Johannes Vermeer

Illustration number 1000277340
Dimensions: 1200x1458 pixels
License under PUB DOM

Illustration number 0000125748
Dimensions: 1910x2329 pixels
License undetermined

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Object information

Object category: painting
Support/medium: canvas, oil paint
Shape/dimensions: rectangle (portrait format) 72.2 x 59.7 cm

Signature/inscription Information about the signature, dating, inscription or any other mark on the front or back of the art work

signed center right: IVMeer
IVM in ligature

Current attribution: Johannes Vermeer

Date Exact or approximate dating of the described art work; the search parameters adopted for this art work in this database, are found in brackets.: c. 1670-1671 (1670 - 1671)

c. 1670 (Wheelock 1997); c. 1670-1671 (Liedtke 2008; Franits 2015)

Subject

Title Title of the art-work in Dutch: Schrijvende vrouw met een dienstmeid
English title: Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid
Genre: genre
Keywords: genre, interior view, two human figures, woman, domestic (servant), writing (activity), drapery (representation), window, leaded window, background view, chair, table, oriental tablecloth, letter (correspondence), inkstand, writing instrument, seal, pear-shaped pearl, checkered stone floor, painting (depicted)
Iconclass code Iconclass codes and text contain specific scenes and names. An Iconclass code or notation is a code from the multi-lingual Iconclass system for subject retrieval. For more information about this system, see www.iconclass.nl.: 42F51
maid<
46E221
letter, envelope

Artistically related

Artistically related to other work Such as a preparatory studie, comparable composition, other version, or copy of the artwork in this record.

inspired by
Gerard ter Borch (II), Drie jonge vrouwen rond een tafel in een interieur
Vermeer adopted the subject of a woman writing a letter, while a ponderous woman stands beside her staring out beyond the picture plane (as observed by A. Waiboer).
inspired by
Gerard ter Borch (II), Interieur met een briefschrijvende officier en een bode
Vermeer adopted the subject of a figure at a table writing a letter, the frontal view and the motif of a full-length figure with a contemplative gaze, looking out of the pictorial space. Also repeated are the compositional elements. The playing card on the floor with Ter Borch has been turned into a letter on the floor in Vermeer´s painting (Waiboer et al. 2017, p. 115).
inspired by
Gerard ter Borch (II), Interieur met een vrouw die een brief verzegelt en een dienstmeid
Vermeer adopted the subject of a woman seated at a table with a letter and a maid or female messenger standing beside her, waiting, with her arms over each other (Wheelock et al. 2004, p. 134).
used as model for
Pieter de Hooch, Brieflezende vrouw en een man bij een venster in een interieur
De Hooch adopted the motif of the letter and the female figure engaged in it, the motif of a messenger standing by, looking out of the window, and the use of full-length figures (as observed by A. Waiboer).

Provenance

Collection(s)

private collection Catharina Bolnes, Delft/Breda
widow of Johannes Vermeer
1675 - 1676 Liedtke 2008
private collection Hendrick van Buyten, Delft
1676 - 1701 Liedtke 2008
private collection Josua van Belle, Rotterdam
- 1730-09-06 sold
private collection Franck van Bleyswijck, Delft
1734 - Liedtke 2008
private collection mr. Hendrik van Slingelandt, The Hague
and heirs
1734 - 1798 Liedtke 2008
art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris (France)
- 1881 Liedtke 2008
private collection Eugène Secrétan, Paris
- 1889-07-01 sold
art dealer F. Kleinberger, Paris/New York
private collection Otto Beit (Sir), London
1906 - 1930 Liedtke 2008
private collection Alfred Beit, London/Kaapstad
- 1987 Liedtke 2008
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin , inv./cat.nr NGI 4535
gift of Alfred Beit
1987 -

Auction(s)

Boussod, Valadon (Paris) 1889-07-01 - 1889-07-04, lotnr. 140
Contributor Eugène Secrétan
Name buyer : Boussod , 62000 FRF

Liedtke 2008

Exhibitions and literature

Exhibitions

Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450-1900 Royal Academy of Arts (Londen) , London (England) , 1929-01-04 - 1929-03-09 , no. 314
Vermeer : oorsprong en invloed Fabritius, De Hooch, De Witte Museum Boymans , Rotterdam (city) , 1935-07-09 - 1935-10-09 , no. 82
Dutch painting the Golden Age : an exhibition of Dutch pictures of the seventeenth century Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York City , 1954 - 1955
Paintings from Irish collections Municipal Gallery of Modern Art , Dublin (city) , 1957-05 - 1957-08 , no. 11
In het licht van Vermeer Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis , The Hague (city) , 1966
Johannes Vermeer Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis , The Hague (city) , 1996-03-01 - 1996-06-02 , no. 19

Literature

Hofstede de Groot 1907-1927 (English edition) , vol. 1, p. 602, no. 35
Blankert/Ruurs/van de Watering 1977 , p. 73-86, 161, no. 27
Slatkes 1981 , p. 101
Wheelock 1981 (Vermeer) , p. 146
Blankert 1987 , p. 128-142, no. 27, ill. 27
Wheelock 1995A , p. 157-162, color ill on p. 156
Broos et al. 1995 , p. 39, no. 19
Wheelock 1997 , p. 62, ill. 32
Liedtke 2000 , p. 254-256
Liedtke et al. 2001 , p. 167-168
Sutton et al. 2003 , no. 39
Wright 2005 , p. 84, 123, no. 34, color ill. on p. 85
Liedtke 2008 , p. 160-161, 197-198, no. 31, color ill. , with provenance
Villa 2012 , p. 136
Waiboer et al. 2017 , p. 114-121, no. 1.5, color ill.

A. Blankert, Vermeer of Delft, Oxford 1978, p. 56, nr. 27
J.M. Nash, Vermeer, Londen 1991, p. 84, 86
L. Vergara, 'Antiek and modern in Vermeer's Lady writing a letter with her maid', in: I. Gaskell (e.a.), Vermeer Studies, Washington 1998
R.H. Nevitt, 'Vermeer on the question of love', in: W.E. Franits, The Cambridge companion to Vermeer, Cambridge 2001, p. 105-106
L. Vergara, 'Women, letters, artistic beauty: Vermeer's theme and variations', in: P.C. Sutton, Love letters. Dutch genre paintings in the age of Vermeer, Dublin, Greenwich 2003, p. 57-58

Visual documentation

Visual documentation

Location image Location of the image in the visual documentation.

BD/Digital Collection (img.nr. 1000277340)
, Original location BD/RKD/0558 - ONS/Genre 2: General (img.nr. 0000125748)

Project: Connect Vermeer

Technical documentation

The RKD manages a collection of technical documentation that has been given to us by external researchers and museums or which stems from the RKD's own research with infrared reflectography. Documentation can be accessed by appointment at the RKD. While not all technical documentation has been entered in the database at present, new data is added on a regular basis.

3 hits in RKD technical, relating to:

Technical examination type

Research and restoration projects

scientific research Counting Vermeer: Using Weave Maps to Study Vermeer's Canvases, 2012 — 2017 2 hits
involved_persons: Richard C. Johnson Jr.; William A. Sethares; Walter Liedtke; Arthur Wheelock; Michiel Franken; Petria Noble; Sytske Weidema; Ige Verslype; Rob Erdmann

Permalink: https://rkd.nl/explore/images/229222

Creation date: 2012-10-01; Last modified date: 2021-12-10

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Johannes Vermeer

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