A bit mud by no means damage anybody—except, maybe, you’re making an attempt to this point a Vermeer.
Conservation work on Younger Lady Seated at a Virginal, the one Vermeer nonetheless in personal fingers, has uncovered a layer of Seventeenth-century air air pollution between layers of paint that helped date the uncommon Outdated Grasp image, in response to The Art Newspaper.
Particularly, feldspar particles—byproducts of the booming Delftware ceramics business 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 closing contact could make Younger Lady 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 unsure 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 not too long ago had the Vermeer examined and conserved by David Bull (who died in December 2024), with strict directions to maintain the intervention delicate, 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—due to 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 closing yr. The scarf, he instructed The Artwork Newspaper, could replicate 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 an alternative, a sober Dutch ebony body, extra in step with the image’s quiet poise. The portray, travels subsequent to the Norton Museum of Artwork in West Palm Seashore 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 will be up for sale next year and hopes that it might grow to be the most costly work on paper to promote at public sale.
