This may be one of the three paintings by Vermeer that were described in an Amsterdam auction of 1696 as "A 'face' [tronie] in an antique dress, uncommonly artful." Although a live model must have been employed, the artist's goal was not portraiture but a study of character and expression. Dutch pictures of this type (tronies) often feature curious costumes and artistic effects, such as the fall of light on fine fabrics, soft skin, or a pearl earring.

This painting dates from about 1665–67, a period in which Vermeer painted two similar works: Girl with a Red Hat (National Gallery of Art, Washington) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis, The Hague). The latter is on canvas and is nearly identical in size to the MMA picture.

Until 2001, the MMA canvas was called Portrait of a Young Woman. However, it is certain that Vermeer's bust-length pictures of young women were not intended as portraits, even if a live model was employed. In contemporary inventories, including that of Vermeer's estate, paintings of this type were called tronies, a now defunct term that could be translated as heads, faces, or expressions. Depicting intriguing character types and exotic or imaginary costumes, tronies were made as collectors' items; the materials depicted—such as the blue silk draped around the model's shoulders in this painting—were not secondary but essential motifs intended for the connoisseur's eye, showing the artist's powers of invention and execution.

This may be one of three paintings by Vermeer described as "Een Tronie in Antique Klederen, ongemeen konstig" (A tronie in antique dress, uncommonly artful) in the 1696 Amsterdam auction of paintings owned by Jacob Dissius, the son-in-law and heir of the artist's Delft patron Pieter Claesz van Ruijven (1624–1674). In lighting and palette, it is very different from the Mauritshuis canvas, which employs primary colors in discreet passages and a more emphatic contrast of light and shadow. However, the similar subjects and sizes of the two works along with their complementary formal qualities may indicate that they were meant as a pair [see Ref. Liedtke 2007].

[2010; adapted from Ref. Liedtke 2007]

Inscription: Signed (upper left): IVMeer. [initials in monogram]

?Pieter Claesz. van Ruijven, Delft (until d. 1674); ?his widow, Maria de Knujt, Delft (1674–d. 1681); ?their daughter, Magdalena van Ruijven, Delft (1681–d. 1682); ?her widower, Jacob Abrahamsz. Dissius, Delft (1682–d. 1695; his estate sale, Amsterdam, May 16, 1696, possibly no. 38, "Een Tronie in Antique Klederen, ongemeen konstig" [A "tronie" in antique dress, uncommonly artful], sold for 36 florins; no. 39, "Nog een dito Vermeer" [Another ditto Vermeer], sold for 17 florins; or no. 40, "Een weerge van denzelven" [A pendant of the same], sold for 17 florins); ?Dr. Luchtmans, Rotterdam (until 1816; his anonymous sale, Muys, Rotterdam, April 20–22, 1816, no. 92, as "Le portrait d'une jeune personne," by Vermeer, 17 x 15 in., for 3 florins); Auguste Marie Raymond, prince d'Arenberg, Brussels (by 1829–d. 1833; cat., 1829, no. 53); Arenberg family, Brussels and Schloss Meppen, Germany (1833–1949; cat., 1859, no. 35); Engelbert-Charles, 10th duc d'Arenberg (1949–55; sold through Seligman to Wrightsman); Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York (1955–79; cat., 1973, no. 32)

Düsseldorf. location unknown. "Kunsthistorische Ausstellung," August 1904, no. 398 (lent by Herzog von Arenberg, Brussels).

The Hague. Mauritshuis. "In Het Licht van Vermeer," June 25–September 5, 1966, no. VI (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Wrightsman, New York and Palm Beach).

Paris. Orangerie des Tuileries. "Dans la lumière de Vermeer," September 24–November 28, 1966, no. VII (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Wrightsman, New York and Palm Beach).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Vermeer and the Delft School," March 8–May 27, 2001, no. 75.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions," October 24, 2008–February 1, 2009, online catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Vermeer's Masterpiece 'The Milkmaid'," September 9–November 29, 2009, no. 9.

Gerard Hoet. Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen, met derzelver pryzen, zedert een langen reeks van Jaaren zoo in Holland als op andere Plaatzen in het openbaar verkogt. 1, The Hague, 1752, p. 36, lists as nos. 38–40 in the Dissius sale of 1696 "a 'tronie' in antique dress, uncommonly artful," sold for 36 florins; "another ditto ['tronie' by] Vermeer," sold for 17 florins; and "a pendant of the same," sold for 17 florins, one of these probably this picture.

