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''Study of a Young Woman'' (also known as ''Portrait of a Young Woman'', or ''Girl with a Veil'') is a painting by the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
artist
Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
, completed between 1665 and 1667, and now in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, New York. The painting was painted around the same time as the better-known '' Girl with a Pearl Earring'', and has a near-identical size. Because of this, and its proximity in tone and composition, it is sometimes considered to be either a variant or pendant painting (counterpart) of ''Girl with a Pearl Earring''. The subjects of both paintings wear pearl earrings, have scarves draped over their shoulders, and are shown in front of a plain black background. In addition, it has been suggested (though this has also been widely contested) that the creation of both works involved the use of some optical device, such as a
camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a small hole or lens at one side through which an image is projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. ''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions such as a box or tent in w ...
or mirror, as the
Hockney–Falco thesis The Hockney–Falco thesis is a theory of art history, advanced by artist David Hockney and physicist Charles M. Falco. Both claimed that advances in realism and accuracy in the history of Western art since the Renaissance were primarily the resul ...
speculates.


Description

The sitter is depicted as having a homely face—widely spaced and flat—with a small nose and thin lips on a relatively large head. The lack of idealised beauty has led to a general belief that this work was painted on commission, although it is possible that the model was Vermeer's daughter. The artist probably used a live model but, as with ''Girl with a Pearl Earring'', did not create the work as a portrait, but as a ''
tronie A tronie is a type of work common in Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish Baroque painting that depicts an exaggerated or characteristic facial expression. These works were not intended as portraits but as studies of expression, type, physiognom ...
'', a Dutch word meaning "visage" or "expression", a type of Dutch 17th-century picture appreciated for its "unusual costumes, intriguing physiognomies, suggestion of personality, and demonstration of artistic skill". The picture encourages the viewer to be curious about the young woman's thoughts, feelings, or character, something typical in many of Vermeer's paintings. ''Girl with a Pearl Earring'' and ''Portrait of a Young Woman'' are unusual for Vermeer in that they lack his usual rich background; instead the girls are framed by a background of deep black. This isolating effect seems to heighten their vulnerability and seeming desire to place trust in the viewer. In 1994, the art historian
Edward Snow Edward A. Snow is an American poet and translator. Life He graduated from Rice University, University of California, Riverside, and State University of New York at Buffalo, in 1969 with a Ph.D. He is a professor of English at Rice University, a ...
wrote that ''Portrait of a Young Woman'' conveys "the desire for beauty and perfection into a loving acceptance of what is flawed".


Provenance and exhibitions

The painting may have been owned by Pieter Claesz van Ruijven of Delft before 1674, then by his widow, Maria de Knuijt of Delft, until 1681; then their daughter, Magdalena van Ruijven, until 1682; her widower,
Jacob Dissius Jacob Abrahamsz. Dissius (1653 - 1695) was a Dutch typographer and printer. He is most notable as an art collector and for his links to Johannes Vermeer - his collection included 21 Vermeer works (including '' The Milkmaid'', '' Portrait of a Young ...
, until 1695. The painting is thought to have been part of the Dissius sale of May 16, 1696 (No. 38, 39 or 40). It probably then belonged to Dr. Luchtmans, who sold it in
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
as part of a sale from April 20–22, 1816 (No. 92) for 3 Dutch guilders (about 30 grams of silver), even then a tiny amount. Reitlinger, Gerald; ''The Economics of Taste, Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices 1760–1960. 484. Barrie and Rockliffe, London, 1961 Prince Auguste Marie Raymond d'Arenberg, of
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, owned the painting by 1829, and it remained in his family, in Brussels and Schloss Meppen, from 1833 to the early 1950s. In 1959 (or 1955, according to another source), it was bought in a private sale from the Prince d'Arenberg by Mr. Charles Wrightsman and Mrs. Jayne Wrightsman of New York for a sum estimated at around £125,000. In 1979, the Wrightsmans donated the picture to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in memory of curator Theodore Rousseau, Jr.


See also

*
List of paintings by Johannes Vermeer The following is a list of paintings by the Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675). After two or three early history paintings, he concentrated almost entirely on genre works, typically interiors with one or two figures. His popul ...


References


Sources

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Further reading

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External links

*
Study of a Young Woman
' at the website of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

''The Milkmaid'' by Johannes Vermeer
exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on ''Portrait of a Young Woman'' (cat. no. 9)
Notable acquisitions 1979–1980
fully digitized online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on ''Portrait of a Young Woman'' (pp. 41–42) {{DEFAULTSORT:Study of a Young Woman Genre paintings by Johannes Vermeer 1660s paintings Paintings in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Young Woman (Vermeer)