A young woman wearing an ermine-trimmed jacket and a large pearl earring looks eagerly out the window while tuning a lute. The viola da gamba on the floor and songbooks on the table anticipate company. The figure is set within counterpoised rectangles, but Vermeer’s subtle light and shadows draw a veil over the calculated design. The picture is abraded, especially in the foreground, where the paint has also darkened with age.

This canvas was probably painted about 1662–63, a little later than Young Woman with a Water Pitcher (MMA 89.15.21). The arrangement of the table and the silhouetted chair in the foreground, the use of a curtain to cast shadows in the corner by the window, and the greater role of shadows throughout the composition would appear to indicate that the picture was made within a year or so of the Woman with a Pearl Necklace (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) and the Woman with a Balance (National Gallery of Art, Washington), both of which may be dated about 1663–64.

The placement of the woman at the focus of receding objects invites the viewer into the scene. The map bar presses in upon her and precisely defines the space in which the lute is held. The chair at left, with a silhouetted lion's head finial overlapping the woman's vivid yellow sleeve, seems to presage the arrival of a visitor. Placing a viola da gamba in the foreground (here, in the worn area to the lower right) had been a common strategy for at least half a century, and is found in contemporary works by other Dutch artists such as Bartolomeus van der Helst (MMA 73.2). The flow of songbooks across the tabletop and onto the floor reinforces the impression that the lutenist anticipates a duet.

The picture suffers from abrasion, especially in the shadowy area of the foreground.

[2010; adapted from Liedtke 2007]

Inscription: Inscribed (on map): EUROPA

sale, Philippus van der Schley and Daniel du Pré, Roos, de Vries, Brondgeest, Amsterdam, December 22, 1817, no. 62, for fl. 65 to Coclers; private collection, England (sold for $6,000 to Huntington); Collis P. Huntington, New York (until d. 1900; life interest to his widow, Arabella D. Huntington, later [from 1913] Mrs. Henry E. Huntington, 1900–d. 1924; life interest to their son, Archer Milton Huntington, 1924–terminated in 1925)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Hudson-Fulton Celebration," September–November, 1909, no. 135 (lent by Mrs. Collis P. Huntington, New York).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition," May 8–August 1920, unnumbered cat. (p. 8, lent by Mrs. Henry E. Huntington).

Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Masterpieces of Painting," November 4, 1950–February 11, 1951, no. 42.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Painter's Light," October 5–November 10, 1971, no. 13.

Leningrad [St. Petersburg]. State Hermitage Museum. "100 Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum," May 22–July 27, 1975, no. 24.

Moscow. State Pushkin Museum. "100 Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum," August 28–November 2, 1975, no. 24.

Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting," March 18–May 13, 1984, no. 117.

Berlin. Gemäldegalerie, SMPK. "Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting," June 8–August 12, 1984, no. 117.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting," September 7–November 18, 1984, no. 117.

Stockholm. Nationalmuseum. "Rembrandt och Hans Tid," October 2, 1992–January 6, 1993, no. 128.

Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 13, 1992–April 11, 1993, no. 14.

Osaka Municipal Museum of Art. "The Public and the Private in the Age of Vermeer," April 4–July 2, 2000, no. 32.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Vermeer and the Delft School," March 8–May 27, 2001, no. 72.

London. National Gallery. "Vermeer and the Delft School," June 20–September 16, 2001, no. 72.

Rotterdam. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. "Senses and Sins: Dutch Painters of Daily Life in the Seventeenth Century," October 23, 2004–January 9, 2005, no. 68.

Frankfurt. Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie. "Senses and Sins: Dutch Painters of Daily Life in the Seventeenth Century," February 10–May 1, 2005, no. 68.

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.

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Vermeer and the Delft Style," August 2–December 14, 2008, no. 29.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Vermeer's Masterpiece 'The Milkmaid'," September 9–November 29, 2009, no. 8.

Rome. Scuderie del Quirinale. "Vermeer: il secolo d'oro dell'arte olandese," September 27, 2012–January 20, 2013, no. 48.

