Saturday, May 14, 2011

Johannes Vermeer - A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal [c.1670-72]


In the left foreground rests a viola da gamba with the bow placed in between the strings. The virginal has a landscape painted on the inside of the lid, and the painting in the background is The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts) or a copy of it. Whether or not the subject of The Procuress is intended to have a bearing on the meaning of the whole work is not clear. It is probable that a more general association between music and love is intended. A tapestry frames the scene at the upper left, and the skirting in the lower right is decorated with Delft tiles. 

[Oil on canvas, 51.5 x 45.5 cm]

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