...understanding "Girl with a Red Hat"

In the 1696 sale catalogue of paintings owned by Jacob Dissius, the son-in-law of Vermeer's patron Pieter van Ruijven, "A tronie in antique dress, uncommonly artful" is listed as number 38 and is followed by "39. Another ditto [tronie by] Vermeer," and "4-0. A pendant of the same". Almost any costume with a bolt of material thrown aver the shoulder could explain the reference to a figure as in "antique" dress, which meant merely outdated, not necessarily classical. The entire costume in the present painting from the Wrightsman collection or in Girl with a Red Hat and the headgear in Girl with a Pearl Earring in the Mauritshuis, would have been termed antique by Dutch critics and cataloguers of the seventeenth century, quite as the costumes in Diana and Her Companions could have been so described.

It is more curious that two of the tronies in the Dissius sale were considered pendants. The Wrightsman and Mauritshuis paintings are almost identical in size and arc close in composition: the figures age similarly posed against dark backgrounds, and each wears a pearl earring and an elegant scarf that falls behind her head. The models may or may not have been Vermeer's daughters, but neither picture was painted as a portrait. The paintings are studies of expression, physical types, and visual qualities such as the behavior of light. Whether the two canvases were conceived as pendants, which would have been exceptional for tronies, is quite uncertain but cannot be dismissed out offhand. The differences between the pictures are as remarkable as the similarities. To be sure, the Mauritshuis painting is more immediately appealing, but the Wrightsman picture is equally impressive in its naturalism and perhaps more so in its suggestion of character. The less conventional physiognomy suits the thoughtful, sideward glance and the very different smile; there is no question which young woman would have posed for Martha and which for Mary had Vermeer, some years after painting these studies, undertaken to treat again the subject of Christ's visit to the house of his cousins secondary but essential motifs, meant far the connoisseur's eye and imagination. The coloring of the face and lips accords with that of the costume, in a more muted manner than that found in Girl with a Pearl Earring. The gradual transition from light to shadow on the young woman's intriguing face, which would probably not respond as well to the strong light employed in the Mauritshuis picture, is in sympathy with the subtle shifts of tone in the drapery. In the other work a contemporary jacket, strongly colored and with faceted folds, provides a solid base for the sculptural head. The modeling, the palette, and the figure's glance have a directness not found in the Wrightsman painting, where the contours are blurred, the shadows are softer, and the highlights are either muted (as in the angular pocket of folds to the lower right) or glisten like a glass mosaic, the staccato pattern of which hints at the weave of luxurious fabric. There is something dreamlike about the illumination in Study of a Young Woman that enhances the sense of disengagement from the viewer in both form and mood. At the bottom of the picture, the resting forearm and back of the wrist represent one of Vermeer's willful elisions of what is known (in this case, anatomy) in favor of what might be seen (depending upon the observer). The flesh tone also slightly enhances the viewer's concentration upon the face.
The dark background in this painting, the Mauritshuis picture, and the Mistress and Maid in the Frick Collection brings to mind works by contemporary artists such as Frans van Mieris, Karel Dujardin, and Michael Sweerts. In 1666 Sweerts published a series of engravings representing bust-length figures, a few of anticipate Vermeer's studies of young women in their compositions and "antique" costumes.

Aside from the expectant expression on the young woman's face, much of the vivacity of this extraordinary painting stems from the manner which it is painted. The reflections of light take shape as pale, densely applied brushstrokes of white and yellow paint which animate the surfaces of the different objects and materials and bring them close to the picture surface, reminding us that we in looking at a painted object in contrast to these strongly lit areas, the red hat and blue garment are painted over darker under layers, which give the colors warmth. The sumptuousness of the materials and the depth and intensity of the color range used by Vermeer contributed to the sense of warmth which is a key element in this work's aesthetic.

To understand the subject of this painting we need to set it in the context of the tronien, a Dutch term which refers to paintings of busts or heads, generally wearing hats or exotic clothes and depicting anonymous or fictive characters. This type of work was to some extent experimental, and allowed artists to investigate the expression and clothing of the figures rather than focus on a faithful reproduction of their features. The exotic dress of the girl in the present painting and her expectant expression with its half-open mouth, intense gaze and impression of having just turned her head to look at us, indicate that this work is a tronie.

The small size of the painting and the fact that it is painted on panel make it unusual within Vermeer's oeuvre and have led some authors to doubt its attribution.  However, the technical devices evident in the work, such as the colors of the underIayers and the way of applying lights and color, as well as the impression of immediacy and control which the girl's pose conveys, all point to Vermeer. Some of the specialists who have doubted Vermeer's authorship have pointed to the incorrect alignment of the two lions' heads on the chair on which the girl leans her right arm. However, it is characteristic of Vermeer to modify his scenes with the aim of creating the spatial and formal relationships which constitute his pictorial language. In other words, his paintings respond to a logic which is more visual than geometric.

Among all of Vermeer's paintings, this is perhaps the one which comes closest to the type of image produced by an instrument known as the camera obscura, an optical device which aroused the curiosity of Dutch scientists and artists in Vermeer's time. With the aid of a lens, it allowed the user to project an image from the exterior onto a wall in a dark room or on the surface of a small chamber specially prepared for it. While experts are not in agreement as to how or to what extent Vermeer and other artists used the camera obscura to compose their paintings, it is certain that the images which it produced characterize by the intensity of the colors and contrasts and the presence of small blurred points of light interested and inspired Vermeer.