Technical Description
The Geographer
The support is a closed, plain-weave linen with a thread count of 14 x 11 per cm. ², the original tacking edges of which are still present. The canvas was lined, resulting in weave emphasis.
A gray ground containing chalk, umber, and lead white extends to the tacking edges. The paint was applied wet-in-wet in places. Many different textural effects have been created with the use of glazing, scumbling, impasto, and dry brushstrokes. The vanishing point of the composition is visible in the paint layer on the wall between the chair and the cupboard. Some abrasion, particularly in the shadows in the map, has resulted from past cleaning.
* Johannes Vermeer (exh. cat., National Gallery of Art and Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis - Washington and the Hague, 1995, edited by Arthur Wheelock)
signature:
inscribed on cupboard (right and black & white above): Meer, and above map (left): I. Ver Meer MDCLXVIII (neither inscription is original)