The Dissius Sale of 1696

The term tronie which derived from the French term "trogue," refers to"heads" or "faces" which had become popularized by Rembrandt and his followers.Even though the tronie represented a bust length single figure, it is not a portrait in the true sense. Rather, it was an opportunity for the artist to demonstrate his ability (often with potential portrait commissioners in mind) in rendering some kind of exotic garment, particular lighting conditions or characteristic facial types that struck him in particular. The artist wearing some kind of exotic headgear, the dashing soldier or the "Turkish archer" were favorite tronies. Vermeer's Girl with a Red Hat, Girl with a Pearl Earring and Study of a Young Woman would have been all be considered tronies rather than portraits.

Painting no.38 of the Dissius sales catalogue has often been thought to have been Girl with a Pearl Earring presently in the Mauritshuis. Although its price was not as high as one may expect (only 38 guilders), in reality tronies normally were not esteemed excessively from an economic point of view. Johan Larson, a Hague/London sculptor, had in his collection a Vermeer tronie which was valued at only 10 guilders. However, John Montias believes that the Larson tronie was most probably the much smaller Girl with a Red Hat. Even a Rembrandt tronie in the same sale (no. 45) fetched only 7 guilders and 5 stuivers.

It should be remembered that Vermeer's contemporaries valued painting differently than we. For example, the technically accomplished Allegory of Faith in the Metropolitan, which is today considered coldly distant in its classicism,was paid 400 guilders only three years after the magnificent View of Delft was sold for in the Dissius auction 200 guilders. In the same Dissius auction The Milkmaid (catalogue no. 2) was paid 175 guilders while The Music Lesson (catalogue no. 6), now considered one of Vermeer's highest achievements, paid less than half that price (80 guilders).

However much we might be tempted to ascribe the Study of Young Woman the Metropolitan to no. 39, and Girl in a Red Hat to no.40, it may be nothing more than a guess.