Girl with a Flute (Dutch: Meisje met de fluit) is a small painting formerly attributed to the Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, that was executed during 1665–1670. The work is in the possession of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as are three paintings that are attributed to Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance, A Lady Writing a Letter, and Girl with a Red Hat.

Girl with a Flute
Artist	Studio of Johannes Vermeer, formerly attributed to Johannes Vermeer
Year	c. 1669-1675
Medium	Oil on panel
Dimensions	20 cm × 17.8 cm (7.9 in × 7.0 in)
Location	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Description

Whether the painting may be attributed to Johannes Vermeer is contested. The possibility that another painter finished the painting after an initial start by Vermeer has been proposed.[1] A New York Times article on October 7, 2022 announced that while the National Gallery of Art was closed during the coronavirus pandemic, its team of conservators, curators, and scientists used microscopic pigment analysis and advanced imaging technology to conclude that the work was not painted by Vermeer, at least not entirely, and that as of October 8, 2022, the gallery would officially change the attribution of the painting to being from the Vermeer Studio.[2]

The composition is painted on a wood panel, comparable to Girl with a Red Hat, an uncontested painting by Vermeer that also was painted on a wood panel and now is the only known work attributed to him that is painted on a wood panel. The model is the same woman wearing the glass lacquered pearl earrings that also appear in Girl with a Pearl Earring. The bluegreen jacket with fur lining also is used in Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance and The Concert . After Vermeer's death, the jacket was listed as an 'oude groene false mantel met een witte bonte kant' in the inventory of his possessions.[3]

Girl with a Flute is a referred to as a tronie, a study of a remarkable facial expression or a stock character in costume. This was a popular genre in Dutch Golden Age painting. Tronies were produced for the mass market, not for specific patrons. Unlike typical portraits, the models were not identified.

Owners

Girl with a Flute was in the possession of the family of Pieter van Ruijven and was sold at the 1696 Dissius auction in Amsterdam. The work was probably one of the three tronies with catalogue numbers 38, 39, and 40.[4] In the nineteenth century, the painting was owned by the Van Son family in Brabant. In 1923, the American art collector Joseph E. Widener bought the painting. Widener donated his extensive and valuable art collection to the National Gallery of Art in 1939. The Girl with a Flute was among the paintings in that collection.

Notes

Further reading

• Bailey, A. (2002). Gezicht op Delft. Een biografie van Johannes Vermeer. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Bert Bakker. ISBN 978-90-351-2402-8.
• Wheelock, Arthur K. (1997). Vermeer: The Complete Works. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0-8109-2751-3.

External links

• National Gallery of Art
• Essential Vermeer

На других языках

[fr] La Jeune Fille à la flûte

[it] Fanciulla con flauto