National Gallery reveals 17th Century Girl with a Flute wasn’t painted by Old Master Vermeer

By William On Oct 8, 2022

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has revealed that a painting attributed to Johannes Vermeer was not actually painted by the Dutch master.

Girl with a Flute, a 17th-century piece with a small figure holding the musical instrument, was instead likely created by someone who studied with Vermeer, such as an apprentice — or even a relative, the National Gallery said in a statement. press release on Friday.

They realized that the texture of Girl with a Flute was too rough to be a Vermeer, with the Dutch Old Master famed for the groundbreaking smooth texture of his artwork.

The discovery was made when researchers used the museum’s COVID-related closures to examine their four paintings by and attributed to Vermeer, which are rarely taken out of sight, especially not at the same time.

The authenticity of two paintings in particular, Girl with a Flute and Girl with a Red Hat, has long been questioned, as they are the only two in the collection to be made on wood panels. It was confirmed and four paintings in the collection are now three.

The new findings were released a day before the opening of the Vermeer’s Secrets exhibition on October 8.

Girl with a flute, which shows a small figure holding the musical instrument, was instead probably made by someone who studied under Vermeer, as an apprentice

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC revealed Friday that a painting attributed to Johannes Vermeer (pictured) was not actually painted by the Dutch master.

Vermeer, whose piece Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of his best-known works, also has other masterpieces that are among the most famous paintings in the world.

It was long believed that Vermeer was working alone, as there are no surviving documents proving a workshop, records of registered students and no mention of assistants in the notes of visitors to Vermeer’s studio, the gallery said. Until now.

The existence of other artists collaborating with Johannes Vermeer is perhaps one of the most important new findings about the artist discovered in decades. It fundamentally changes our understanding of Vermeer,” said Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art.

“I am incredibly proud of the interdisciplinary team of National Gallery contributors who have worked together to study these paintings, building on decades of research and using advanced scientific technology to discover exciting discoveries that add new insight to what we know about the enigmatic artist.’

Curators and scientists used the COVID-related museum closures and new technology to make the discovery.

The team compared Girl with a Flute to Vermeer’s Girl with the Red Hat – long thought to be a pair due to similarities in subject matter, size and use of a wooden panel support – unusual for Vermeer.

The team compared Girl with a Flute to Vermeer’s Girl with the Red Hat – long thought to be a pair due to similarities and the use of a wooden panel support – unusual for Vermeer

Vermeer, whose piece Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of his best-known works, also has other masterpieces that are among the most famous paintings in the world

However, the paint application in Girl with a Flute is very different from Girl with the Red Hat and while it doesn’t lack the precision Vermeer is known for, it seems as if the artist is out of control of Vermeer, the gallery said.

Girl with a Flute’s brushwork is clumsy, the gallery explained, and the pigments used in the final paint are coarsely ground, giving the surface an almost grainy character.

While the findings clearly show that while Vermeer didn’t paint Girl with a Flute, the artist who did was very familiar with his unique working methods, the gallery said.

The research team also concluded that Vermeer most likely painted “Girl in the Red Hat” a few years later than previously thought, during a period when he was experimenting with new colors and a slightly more daring paint application.

While the findings clearly show that while Vermeer didn’t paint Girl with a Flute, the artist who did was very familiar with his unique working methods, the gallery stated.

The exhibition also features two 20th-century forgeries, The Lacemaker (c. 1925) and The Smiling Girl (c. 1925), which were attributed to Vermeer when they first entered the museum’s collection in 1937 as part of the original bequest from Andrew Mellon, but were later determined not to be by the artist

DUTCH MASTER JOHANNES VERMEER SURVIVE WITH DEBT

Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft in 1632 and lived there until his death in 1675.

Vermeer became master in the Guild of Saint Luke on December 29, 1653.

His early ambition was to become a history painter, and his first works were large-scale mythological and religious paintings.

Soon after, he began painting the genre scenes, landscapes, and allegories for which he became so famous.

Although Vermeer’s subject matter changed in the mid-1950s, he continued to imbue his later works with the calm, intimate moods he had chosen in his early history paintings.

Vermeer’s few works – there are about thirty-five of them – were not well known outside Delft.

When Vermeer died, however, he was heavily in debt, partly because his art dealership had suffered from the difficult economic times in the Netherlands in the early 1670s.

He was survived by his wife and eleven children, ten of whom were minors. His wife filed for bankruptcy the following year.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the famous Delft microscopist, was appointed curator of the estate.

Vermeer’s works were appreciated in the eighteenth century, but his fame only developed at the end of the nineteenth century.

Research also led curators to determine that Vermeer’s Girl with the Red Hat was created at a turning point in the artist’s career, according to its release.

The painting shows Vermeer experimenting with new techniques – vibrant colors, a bolder way of applying the paint – which foreshadow paintings produced in the latter phase of his career.

The new research also led the team to recognize Girl with the Red Hat as a pivotal work that references Vermeer’s late style.

Marjorie E. Wieseman, Curator and Head of the Northern European Paintings Department, Alexandra Libby, Associate Curator in the Northern European Paintings Department, E. Melanie Gifford, Retired Painting Technology Research Restorer, and Dina Anchin, Associate Paintings Conservator, determined that Girl with the Rode Hoed represents a turning point in Vermeer’s career.

They refer to this work as the artist’s experiment: the moment when he began to paint his final image with a schematic representation of shapes and exaggerated contrasts of dark and light – characteristics he had previously limited to the underpaint, but which have become late. style.

The National Gallery’s senior image scientist John K. Delaney, image scientist Kathryn A. Dooley, and retired conservationist Lisha Deming Glinsman, were also able to capture clearer images of a man’s portrait under Girl in the Red Hat, for the first discovered in an X-ray taken in the early 1970s.

A better understanding of how the man was painted and some of the pigments used was obtained with reflectance and X-ray fluorescence imaging spectroscopies.

In particular, using X-ray fluorescence imaging spectroscopy, scientists mapped the use of pigments containing the chemical element lead in its composition.

Editing the image to minimize the materials present in the visible surface layer, they produced an image that clearly reveals details of the man’s wide-brimmed hat, long hair, white collar and wavy cloak.

Vermeer’s Secrets exhibition at the National Gallery of Art

Vermeer’s Secrets offers visitors an inside look at how the National Gallery’s curators, restorers, and scientists work together to understand artists’ techniques, materials, and processes.

The exhibit also features two 20th-century forgeries, The Lacemaker (c. 1925) and The Smiling Girl (c. 1925), which were attributed to Vermeer when they first entered the museum’s collection in 1937 as part of the original bequest from Andrew Mellon, but were later determined not to be by the artist.

The juxtaposition of these two 20th century works and the 17th century Girl with a Flute with paintings firmly attributed to the Dutch artist – Woman with a Balance (c. 1664), A Writing Lady (c. 1665) and Girl in the Red Hat (c. 1669) – shows how curators draw on research from various disciplines to evaluate artworks, determine attributions, and understand the qualities that make a Vermeer a Vermeer.