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. 34, no. 4, catalogues a painting of a young woman at the guitar, possibly this picture, sold in Amsterdam for fl. 70 on May 16, 1696.

Cornelis Hofstede de Groot. Jan Vermeer of Delft and Carel Fabritius. Amsterdam, 1909, 1st Supplement, pp. 5–7, no. 45, pl. 45, as "Young Woman Playing the Mandoline".

Byron P. Stephenson. "Great Dutch Artists." Evening Post (September 20, 1909) [reprinted in Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 4 (October 1909), p. 172, ill. p. 168], as "Lady with Guitar".

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. The Hudson-Fulton Celebration: Catalogue of an Exhibition Held in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1909, vol. 1, p. 136, no. 135, ill. opp. p. 136.

Joseph Breck. "L'art hollandais à l'exposition Hudson-Fulton à New York." L'art flamand & hollandais 13, no. 2 (1910), p. 57 [published in Dutch in Onze Kunst 17 (February 1910), p. 41], considers it a youthful work painted under the influence of Rembrandt's chiaroscuro.

Kenyon Cox. "Dutch Pictures in The Hudson-Fulton Exhibition—II." Burlington Magazine 16 (January 1910), p. 246, calls it "a perfect work in perfect condition".

William Bode. "More Spurious Pictures Abroad Than in America." New York Times (December 31, 1911), p. SM4.

Eduard Plietzsch. Vermeer van Delft. Leipzig, 1911, pp. 61, 118, no. 30, dates it to the latter half of the 1660s and groups it with works having amorous undertones.

Philip L. Hale. Jan Vermeer of Delft. Boston, 1913, pp. 178, 258–60, 373, ill. opp. p. 124, dates it from the same period as "Woman with a Pearl Necklace" (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), "Young Woman Standing at a Virginal" (National Gallery, London), and "Young Woman with a Water Pitcher" (MMA 89.15.16).

A[lbert]. E[ugene]. Gallatin. "Vermeer of Delft." American Magazine of Art 8 (August 1917), pp. 389–90.

P. Johansen. "Jan Vermeer de Delft." Oud-Holland 38 (1920), pp. 197–98, dates it perhaps to the period around 1665–67.

"Pictures Lent for the Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15 (August 1920), p. 184.

E. V. Lucas. Vermeer of Delft. London, [1922?], p. 37.

Wilhelm Hausenstein. Vermeer van Delft. Munich, 1924, p. 23, pl. 8.

Bryson Burroughs. "The Collis P. Huntington Collection Comes to the Museum." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 20 (June 1925), p. 142, ill. p. 144.

"Huntington Collection to MMA." New York Herald Tribune (May 25, 1925), p. ?, as purchased by Huntington for $6,000.

Gustave Vanzype. Vermeer de Delft. rev. ed. 1925, p. 87, pl. 39 [see Ref. Naumann 1984].

H[arry]. B. Wehle. "Notes on Paintings in the Huntington Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 20 (July 1925), p. 180, disagrees with Hale's contention [see Ref. 1913] that the compositional similarity between this painting and the "Young Woman with a Water Pitcher" (MMA 89.15.16) indicates that they are close in date.

Jean Chantavoine. Ver Meer De Delft. Paris, 1926, pp. 36–37, 48, 76, 83, 100, dates it 1660s, calling the musician both a guitarist and a mandolinist.

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 around or after 1660, stating that during this period Vermeer began to paint subjects of a higher social level.

Philip L. Hale. Vermeer. Boston, 1937, pp. 113–15, pl. 12, states that it was possibly in the 1696 sale.

Eduard Plietzsch. Vermeer van Delft. Munich, 1939, pp. 30, 60, fig. 30.

A. B. de Vries. Jan Vermeer van Delft. Amsterdam, 1939, pp. 47–48, 88, no. 27, fig. 51, dates it about 1663–64.

Eduard Trautscholdt in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. 34, Leipzig, 1940, pp. 268, 270.

