A Young Woman seated at a Virginal

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London In a relatively dark corner of a room a young woman seated at a virginal is looking directly at the viewer.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London Light falls from a hidden source behind the tapestry framing the upper left of the painting.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London The woman’s costly instrument is decorated with painted marbling...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... and an idyllic landscape on the inside of the virginal’s lid.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London A viola da gamba with the bow placed in between the strings rests on the floor in the left foreground.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London The painting in the background, a version of The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), shows a scene of prostitution and may provide additional meaning to the scene’s more general association between music and love.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London On stylistic grounds the painting can be dated to Vermeer’s later years. It has been suggested that this painting originally formed a pair with the Young Woman standing at the Virginal (also in the National Gallery, London). Although both paintings were painted on a canvas from the same bolt of cloth, their provenances before the 19th century differ. It is just as likely that the artist simply explored variations on a theme. Both paintings were in the collection of the art critic Thoré-Bürger, who was instrumental in the rediscovery of Vermeer in the 1860s.

Window and curtain

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London The dark window and the dimly lit room suggest this is either a night-time scene or a room darkened by closing the shutters.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London Warm light originating from a hidden source behind the curtain...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... illuminates the viola da gamba in the foreground...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... the front edge of the virginal...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... the woman’s face and upper body...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... and part of the painting in the background;

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London thereby connecting these elements thematically.

Woman’s face

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London In contrast to the dimly lit room, the woman’s face is brilliantly illuminated.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London She is addressing the viewer with an enticing gaze...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... and a faint smile; a tiny dap of white paint focusing the attention on her full lips.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London Vermeer has framed the woman’s face with scintillating light effects on the pearl necklace around her neck...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London and on her glossy ringlets that appear almost as if they were jewellery too.

Painting-within-painting 1

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London The inclusion of a version of Dirck van Baburen’s The Procuress (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) in the background has let to the interpretation of the promiscuous character of the young woman playing the virginal.Vermeer’s mother-in-law, Maria Thins, owned a painting by Dirck van Baburen depicting that same subject. A similar painting also hangs in the background of another work by Vermeer ( The Concert , formerly Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston).

Painting-within-painting 2

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London The painted landscape on the inside of the virginal’s lid has been identified as a work by the Delft landscape painter Pieter Jansz. van Asch. Vermeer used the same composition in modified form in another painting ( The Guitar Player , Kenwood House, London) and it might have been in his household, although only one of the 54 paintings in the inventory of the painter’s possessions was specifically identified as a landscape.The traditional relationship between harmonious music and idyllic landscape is reflected in the frequent use of landscape paintings for the decoration of instruments.

Virginal

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London 17th-century keyboard instruments were typically constructed without attached legs, and were either placed on a table top or put on a dedicated stand, which could vary in height according to the owner’s wishes. Curiously no musical instrument was listed in the inventory of Vermeer’s possessions drawn up shortly after the artist’s death.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London The seated woman seems more active than the Young Woman standing at a Virginal (also in the National Gallery, London)...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... and the position of her hands...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... her dynamic posture...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London ... and the sheet of music propped up in front of her suggest that she is fully engaged in her performance.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London Viola da gamba The unattended instrument in the foreground can be understood as an invitation to the viewer to join the woman in a duet.The viola da gamba played a significant role in Baroque music because it provided the basso continuo that was key to the harmonic structure of a piece. In this way the painting could be read as a metaphor for harmonious love.Furthermore, the painting can be related to a popular emblem from 1618 by Jacob Cats titled ‘Quid Non Sentit Amor’. The man in the emblem’s picture plays his lute while a second instrument is left unused. The accompanying text explains that the resonance of one instrument resonates onto the other just as two hearts can exist in harmony even if they are separated.

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal A Young Woman seated at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer The National Gallery, London Signature The painter placed his signature ‘IVMeer’ (with IVM in ligature) in a prominent place on the wall next to the woman’s head. The signature disrupts the illusion of the realistically painted interior and reminds the viewer of its creator.