Lithographies d'après les principaux tableaux de la collection de S. A. S. Monseigneur le Prince Auguste d'Arenberg. Brussels, 1829, p. 10, no. 53.

W. Burger [Théophile Thoré]. Galerie d'Arenberg à Bruxelles. Paris, 1859, pp. 31, 34–36, 140, no. 35.

[Gustav Friedrich] Waagen. Handbook of Painting: The German, Flemish, and Dutch Schools. London, 1860, vol. 2, p. 352.

Charles Blanc. Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles: École hollandaise. Paris, 1861, vol. 2, p. 4 of section on Vermeer.

W. Bürger [Théophile Thoré]. "Galerie de MM. Pereire." Gazette des beaux-arts 16 (April 1864), pp. 313–14.

W. Bürger [Théophile Thoré]. "Van der Meer de Delft (1er article)." Gazette des beaux-arts 21 (October 1866), p. 299.

W. Bürger [Théophile Thoré]. "Van der Meer de Delft (3e et dernier article)." Gazette des beaux-arts 21 (December 1866), pp. 543, 545, suggests that it might be identified with no. 38 in the Dissius sale of 1696, and with no. 92 in the Luchtmans sale of 1816.

Ronald Gower. The Figure Painters of Holland. London, 1880, pp. 67, 111.

Henry Havard. Van der Meer de Delft. Paris, 1888, p. 35, no. 2.

Corn[elis]. Hofstede de Groot. "Johannes Vermeer." Die Graphischen Künste 18 (1895), pp. 20, 22–24, suggests that it might be of about the same date as the head of a young woman in the Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Th[eodor]. v[on]. Frimmel. "Zu Vermeer van Delft." Blätter für Gemäldekunde 2 (April 1906), p. 185, dates it between 1660 and 1675.

C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 1, London, 1907, p. 601, no. 42, as no. 39 in the sale of 1696, and as no. 92 in the 1816 sale.

Gustave Vanzype. Vermeer de Delft. Brussels, 1908, pp. 10, 41–42, 52, 67, 96–97, ill. opp. p. 96, suggests that this painting and the one in The Hague may represent Vermeer's daughters.

W[ilhelm]. [von] Bode. Great Masters of Dutch and Flemish Painting. London, 1909, p. 57, dates this picture and the one in The Hague about 1656 or a little later.

Cornelis Hofstede de Groot. Jan Vermeer of Delft and Carel Fabritius. Amsterdam, 1909, pp. 21–23, 28, 30, pl. 29, places this head and the one in The Hague between the early paintings with life-size figures and the later works with figures on a smaller scale.

Alfred von Wurzbach. Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon. 2, Vienna, 1910, p. 776.

Eduard Plietzsch. Vermeer van Delft. Leipzig, 1911, pp. 57–58, 115, no. 11, pl. XV, dates it shortly before the head in The Hague.

N. N. Wrangell. "Jan Vermeer van Delft." Apollon 2, no. 1 (1911), p. 8, ill. opp. p. 10.

Georges Dreyfous. L'oeuvre de Jan Vermeer de Delft dit Van Der Meer de Delft (1632–1675). Paris, 1912, p. 29.

Philip L. Hale. Jan Vermeer of Delft. Boston, 1913, pp. 58, 240, 242, 333–34, 371–72, ill. opp. p. 232, calls this work and the one in The Hague late works, probably representing Vermeer's daughters; identifies it as no. 39 in the Dissius sale.

Georg Jacob Wolf. "Jan Vermeer van Delft." Westermanns Monatshefte 119 (September 1915), p. 73, ill. p. 70.

Max Eisler. "Der Raum bei Jan Vermeer." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses 33 (1916), pp. 240–41.

Wilhelm von Bode. Die Meister der holländischen und vlämischen Malerschulen. Leipzig, 1917, p. 74.

A[lbert]. E[ugene]. Gallatin. "Vermeer of Delft." American Magazine of Art 8 (August 1917), pp. 388–90.

P. Johansen. "Jan Vermeer de Delft." Oud-Holland 38 (1920), pp. 195, 197–98, identifies this painting and the one in The Hague as pendant portraits, and tentatively dates them about 1665–67.

E. V. Lucas. Vermeer of Delft. London, [1922?], pp. 26, 31, 43, identifies it with no. 39 in the 1696 sale.

John C. van Dyke. Rembrandt and His School. New York, 1923, p. 172.

Wilhelm Hausenstein. Vermeer van Delft. Munich, 1924, pp. 24, 27, pl. 23, dates it later than the head of a young woman in The Hague.