"Notes on the Cover." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1 (October 1942), inside front cover, inside back cover, ill. inside front cover and color detail on cover.

Margaret Breuning. "Metropolitan Re-Installs Its Treasures in Attractive Settings." Art Digest 18 (June 1, 1944), p. 26.

André Blum. Vermeer et Thoré-Bürger. Geneva, 1945, p. 33, describes Thoré's attempt to date Vermeer's work according to hair styles, and places it in a middle group of paintings in which women wear their hair "à la chinoise".

Elizabeth E. Gardner. "Thoré's Sphinx." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 7 (November 1948), p. 78, ill. p. 77.

A. B. de Vries. Jan Vermeer van Delft. London, 1948, pp. 40, 89, pl. 20, dates it about 1663–64, and says that while the colors and the subject's facial type resemble the "Lady Writing a Letter" (National Gallery of Art, Washington), it cannot be assumed that the same model is depicted.

P. T. A. Swillens. Johannes Vermeer, Painter of Delft, 1632–1675. Utrecht, 1950, pp. 31, 52, 67, 72, 79–81, 83–84, 87, pl. 6, as possibly the picture of "a person playing the cither" sold by Vermeer's widow in 1676 to the baker Hendrik van Buyten in settlement of a bill, with an arrangement to repurchase it; suggests also that it might be the work from the 1696 sale.

Lawrence Gowing. Vermeer. London, 1952, pp. 132–34, no. XVI, pl. 40, notes the strong tonal pattern, a new element in Vermeer's work, and describes the earlier theme of interrupted music making; calls it a ruin.

André Malraux. Vermeer de Delft. Paris, 1952, pp. 16, 68, 71, no. XV, ill. pp. 18 (detail) and 70 (color), places it slightly later than "Woman Holding a Balance" (National Gallery of Art, Washington) and "The Concert" (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston), in which similar floor tiles appear.

Vitale Bloch. Tutta la pittura di Vermeer di Delft. Milan, 1954, p. 34, pl. 52 [English ed., New York, 1963, p. 35, pl. 52], dates it about 1665.

Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), p. 3.

Michal Walicki. Vermeer. Warsaw, 1956, pp. 34, 53, pl. 31.

Ludwig Goldscheider. Jan Vermeer: The Paintings. London, 1958, pp. 5, 38, 137, no. 18, pl. 46 (before cleaning) and colorpl. 47 (detail), dates it about 1664; discusses the 1944 cleaning, noting that the removal of overpaint revealed a characteristic pearl earring.

Lawrence Gowing. Johannes Vermeer. London, 1961, p. 22, no. 66, pl. 66.

A[lbert]. P. de Mirimonde. "Les sujets musicaux chez Vermeer de Delft." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 57 (January 1961), pp. 37–38, fig. 2, states that the instrument is definitely a lute, and that the girl tunes it and awaits a partner who will play the viol.

Piero Bianconi in L'opera completa di Vermeer. Milan, 1967, p. 93, no. 27, ill. p. 92 and colorpls. XLV–XLVI (overall and detail) [English ed., 1970], dates it about 1663–64.

Horst Gerson in Encyclopedia of World Art. 14, New York, 1967, col. 743, dates it to the end of the 1660s, relating it stylistically to the "Astronomer" (Musée du Louvre, Paris) and the "Geographer" (Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt).

Hans Koningsberger. The World of Vermeer, 1632–1675. New York, 1967, pp. 137, 170, ill.

Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, pp. 172, 190 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].

John Walsh Jr. The Painter's Light. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1971, p. 8, no. 13, dates it about 1664.

Everett Fahy in "Paintings, Drawings." The Wrightsman Collection. 5, [New York], 1973, p. 316, under no. 32, fig. 5 (detail), believes the same model appears in the "Study of a Young Woman" (MMA 1979.396.1) and the "Lady Writing a Letter" (National Gallery of Art, Washington).

Hubert von Sonnenburg. "Technical Comments." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 31 (Summer 1973), unpaginated, figs. 89 (detail of overpainted state), 90 (color detail).

