Hi dear subscriber,
Since the 2023 Vermeer retrospective at the Rijksmuseum, currently available Vermeer scholarship looks mostly like a game of revision.
For example, Frans Grijzenhout challenged Hans Slager's earlier proposal regarding the location of Vermeer's residence. Slager had identified the site as being at the west corner of Oude Langendijk and Molenpoort, near the Trapmolen. Grijzenhout argued instead that Vermeer lived at the larger Groot Serpent, located on the eastern corner. Shortly after, Slager dismissed Grijzenhout’s claim, defending his original conclusion. Arie Wallert and Joris Dik have rebranded the pitifully degraded Guitar Player in the Philadelphia Museum of Art from an anonymous copy (early 1700s) to an autograph work by Vermeer.
And not to be outdone, I’m publishing a detailed version of my lecture at the 2003 International Vermeer Symposium, where I take a much needed look at the problematic Young Woman Seated at the Virginals in the New York Leiden Collection (links to all three revisions below).
So, as things stand, we have two alternatives to where Vermeer lived and 35, 36, 37 or 38 authentic Vermeers—depending on how you juggle the art historical dice.
Ah! If you're wondering why I’ve gone silent for so long, I’m neck-deep in a technical and content revision of Essential Vermeer, along with some adventurous new additions. Think of it as a bold leap into Essential Vermeer 5.0.
My very best,
Jonathan Janson
PS I recently noticed on the National Gallery of Art's website that Vermeer's Girl with a Flute is currently not on display. I contacted the Gallery but get no answer. If any of you happen to know why it has been removed or when it might be on view again, I’d love to hear from you. Your insights would be greatly appreciated!
IN BRIEF
- Frans Grijzenhout revises Hans Slager's location of Vermeer's house: "Finding Vermeer."
- Slager rebufs Grijzenhout's revision: "Vermeer’s house again and the Jesuit church."
- A new Vermeer?
- Essential Vermeer founder Jonathan Janson questions authenticity of Young Woman Seated at the Virginal in Leiden Collection.
- Upcoming Vermeer exhibition at the Frick Collection: Vermeer's Love Letters.
- Essential Vermeer addition: "A Pulldown Database of Johannes Vermeer's Artistic, Social, and Personal Interactions."
- Essential Vermeer Addition: "An Interactive Map of the Netherlands c. 1650".
- Essential Vermeer revision : "Vermeer's Paintings in Chronological Order ."
- Essential Vermeer's ambitious expansion.
1.
Frans Grijzenhout revises the location of Vermeer's house.
"Finding Vermeer"
by Frans Grijzenhout
Art historians, historiographers, and archival researchers have long debated the exact location of the house where Vermeer lived with his family. This house, rented by his mother-in-law Maria Thins, was in the Papenhoek (Papists’ Corner) area of Delft, where Vermeer is believed to have painted for most of his career. Was it the large house known as Groot Serpent on the eastern corner of Oude Langendijk and Molenpoort, or the smaller Trapmolen on the western corner?
For decades, art history literature, following archivist A.J.J.M. van Peer, has consistently identified the large Groot Serpent as Vermeer’s residence. However, archival researcher Hans Slager recently proposed that Vermeer and his family actually lived in the smaller Trapmolen. This argument was endorsed by Pieter Roelofs in the catalog for the 2023 Vermeer retrospective at the Rijksmuseum.
Now, Early Modern art historian Frans Grijzenhout has introduced a previously overlooked archival source that challenges Slager’s claim. Additionally, Grijzenhout provides new evidence to pinpoint the location of the Jesuit church on Oude Langendijk—a critical landmark for Delft’s Catholic community and a significant part of Vermeer’s environment.
2.
Hans Slager rebufs Frans Grijzenhout's recent claims about the location of Johannes Vermeer's house.
