Dating Vermeer's Paintings

Rediscovery and Oeuvre

The modern study of Vermeer begins with the French art-critic and left-wing politician Thoré-Bürger (Thoré, [Etienne-Joseph-] Théophile, sometimes, Willem Bürger). Thoré devoted twenty years of travel and research, in part as a political exile, establishing "not only the foundation but much of the edifice of our modern understanding of Vermeer."^{John Nash, "Rediscovery," in Vermeer (New York and London: Scala Books, 2002), 102-104.} In the words of the French critic:

"This obsession has caused me considerable expense. To see one picture by van der Meer, I traveled hundreds of miles: to obtain a photograph of another van der Meer, I was madly extravagant. I even retraced my steps all round Germany in order to verify with conviction works dispersed between Cologne, Brunswick, Berlin, Dresden, Pommersfelden and Vienna. But I was amply recompensed, more especially as I had the pleasure, not only of admiring the works in museums and galleries, but in acquiring more than a dozen, some that I bought for my friends MM. Pereire, Double, Cremer, and others; others that I bought for myself."

A clock in the Frans Hals Museum, Utrecht

Thoré published the first major study of Vermeer in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts in 1866 under the pseudonym of W. Bürger. All three of the original articles are accessible in PDF at GAZETTE DES BEAUX ARTS (Oct. 1 - pp. 297–330; Nov. 1 - pp. 458–470; Dec. 1 - pp. 542–575).

Although the Delft master's recovery can only be attributed to Thoré, Vermeer' corpus as we now think of it was nearly established in 1948 by Ary Bob de Vreis.^{Ivan Gaskell, Vermeer's Wager (Essays in Art and Culture) (London: Reaktion Books, 2000), 38.} The works rejected by de Vreis—Thoré had catalogued about 70 paintings and many false works had invaded the market when Vermeer's fame began to soar—gradually faded from even marginal consideration. In his influential monograph, Vermeer, Lawrence Gowing, "set the example followed by nearly all subsequent scholars by not even listing rejected works, as de Vreis had done..."^{Ivan Gaskell, Vermeer's Wager (Essays in Art and Culture) (London: Reaktion Books, 2000), 38.}

In 1976, the Dutch art historian Albert Blankert cast doubts on four previously accepted works, Girl Interrupted in her Music, Woman with a Lute, Girl with a Red Hat and Girl with a Flute and deleted altogether from consideration the Young Woman Seated at the Virginals (not to be confused with the London, Lady Seated at a Virginal). Nonetheless, all but one of the five paintings rejected by Blankert, the minuscule Young Woman Seated at the Virginals, remained soundly anchored in Vermeer's oeuvre by great part of the art historical community although the Girl with a Flute is still doubted by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.

Since 2001, when the Young Woman Seated at the Virginals was shown (not in catalogue) at the Vermeer and the Delft School exhibition in New York and London and soon after auctioned at $33,000,000. The picture is now accepted by the three foremost Vermeer authorities, Walter Liedtke, Wayne Franits and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.

Dating

Vermeer's paintings have been considerably vexing to date: only three bear dates: The Procuress, The Geographer and The Astronomer. During a recent examination of The Art of Painting, traces of the date (in Roman numerals) have been discovered and appear to indicate the date 1666–67–68. The table below displays the chronological order of and dates give to Vermeer's paintings by eleven authoritative Vermeer scholars.

About the dates of Vermeer's paintings given throughout the Essential Vermeer website

Since only three of Vermeer's paintings were dated by the artist, the dates proposed in the EV catalogue, which are likewise reflected in the chronological order of the paintings in the table below, represent an average of the estimates given by four modern Vermeer scholars: Albert Blankert, and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Wayne Franits and Walter Liedtke.

Sources

• BÜRGER, Thoré. Van der Meer van Delft, Paris, 1866.
• DE GROOT, Hofstede C. A Catalogue Raisoneé of the works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vols.10, 1907–1928; vol.1, "Johannes Vermeer."
• DE VRIES. A. B. Jan Vermeer van Delft, London / New York (2nd.ed.), 1948.
• GOWING, Lawrence. Vermeer. Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 1997.
• BLOCK, Vitali. Tutta la pittura de Vermeer di Delft, Milan, 1954.
• GOLDSCHEIDER, L., Jan Vermeer, London, 1958.
• BLANKERT, Albert, (with contributions by RUURS, Rob and van de WATERING, Willem), Vermeer, Oxford, 1976.
• WHEELOCK, Arthur K. Jr., author/editor with contrib. by Michiel C. Plomp, Daniëlle H.A.C. Lokin, Quint Gregory, The Public and the Private in the Age of Vermeer, London, 2000.
• LIEDTKE, Walter., Vermeer: The Complete Catalogue, New York, 2008.
• FRANITS, Wayne. Vermeer, London, 2015.
• SCHÜTZ, Karl. Vermeer: The Complete Works, Köln, 2015.
• ROELOFS, Pieter & WEBER, Gregor, Vermeer, Amsterdam, 2023.

2023–1976

1954–1866