John Walsh Jr. "Vermeer." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 31 (Summer 1973), unpaginated, fig. 46 (color), relates it to earlier paintings of female musicians with overt erotic significance.

Ernst Günther Grimme. Jan Vermeer van Delft. Cologne, 1974, pp. 77, 106, no. 26, ill. p. 107 and fig. 17, dates it about 1666 or later.

Albert Blankert, Rob Ruurs, and Willem L. van de Watering. Johannes Vermeer van Delft, 1632–1675. Utrecht, 1975, pp. 162, 166, no. B 1, pl. B 1 [English ed., "Vermeer of Delft," Oxford, 1978, pp. 77–78 nn. 61, 100, pp. 169, 171, no. B1, pl. B1] , as by Vermeer, but poorly preserved; dates it 1662–65.

James A. Welu. "Vermeer: His Cartographic Sources." Art Bulletin 57 (December 1975), pp. 535–36, 541, fig. 7 [expanded in Ref. Welu 1977], identifies the map either as one that appeared around 1613 under the name of Dutch cartographer Jodocus Hondius, or the second state of the Hondius map, printed in 1659 by Joan Blaeu.

Christopher Wright. Vermeer. London, 1976, pp. 12, 48, 79, 84–85, pl. 22, rejects an identification with the work in the 1696 sale.

H[orst]. Gerson. "Recent Literature on Vermeer [review of Ref. Blankert et al. 1975]." Burlington Magazine 119 (April 1977), p. 289.

James A. Welu. "Vermeer and Cartography." PhD diss., Boston University, 1977, vol. 1, pp. 46–48, no. 3; vol. 2, fig. 63.

Christopher Brown. Apollo 112 (July 1980), p. 66, ascribes it to Vermeer despite its poor condition, erroneously stating that Blankert rejects the attribution.

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

Leonard J. Slatkes. Vermeer and His Contemporaries. New York, 1981, p. 60, ill. p. 61 (color), dates it about 1662–65, and states that "there is no serious reason to remove this picture from the artist's list of authentic works".

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Jan Vermeer. New York, 1981, pp. 112, 161 n. 81, colorpl. 25, dates it about 1664.

Otto Naumann in Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1984, pp. 340–41, no. 117, ill. p. 340 and colorpl. 107, dates it mid-1660s.

Martin Pops. Vermeer: Consciousness and the Chamber of Being. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1984, pp. 55, 98, figs. 33–34 (overall and diagram).

Gilles Aillaud, Albert Blankert, and John Michael Montias. Vermeer. Paris, 1986, p. 167 n. 55, p. 170 n. 98, pp. 196, 199, 224, no. b1, colorpl. B2 [English ed., 1988, p. 166 n. 54, p. 169 n. 102, pp. 192, 195, 223, no. b1, colorpl. B1], as a problematic work; date it 1662–63 in the French edition and 1662–65 in the English edition.

Bärbel Hedinger. Karten in Bildern: Zur Ikonographie der Wandkarte in holländischen Interieurgemälden des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts. Hildesheim, 1986, pp. 99, 103–4, fig. 98.

Peter C. Sutton. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1986, pp. 189–90.

Bärbel Hedinger. "Karten in Bildern. Zur politischen Ikonographie der Wandkarte bei Willem Buytewech und Jan Vermeer." Holländische Genremalerei im 17. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1987, p. 162, fig. 12 [same text published in Die Kunst (January 1987), p. 57, fig. 10].

John Michael Montias. "Vermeer's Clients and Patrons." Art Bulletin 69 (March 1987), p. 75.

Walter A. Liedtke. "Toward a History of Dutch Genre Painting II: The South Holland Tradition." The Age of Rembrandt: Studies in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting. [University Park, Pa.], 1988, p. 101, fig. 5-10, dates it about 1665.

John Michael Montias. Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History. Princeton, 1989, pp. 191, 217, 260, 265–66.

Walter Liedtke. "Dutch Paintings in America: The Collectors and Their Ideals." Great Dutch Paintings from America. Exh. cat., Mauritshuis, The Hague. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1990, pp. 37, 40.