Wilhelm von Bode. "Kunsthistorische Ausbeute aus dem Deutschen Kunsthandel von Heute: 2. Jan Vermeer van Delft." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 47 (1926), p. 251.

Jean Chantavoine. Ver Meer De Delft. Paris, 1926, pp. 36, 44, 47, 59, 103, suggests that it was a study for one of Vermeer's genre scenes, such as the "Woman with a Lute" (MMA, 25.110.24).

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. "Zum 300. Geburtstag Jan Vermeers, Oktober 1932: Vermeer und die Meister der holländischen Genremalerei." Pantheon 10 (October 1932), p. 324, dates it shortly after 1658.

Arsène Alexandre. "Nouveaux aperçus sur Vermeer." L'art et les artistes, n.s., 25 (February 1933), p. 164.

Philip L. Hale. Vermeer. Boston, 1937, pp. 51, 106, 134–35, 182, 227, pl. 41.

Eduard Plietzsch. Vermeer van Delft. Munich, 1939, pp. 28, 62, 64, fig. 27, considers it later than the portrait in The Hague, which he dates about 1665.

A. B. de Vries. Jan Vermeer van Delft. Amsterdam, 1939, pp. 9, 42–43, 84, no. 18, pl. 44, dates it about 1660.

Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1941, p. 209, under no. 55, relates it to "The Smiling Girl" (now attributed to a twentieth-century imitator of Vermeer).

André Blum. Vermeer et Thoré-Bürger. Geneva, 1945, pp. 26, 30, 63, 120, 140, 158, no. 2, pl. 19, calls it more a study than a portrait; dates it about 1660.

A. B. de Vries. Jan Vermeer van Delft. London, 1948, pp. 13, 38, 86, pl. 15.

P. T. A. Swillens. Johannes Vermeer, Painter of Delft, 1632–1675. Utrecht, 1950, pp. 62, 105–8, 154, no. 29, pl. 29, as a late work, heavily restored and of dubious quality; questions whether this painting and the one in The Hague were intended as portraits; discusses it under works of doubtful attribution.

Lawrence Gowing. Vermeer. London, 1952, pp. 77–78 nn. 4, 6, pp. 134, 138, no. XVII, pl. 41, dates it 1664.

André Malraux. Vermeer de Delft. Paris, 1952, pp. 119–20, ill., as a lost work, having disappeared from the Arenberg collection.

Vitale Bloch. Tutta la pittura di Vermeer di Delft. Milan, 1954, p. 33, pl. 46 [English ed., New York, 1963, pp. 33–34, pl. 46], dates it between 1660 and 1665.

Erik Larsen. "The D'Arenberg Vermeer Redivivus." Apollo 62 (October 1955), pp. 102–4, fig. 1.

"Fifth Vermeer On View at Museum." New York Herald Tribune (June 23, 1955), p. ?, as recently bought by the Wrightsmans from the Arenberg family.

"Rare Art Work Put on Display Here." New York Times (June 23, 1955), p. 24, ill., reports its loan by the Wrightsmans to the MMA; states that the Wrightsmans purchased it from the Arenberg family.

Helen Comstock. "The Connoisseur in America: A Little-known Vermeer." Connoisseur 136 (January 1956), p. 307, ill. p. 308.

Michal Walicki. Vermeer. Warsaw, 1956, p. 27, pl. 21.

Weltkunst 16 (March 1, 1956), p. 7, ill.

Cyril Connolly. "Style Rococo." Art News Annual 26 (1957), p. 108, ill. p. 122.

Ludwig Goldscheider. Jan Vermeer: The Paintings. London, 1958, pp. 37, 39, 141–42, no. 33, colorpl. 76, dates it about 1671; rejects its identification with nos. 38–40 in the Dissius sale in 1696, as well as no. 92 in the Luchtmans sale of 1816.

Alfred Frankfurter. "Midas on Parnassus." Art News Annual 28 (1959), p. 42, ill.

Lawrence Gowing. Johannes Vermeer. London, 1961, p. 33, no. 83, pl. 83.

Germain Seligman. Merchants of Art: 1880–1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting. New York, 1961, pp. 240–45, notes that it underwent a "light cleaning" under his supervision.

Charles Seymour Jr. "Dark Chamber and Light-Filled Room: Vermeer and the Camera Obscura." Art Bulletin 46 (September 1964), p. 329, identifies it with no. 38 in the 1696 sale.

Pierre Descargues. Vermeer: Biographical and Critical Study. [Geneva], [1966], p. 132.