"Vermeer’s house again and the Jesuit church"
In his article "Vermeer's house again and the Jesuit church," Hans Slager critiques Frans Grijzenhout's recent claims about the location of Johannes Vermeer's house (published in "Finding Vermeer, Back to the Molenpoort") and the hidden Jesuit church in Delft. Grijzenhout relies on a 1674 taxation ledger to place Vermeer’s residence at the eastern corner of the Molenpoort, but Slager argues that this method is flawed due to the many unknowns, guesswork, and incomplete research. Instead, Slager maintains his previously reasoned likelihood that Vermeer lived on the western corner of the Molenpoort, in a smaller house called Trapmolen. He emphasizes that there is no solid proof for Grijzenhout's theory and critiques his reliance on assumptions.
Furthermore, Grijzenhout's analysis of the Jesuit church's location on the Oude Langendijk is also challenged. Slager contends that Grijzenhout misinterprets historical documents and overlooks key archival data. Grijzenhout suggests the church was located in the second and third houses east of the Molenpoort, while Slager maintains that it was in the fourth and fifth house, supported by schematic reconstructions and archival data.
3.
A new Vermeer?
The PMA Guitar Player: A Forgery, a Copy, or an Autograph Replica from Vermeer’s Workshop?
Arie Wallert and Joris Dik
Zeitschrift fur Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung 36 (2) (2023), 334-35
Arie Wallert, the former Senior Scientist at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, has published an article in which he argues that a copy of Vermeer's Guitar Player in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (the original is in the Kenwood House in London) may be, despite its ruinous condition, not by a different hand but an autograph replica by Vermeer himself.
Here is the paper's abstract: "In seventeenth century workshops, reproducing pictures was an established—but still relatively unknown—practice. Replication of similar identical paintings was accomplished by repeatedly transferring the imagery from fully worked-out studio drawings onto multiple series of prepared canvases. Mechanical transfer of underdrawings naturally affects the following stages in the process of painting. In the present paper, it is argued that the specific art-technical features of this approach can be seen in two virtually identical paintings: one Guitar Player in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and another Guitar Player in Kenwood House in London. On the basis of art-technological, stylistic, and documentary evidence, we conclude that the two, very similar, paintings are both autograph replicas made by Johannes Vermeer."
4.
EV founder Jonathan Janson questions authenticity of Young Woman Seated at the Virginal (Leiden Collection)
"Young Woman Seated at a Virginal: A Second Look"
Since the 2004 sale of Young Woman Seated at a Virginal at Sotheby’s, this small canvas has been accepted as an authentic painting by Vermeer almost exclusively on the basis of a decade-long technical investigation spearheaded—please note—by Sotheby’s itself. Since then, there has been only a handful of high-intensity critical analyses of this “new Vermeer.” In this essay, I attempt to evaluate the picture from a fresh point of view via a side-by-side comparison with Vermeer’s later works, such as The Lacemaker, The Guitar Player, Lady Standing at a Virginal, and Lady Seated at a Virginal. These paintings—whatever their expressive merit—rank among Vermeer’s most technically refined and compositionally innovative achievements, and, by comparison, I believe, expose the rudimentary design and numerous technical shortcomings of the Leiden painting that have thus far been substantively unaddressed.
5.
Upcoming Vermeer exhibiton
Vermeer's Love Letters
June 18 –September 8, 2025
Frick Collection, New York
The Frick Collection will reopen in April 2025 (exact date to be announced), introducing significant changes and additions to its renowned New York City mansion. Among the highlights of the reopening is a groundbreaking Vermeer exhibition, Vermeer’s Love Letters, which will bring together three notable Vermeer paintings with a letter-writing theme: Mistress and Maid (Frick Collection), The Love Letter (Rijksmuseum), and Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid (National Gallery of Ireland). This exhibition will run from June 18 to September 8, 2025, and will showcase Vermeer's intimate depictions of letter-writing within a specially-designed gallery, offering an unparalleled viewing experience, and will offer visitors an opportunity to consider Vermeer’s treatment of the theme of letters as well as his depiction of women of different social classes.
The exhibition is curated by Dr. Robert Fucci, a distinguished expert on Vermeer from the University of Amsterdam, who will author a catalogue focused on the three works and their broader themes in seventeenth-century Dutch art.
