 2024), with strict directions to maintain the intervention refined, in response to The Artwork Newspaper “I wish to see the artist, not the restorer,” he reportedly mentioned. The outcome: a extra legible modelling of folds within the sitter’s white satin robe, softer shadows, and a friendlier face—because of the elimination of later retouching on the lips and eyebrows. Vermeer, it seems, had a lighter hand than a few of his followers.
Arthur Wheelock, former Nationwide Gallery of Artwork curator and now Kaplan’s in-house professional, believes the portray was begun round 1670–72 and revisited in 1675—Vermeer’s ultimate 12 months. The scarf, he informed The Artwork Newspaper, could mirror a shift in vogue following the French invasion of the Dutch Republic in 1672. Or maybe the change was merely industrial—accomplished on the request of a purchaser. The unique proprietor stays unknown, although hypothesis facilities on Vermeer’s patrons Pieter van Ruijven and Maria de Knuijt.
The portray has additionally obtained a extra becoming body. Gone is the gaudy gilt affair from the Sotheby’s sale. As a substitute, a sober Dutch ebony body, extra consistent with the image’s quiet poise. The portray, travels subsequent to the Norton Museum of Artwork in West Palm Seaside this autumn, simply in time for to hitch the flock for snowbird season.
Additionally on view as a part of the Rembrandt to Vermeer exhibition is Kaplan’s first buy by Rembrandt, a piece on paper, Younger Lion Resting (1638–42). Kaplan hinted that the Younger Lion can be up on the market subsequent 12 months and hopes that it may turn out to be the costliest work on paper to promote at public sale.