Benedict Nicolson. "Editorial: Vermeer and the Future of Exhibitions." Burlington Magazine 108 (August 1966), p. 397, calls it "damaged [and] disagreeable, but authentic".

Jean Paris. "Vermeer et ses personnages prisonniers de leurs rêves." Connaissance des arts 176 (October 1966), p. 88, fig. 7.

A. B. de Vries. In the Light of Vermeer: Five Centuries of Painting. Exh. cat., Mauritshuis. The Hague, 1966, unpaginated, no. VI, ill. [Dutch ed., 1966, unpaginated, no. VI, ill.; French ed., 1966, unpaginated, no. VII, ill.], as "the most portrait-like painting of Vermeer's to have come down to us"; dates it about 1663/65.

Piero Bianconi in L'opera completa di Vermeer. Milan, 1967, pp. 91–92, no. 23, ill. p. 92 and colorpl. XXXIV [English ed., 1970, p. 92, no. 23, ill. p. 92 and colorpl. XXXIV].

Horst Gerson in Encyclopedia of World Art. 14, New York, 1967, col. 743.

Hans Koningsberger. The World of Vermeer, 1632–1675. New York, 1967, pp. 124–25, 154, ill. (color).

A. B. de Vries. Vermeer. New York, 1967, pp. 22–23, colorpl. 22, as "the only portrait Vermeer painted"; dates it 1667–68.

Denys Sutton. "Pleasure for the Aesthete." Apollo 90 (September 1969), pp. 230–31, ill.

Lawrence Gowing. Vermeer. New York, 1970, pp. 77–78, 134, 138, pl. 41, states that he previously [see Ref. Gowing 1952] dated the picture too early.

Daniel A. Fink. "Vermeer's Use of the Camera Obscura—A Comparative Study." Art Bulletin 53 (March 1971), pp. 493, 498, 502.

Everett Fahy in "Paintings, Drawings." The Wrightsman Collection. 5, [New York], 1973, pp. 310–21, no. 32, ill. (color) and figs. 1 (detail) and 8 (x-ray).

[Jean Mistler]. Vermeer. [Paris], [1973], unpaginated cat., no. 35, ill. (color).

John Walker in The Wrightsman Collection. 5, [New York], 1973, pp. 8–9.

Ernst Günther Grimme. Jan Vermeer van Delft. Cologne, 1974, pp. 61, 109, no. 34, ill. p. 109 and fig. 23, as a late work, about 1671.

John Walker. Self-Portrait with Donors: Confessions of an Art Collector. Boston, 1974, pp. 262, 264, ill. p. 263.

Albert Blankert, Rob Ruurs, and Willem L. van de Watering. Johannes Vermeer van Delft, 1632–1675. Utrecht, 1975, pp. 88, 164, no. 30, colorpl. 30 [English ed., "Vermeer of Delft," Oxford, 1978, pp. 59, 170, no. 30, colorpl. 30], date it 1672–74.

Christopher Wright. Vermeer. London, 1976, pp. 12, 44, 75, 78, 81–83, no. 8, pl. 18, notes that its condition has been thought worse than it is in fact.

Katharine Baetjer in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1979–1980. New York, 1980, pp. 41–42, ill. p. 42 and on cover (color).

Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, p. 348.

Leonard J. Slatkes. Vermeer and His Contemporaries. New York, 1981, p. 104, ill. p. 105 (color).

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Jan Vermeer. New York, 1981, p. 132, colorpl. 35, dates it about 1666–67.

Martin Pops. Vermeer: Consciousness and the Chamber of Being. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1984, pp. 76, 107 n. 12, fig. 46.

H. R. Hoetink and N. J. Sluijter-Seijffert in The Royal Picture Gallery, Mauritshuis. Amsterdam, 1985, p. 314, under no. 98.

Gilles Aillaud, Albert Blankert, and John Michael Montias. Vermeer. Paris, 1986, pp. 142, 197, 225, no. 30, colorpl. XXVII [English ed., 1988, pp. 148, 193, 224, no. 30, colorpl. 28], date it 1672.

Peter C. Sutton. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1986, p. 190.

John Michael Montias. Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History. Princeton, 1989, pp. 196–97, 221, 266, fig. 52, suggests that it may be a portrait of Vermeer's eldest daughter Maria, and notes that if it is, Blankert's date [see Ref. 1975] of 1672–74 "must be closer to the truth" than Wheelock's date [see Ref. 1981] of 1666–67.

Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. rev., enl. ed. New York, 1989, p. 390.