In addition to the Vermeer exhibition, the museum’s extensive renovations include opening the second floor of the mansion to the public for the first time. This newly accessible space will feature ten galleries, including the Boucher Room in its original setting, along with displays of recently acquired objects, clocks, and watches. Visitors can also explore a new Cabinet Gallery on the first floor, which will exhibit rare drawings andz sketches by artists such as Rubens, Degas, and Goya.
6.
Essential Vermeer Website addition
"Encyclopedic Database of Johannes Vermeer's Artistic, Social, and Personal Interactions"
This interactive study provides an in-depth examination of the diverse and manifold relationships and influences that shaped Johannes Vermeer’s life and art, encompassing his professional and personal spheres as well as the broader cultural context of his era. To illustrate these connections, a comprehensive list has been developed, featuring a range of people, concepts, institutions, and places that interacted with, influenced, or were influenced by Vermeer. This includes not only painters, patrons, and relatives, but also artistic movements, cities, organizations such as the Guild of Saint Luke, and broader cultural themes like Italian art and genre painting.
Each entry offers a detailed analysis of the subject's contributions, followed by an exploration of its connection to Vermeer, signified by an icon of his signature. The directory now contains nearly 170 entries, each supplemented with relevant images and more than 3,000 internal links. A dropdown menu allows users to easily navigate specific topics, while the internal links enable further exploration within the pop-up modal without leaving the current modal envoronment.
7.
Essential Vermeer revision
"Vermeer's Paintings in Chronological Order"
The former "Vermeer Paintings in Scale" webpage has been one of the most popular sections of Essential Vermeer and has inspired numerous imitations both online and offline. Leveraging ChatGPT's remarkable ability to generate virtually any type of code, I’ve been able to enhance it significantly. Now, not only can you view all of Vermeer’s paintings either to scale or in their current frames, but you can also resize, drag, and rearrange them to create your own chronology.
8.
Essential Vermeer addition
"An Interactive Map of the Netherlands c. 1650"
I'm pleased to announce a brand-new addition to the Essential Vermeer website: an interactive SVG rollover map of the mid-17th-century Netherlands. This feature offers a visual gateway to the places, people, and events that shaped the Dutch Golden Age. Each city, town, and river reveals important cultural, economic, and historical highlights when you hover or click on it. Whether you’re researching the world around Vermeer’s Delft, or simply curious about the landscapes and communities that influenced Dutch art and trade, this map invites you to explore at your own pace. Step into the past and discover how geography, society, and tradition came together during one of Europe’s most vibrant periods.
9.
Essential Vermeer Expansion
One of the guiding principles of Essential Vermeer has always been to make it equally valuable to seasoned researchers and accessible to newcomers. While experienced researchers can navigate the complexities of history, art history, and specialized terminology, these aspects can be intimidating for those less familiar with the field. To make the content as clear as possible, I’ve always relied on both internal and external links (there are over 20,000 on EV). However, some terms, individuals, and art historical references are too specialized yet crucial for fully understanding an article, especially for non-academics.
To address this challenge, I’ve started integrating a database that can be utilized in various ways, most commonly through links that trigger pop-up modals. These modals provide immediate information without pulling the reader away from the current article. Setting this up has meant diving into JSON and SQLite—no small feat at my age, but worth the effort. In addition to the previously mentioned updates to EV, you’ll soon see embedded links in articles that, when clicked, deliver on-the-spot information via pop-up modals. These modals include internal links, allowing you to explore related topics without leaving the modal or the article you’re reading. Sound confusing? I plead guilty. But give it a try! Click this link https://www.essentialvermeer.com/social-diagram-cytoscape/social-encyclopedia/pulldown-vermeer-social-map.html and select an item from the pull-down menu to see how it works. So far, I’ve implemented this approach in two projects—the "Encyclopedia and the Interactive Map of 17th-Century Netherlands"—but I plan to expand it to the articles themselves.
Enjoy exploring!