John Nash. Vermeer. London, 1991, pp. 22, 25–26, 78, 101, ill. pp. 23, 76 (color, overall and detail), as possibly one of three "heads" catalogued as nos. 38, 39, and 40 in the Amsterdam sale of 1696 [sic for MMA 1979.396.1?].

Deborah Krohn et al. in From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. Athens, 1992, pp. 36–37, 307, no. 14, ill. (color) [catalogue section unpaginated].

Walter Liedtke in Rembrandt och hans Tid: Människan i Centrum. Exh. cat., Nationalmuseum. Stockholm, 1992, pp. 316–18, no. 128, ill. (color).

Walter Liedtke. "Vermeer sin egen läromästare." Rembrandt och hans Tid: Människan i Centrum. Exh. cat., Nationalmuseum. Stockholm, 1992, p. 102 [reprinted in Wayne E. Franits, ed., "The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer," Cambridge, 2001, p. 39].

Daniel Arasse. L'Ambition de Vermeer. Paris, 1993, pp. 129, 148, 189 n. 32, p. 192 nn. 2, 6 [English ed., "Vermeer, Faith in Painting," Princeton, 1994, pp. 50, 64, 115 n. 32, p. 118 nn. 2, 6.

Sylvia Jäkel-Scheglmann. Zum Lobe der Frauen: Untersuchungen zum Bild der Frau in der niederländischen Genremalerei des 17. Jahrhunderts. Munich, 1994, p. 97, fig. 99.

Edward Snow. A Study of Vermeer. rev., enl. ed. Berkeley, 1994, p. 183 n. 16, p. 211 n. 11, pl. 69.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. in Johannes Vermeer. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1995, p. 25, fig. 13 (color).

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. Washington, 1995, p. 378.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Vermeer & the Art of Painting. New Haven, 1995, pp. 149–50, fig. A18.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Ben Broos in Johannes Vermeer. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1995, p. 156, under no. 13.

Edwin Buijsen in Dutch Society in the Age of Vermeer. Exh. cat., Haags Historisch Museum. The Hague, 1996, p. 123, lists it under works of uncertain attribution.

Wayne Franits in The Dictionary of Art. 32, New York, 1996, p. 260, as one of three works by Vermeer whose authorship is debated.

Erik Larsen. Jan Vermeer: Catalogo completo. Florence, 1996, pp. 33, 118, no. A6, ill., rejects the attribution to Vermeer; dates it about 1656–57.

Kees Zandvliet in The Scholarly World of Vermeer. Exh. cat.Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1996, p. 75, ill. p. 64 (color detail).

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Vermeer: The Complete Works. New York, 1997, p. 40, colorpl. 18.

Nicola Costaras. "A Study of the Materials and Tecniques of Johannes Vermeer." Vermeer Studies. Washington, 1998, pp. 147, 150, 165, 167.

Irene Netta. "The Phenomenon of Time in the Art of Vermeer." Vermeer Studies. Washington, 1998, p. 262.

Jean Strouse. Morgan: American Financier. New York, 1999, pp. 563, 611 n.

Ivan Gaskell. Vermeer's Wager: Speculations on Art History, Theory and Art Museums. London, 2000, p. 177.

Walter Liedtke. A View of Delft: Vermeer and his Contemporaries. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2000, pp. 69, 167–68, 226, 228, 232–33, 237, 260, 290 nn. 93, 96, fig. 288.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. in The Public and the Private in the Age of Vermeer. Exh. cat., Osaka Municipal Museum of Art. London, 2000, pp. 12, 20, 45, 140, 174, 178, 180, 201, nos. 32 (exh. cat.) and 18 (Vermeer cat.), ill. pp. 32, 179, 181, 201, and fig. 17 (color; overall and details).

Anthony Bailey. Vermeer: A View of Delft. New York, 2001, pp. 115, 130, ill. p. 114.

