< Back to All Images < Previous | Next >

    Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675)
    Study of a Young Woman, probably ca. 1665–67
    Oil on canvas; 17 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. (44.5 x 40 cm)
    Signed (upper left): IVMeer. [IVM in monogram]
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, in memory of Theodore Rousseau Jr., 1979 (1979.396.1)

    Curator Comment

    Even by the standards of great benefactors such as Charles and Jayne Wrightsman, their gift of a work by Vermeer—the Museum's fifth—was a milestone for the Department of European Paintings. The picture dates about 1665–67, the time the artist painted the Girl with a Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis, The Hague). Neither painting was intended as a portrait; in the seventeenth century they were understood as tronies (literally, "visage" or "expression") and appreciated for their sense of character, intriguing physiognomies, curious costumes, and manner of execution. Describing the behavior of light on shiny fabrics was considered a particular test of virtuosity, but here the silken wrap barely competes with the haunting face.

    Walter Liedtke, curator, Department of European Paintings

    Provenance

    Possibly Pieter Claesz van Ruijven, Delft, until d. 1674; possibly his widow, Maria de Knuijt, Delft, 1674–d. 1681; possibly their daughter, Magdalena van Ruijven, Delft, 1681–d. 1682; possibly her widower, Jacob Abrahamsz Dissius, 1682–d. 1695; his sale, Amsterdam, May 16, 1696, lot 38, 39, or 40; Dr. Jan Luchtmans, Rotterdam, until 1816; his sale, Rotterdam, April 20–22, 1816, lot 92; Auguste Marie Raymond, prince d'Arenberg, Brussels, by 1829–d. 1833; Arenberg family, Brussels and Schloss Meppen, Germany, 1833–1949; Engelbert-Marie, ninth duc d'Arenberg, Brussels, Schloss Meppen, and Schloss Nordkirchen, Germany, 1945–d. 1949; his son, Engelbert-Charles, tenth duc d'Arenberg, 1949–55; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York, 1955–79.

    Bibliography

    Walter Liedtke et al., Vermeer and the Delft School (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001), cat. no. 75; Everett Fahy, ed., The Wrightsman Pictures (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005), pp. 131–35; Walter Liedtke, Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), pp. 888–93.

    Related Links

    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History