Christopher Wright. Dutch Paintings in the Seventeenth Century: Images of a Golden Age in British Collections. Exh. cat., Birmingham City Museums and Art Gallery. London, 1989, p. 82.

Peter C. Sutton in Ben Broos. "Recent Patterns of Public and Private Collecting of Dutch Art." Great Dutch Paintings from America. Exh. cat., Mauritshuis. The Hague, 1990, p. 105.

John Nash. Vermeer. London, 1991, p. 19.

Alice I. Davies. Jan van Kessel (1641-1680). Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1992, p. 22.

Daniel Arasse. L'Ambition de Vermeer. Paris, 1993, pp. 29, 160, 182 n. 27, p. 194 n. 43, fig. 41 [English ed., "Vermeer, Faith in Painting," Princeton, 1994, pp. 17, 73, 107 n. 27, p. 121 n. 43, fig. 41].

Edward Snow. A Study of Vermeer. rev., enl. ed. Berkeley, 1994, p. 19, colorpl. 8.

Jørgen Wadum. Vermeer Illuminated. The Hague, [1994?], pp. 7, 44 n. 6, fig. 6 (color).

Jørgen Wadum in Johannes Vermeer. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1995, pp. 75, 79 n. 28, fig. 13 (color), based on the anatomy of the sitter's hand and the drapery over her shoulder, suggests that Vermeer may have used a lay figure.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. in Johannes Vermeer. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1995, p. 27.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Vermeer & the Art of Painting. New Haven, 1995, p. 123, fig. A25, dates it about 1666–67.

Erik Larsen. Jan Vermeer: Catalogo completo. Florence, 1996, pp. 33, 102, 104, no. 16, ill. p. 69 (color), dates it about 1665–67.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Vermeer: The Complete Works. New York, 1997, p. 56, colorpl. 26, dates it about 1667–68.

Ben Broos. "Vermeer: Malice and Misconception." Vermeer Studies. Washington, 1998, pp. 22–23.

Nicola Costaras. "A Study of the Materials and Tecniques of Johannes Vermeer." Vermeer Studies. Washington, 1998, pp. 150, 165, 167.

Karin M. Groen et al. "Scientific Examination of Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'." Vermeer Studies. Washington, 1998, p. 169.

Frances Suzman Jowell. "Vermeer and Thoré-Bürger: Recoveries of Reputation." Vermeer Studies. Washington, 1998, pp. 47, 55 n. 54, fig. 20.

Jørgen Wadum. "Contours of Vermeer." Vermeer Studies. Washington, 1998, pp. 205, 213.

Walter Liedtke. A View of Delft: Vermeer and his Contemporaries. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2000, pp. 239, 241–45, 256, 292 n. 156, fig. 301, states that it "has been mistaken for a portrait".

Anthony Bailey. Vermeer: A View of Delft. New York, 2001, pp. 116, 142, ill. p. 143.

Wayne E. Franits in The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer. Cambridge, 2001, pl. 23.

Walter Liedtke et al. Vermeer and the Delft School. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2001, pp. 166, 284, 388–89, 391–93, no. 75, ill. (color), dates it about 1665–67.

Philip Steadman. Vermeer's Camera. Oxford, 2001, p. 159.

Everett Fahy in The Wrightsman Pictures. New York, 2005, pp. 131–35, no. 37, ill. (color) and fig. 1 (detail).

Epco Runia and Peter van der Ploeg. Vermeer in the Mauritshuis. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2005, ill. pp. 25, 62, and fig. 8 (color; overall and detail), illustrates it as among works from the 1696 Dissius sale.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. ix–x; vol. 2, pp. 888–93, no. 205, colorpl. 205.

Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), pp. 61–62, 68, 70–71, figs. 71 (color), 82 (color, MMA Vermeer gallery photograph).

Walter Liedtke. Vermeer: The Complete Paintings. Antwerp, 2008, pp. 45, 47, 114, 123–24, 131–32, 134–36, 141–42, 146, 193, 196, no. 23, ill. (color).

Peter C. Sutton. Vermeer and the Delft Style. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [Tokyo], 2008, p. 73, fig. 24 (color).

Keith Christiansen in Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008. New York, 2009, p. 36.

Everett Fahy in Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008. New York, 2009, p. 32.

Walter Liedtke. "The Milkmaid" by Johannes Vermeer. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, pp. 21, 33–34, no. 9, colorpl. 9.

Walter Liedtke in Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008. New York, 2009, p. 41, fig. 52 (color).

Nils Büttner. Vermeer. Munich, 2010, pp. 39–40, fig. 8.