Christiane Hertel. "Seven Vermeers." The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer. Cambridge, 2001, pp. 141, 146, 149, 159–60, pl. 16.

Walter Liedtke et al. Vermeer and the Delft School. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2001, pp. 149, 161, 381–83, no. 72, ill. (color), dates it about 1662–63.

Philip Steadman. Vermeer's Camera. Oxford, 2001, pp. 91–92, 106, 132–33, 168–69, 171–75, 189 n. 14, p. 192 n. 19, fig. 28 (diagram of window).

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Marguerite Glass. "The Appreciation of Vermeer in Twentieth-Century America." The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer. Cambridge, 2001, p. 168.

Robert D. Huerta. Giants of Delft: Johannes Vermeer and the Natural Philosophers . . . Lewisburg, Pa., 2003, pp. 47, 66, 82, 90, 92, 95, ill. p. 69.

Peter C. Sutton in Love Letters: Dutch Genre Paintings in the Age of Vermeer. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. Greenwich, Conn., 2003, p. 183, fig. 3, under no. 38.

Alejandro Vergara. Vermeer y el interior holandés. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2003, pp. 33, 174, 207, 254, under no. 36.

Everhard Korthals Altes in Senses and Sins: Dutch Painters of Daily Life in the Seventeenth Century. Exh. cat., Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 2004, pp. 246–48, no. 68, ill. (color).

Robert D. Huerta. Vermeer and Plato: Painting the Ideal. Lewisburg, Pa., 2005, pp. 81, 98.

Katharine Baetjer in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2006, pp. 17–18, fig. 8 [Catalan ed., Barcelona, 2006, p. 18, fig. 8].

Frank Wynne. I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the Twentieth Century's Greatest Forger. New York, 2006, pp. 245, 261, erroneously as no longer considered to be by Vermeer.

Pierre Le Coz and Pierre-Éric Laroche. Vermeer ou l'action de voir. Brussels, 2007, pp. 57, 74, 91, 97, 99, ill. p. 98.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. ix–x, 328, 458; vol. 2, pp. 629, 871, 884–87, no. 204, colorpl. 204.

Bert W. Meijer in Vermeer: la ragazza alla spinetta e i pittori di Delft. Exh. cat., Foro Boario. Florence, 2007, pp. 59, 72 nn. 6, 12, fig. 7 (color).

Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), pp. 18, 28–29, 68, 70–71, figs. 16 (color), 82 (color, MMA Vermeer gallery photograph).

Walter Liedtke. Vermeer: The Complete Paintings. Antwerp, 2008, pp. 17, 20, 32, 41, 43, 47, 99, 101–3, 113, 115–16, 118, 127, 170, 172, 174, 195, no. 14, ill. (color, overall and detail).

Peter C. Sutton. Vermeer and the Delft Style. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [Tokyo], 2008, pp. 65, 71–72, 180–83, no. 29, ill. (color, overall and detail), dates it about 1663–65.

Walter Liedtke. "The Milkmaid" by Johannes Vermeer. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, pp. 13, 26, 32, 34, no. 8, colorpl. 8.

Leo J. O'Donovan. "An Eternal Now: Vermeer at the Met." Commonweal 136 (October 23, 2009), p. 26, ill. (color).

Karen Rosenberg. "A Humble Domestic Crosses the Sea." New York Times (September 11, 2009), p. C29.

Nils Büttner. Vermeer. Munich, 2010, p. 84, fig. 31.

Judith van Gent. Bartholomeus van der Helst (ca. 1613–1670): Een studie naar zijn leven en werk. [Zwolle, The Netherlands], 2011, p. 304, under no. 127.

Marjorie E. Wieseman. Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence. Exh. cat., Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. New Haven, 2011, pp. 34, 42, 47, colorpl. 22.

Walter Liedtke in Vermeer: il secolo d'oro dell'arte olandese. Exh. cat., Scuderie del Quirinale. Milan, 2012, p. 64.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. in Vermeer: il secolo d'oro dell'arte olandese. Exh. cat., Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome. Milan, 2012, p. 21.