Tissot, James (1836-1902) Summer (‘Portrait’) 1876 Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 50.8 cm Tate Britain, London James Tissot is deliberately ambiguous here, inviting us to interpret it. His model, Miss Lloyd, stands at the entrance of a billiards’ room, a space…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Young Woman seated at a Virginal (Zittende virginaalspeelster) c.1672–1675 Oil on canvas, 25.5 x 20.1 cm Private collection, New York This entrancing picture, the only one of Vermeer’s mature works remaining in private hands, captures the quiet joy of…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) The Milkmaid (Het melkmeisje) c.1660 Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 41 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam A maidservant pours milk, entirely absorbed in her work. Except for the stream of milk, everything else is still. Vermeer took this simple everyday…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) The Love Letter (De liefdesbrief) c.1669–1670 Oil on canvas, 44 x 38.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Vermeer chose an unusual vantage point for this painting. From a dim space in the foreground, a glimpse is afforded of another room…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Woman Holding a Balance (Vrouw met weegschaal) c.1664 Oil on canvas, 39.7 x 35.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Woman Holding a Balance is a superb example of Johannes Vermeer’s exquisite sense of stability and rhythm. A…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal (Staande Virginaalspeelster) c.1670–1672 Oil on canvas, 51.7 x 45.2 cm National Gallery, London A young woman standing at a keyboard holds our eye with a direct gaze. Suffused in the light…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (Zittende virginaalspeelster) c.1670–1672 Oil on canvas, 51.5 x 45.5 cm National Gallery, London A colourful hanging tapestry has been swept to one side to reveal a young woman seated at a…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Officer and Laughing Girl (De soldaat en het lachende meisje) c.1657 Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 46 cm Frick Collection, New York In what may be one of the first works of his mature style, Vermeer transforms the…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Girl interrupted at Her Music (Onderbreking van de muziek) c.1658–1659 Oil on canvas, 39.4 x 44.5 cm Frick Collection, New York Music-making, a recurring subject in Vermeer’s interior scenes, was associated in the seventeenth century with courtship. In…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) The Concert (Het concert) 1663–1666 Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 64.7 cm Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston In a pristine domestic parlor, two women and a man concentrate on making music. The standing woman holds a sheet of…