The Art of Painting

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The Art of Painting
ArtistJohannes Vermeer
Yearc. 1666–1668
MediumOil on canvas
MovementBaroque painting, Dutch Golden Age painting
Dimensions120 cm × 100 cm (47 in × 39 in)
LocationKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The Art of Painting (Dutch: Allegorie op de schilderkunst), also known as The Allegory of Painting, or Painter in his Studio, is a 17th-century

Austrian Republic and is on display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.[1]

Many art historians think that it is an allegory of painting,[2] hence the alternative title of the painting. Its composition and iconography make it the most complex Vermeer work of all. After Vermeer's Christ in the House of Martha and Mary and The Procuress it is his largest work.

This illusionistic painting is one of Vermeer's most famous. In 1868 Thoré-Bürger, known today for his rediscovery of the work of painter Johannes Vermeer, regarded this painting as his most interesting. Svetlana Alpers describes it as unique and ambitious;[3]: 119  Walter Liedtke "as a virtuoso display of the artist's power of invention and execution, staged in an imaginary version of his studio ..."[4] According to Albert Blankert "No other painting so flawlessly integrates naturalistic technique, brightly illuminated space, and a complexly integrated composition."[5]

Description

His signature

This canvas depicts an artist painting a woman dressed in blue posing as a model in his studio. The subject is standing by a window and a large map of the Low Countries hangs on the wall behind. It is signed to the right of the girl "I [Oannes] Ver. Meer", but not dated. Most experts assume it was executed sometime between 1665/1668, but some suggest the work could have been created as late as 1670–1675.[6]

In 1663 Vermeer had been visited by Balthasar de Monconys, but had no painting to show, so it was possibly done "in order to have an outstanding specimen of his art in his studio."[7] Vermeer obviously liked the painting; he never sold it during his lifetime. According to Alpers "it stands as a kind of summary and assessment of what has been done."[3]: 122 [8]

Elements

Detail of Vermeer's Art of Painting showing the painter at his easel using a maulstick.

The painting has only two figures, the painter and his subject, a woman with downcast eyes. The painter was thought to be a self-portrait of the artist; Jean-Louis Vaudoyer suggested the young woman could be his daughter.[9]: 172  The painter sits in front of the painting on the easel, where you can see the sketch of the crown. He is dressed in an elegant black garment with cuts on the sleeves and on the back that offers a glimpse of the shirt underneath. He has short puffy breeches and orange stockings, an expensive and fashionable garment that is also found in other works of the time, as in a well-known self-portrait by Rubens.

The tapestry and the chair, both repoussoirs, lead the viewer into the painting. As in The Allegory of Faith, the ceiling can be seen.

Experts attribute

Liberal Arts. The representation of the marble tiled floor and the splendid golden chandelier are examples of Vermeer's craftsmanship and show his knowledge of perspective
. Each object reflects or absorbs light differently, getting the most accurate rendering of material effects.

Leo Belgicus by Visscher (1611)[11]

The map, remarkable for the representation of light on it, shows the

cross-staff and compasses, while the other has a palette, brush, and a city view in the hand.[3]
: 126 

Symbolism and allegory

Vermeer had a theoretical interest for painting. The subject is presumed to be

French Classicism and Ripa, there is another explanation; he mentions history and poetry as the main resources of a painter.[18][19] The woman in blue could be representing poetry,[20][9]: 175  pointing to Plutarch who observed that "Simonides calls painting silent poetry and poetry painting that speaks",[21] later paraphrased by the Latin poet Horace as ut pictura poesis
. If so, the map is representing history.

The

Habsburg eagle is unconvincing; they overlook other motives.[7] The map could suggest though that painting has brought fame to the Netherlands;[7]
ships sailing over the folds suggest that.

Provenance

External videos
video icon Johannes Vermeer's The Art of Painting, (4:55), Smarthistory

The painting is considered a work with significance for Vermeer because he did not part with it or sell it, even when he was in debt. On 24 February 1676, his widow Catharina bequeathed it to her mother,

florins by the Bohemian-Austrian Count Rudolf Czernin. It was placed on public display in the Czernin Museum
in Vienna.

Until 1860, the painting was considered to have been painted by Vermeer's contemporary, Pieter de Hooch; Vermeer was little-known until the late 19th century. Hooch's signature was even forged on the painting. It was at the intervention of the German art historian Gustav Friedrich Waagen that it was recognised as a Vermeer original.[29][30]

Nazi interest

A tunnel in the Altaussee salt mine

In 1935, Count Jaromir Czernin had tried to sell the painting to

salt mine near Altaussee at the end of World War II in 1945, where it was preserved from Allied bombing raids, with other works of art. The painting was escorted to Vienna from Munich by Andrew Ritchie, chief of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFA&A) for Austria, who transported it by locking himself and the painting in a train compartment.[33]

The Americans presented the painting to the Austrian Government in late 1945 since the

Hitler's death in 1956.[35] In 1958, Vermeer's The Art of Painting was finally moved from temporary status into the permanent collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.[28] A 1998 restitution law, which pertains to public institutions, bolstered the family's legal position,[34] but the case was rejected again by the Austrian government in 2011.[36][37]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer.

References

  1. ^ "Die Malkunst". www.khm.at.
  2. OCLC 31409512
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 9780226015125
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-300-12028-8
    .
  5. ^ Blankert, A. (1978). Vermeer of Delft. Oxford: Phaidon. pp. 47–49.
  6. ISBN 0810927764
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 9780870999734
    .
  8. ^ "Vermeer. The Art of Painting. Analysis of a Masterpiece". Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.
  9. ^
    ISBN 9781136087066
    .
  10. ^ Janson, Jonathan. "The Art of Painting". Essential Vermeer.
  11. ^ "Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica Vol. VI". Archived from the original on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  12. ^ Brussel, Luxemburg, Gent, Bergen (Henegouwen), Amsterdam, Namen, Leeuwarden, Utrecht, Zutphen, en het Hof van Holland in Den Haag; to the right Limburg, Nijmegen, Arras, Dordrecht, Middelburg, Antwerpen, Mechelen, Deventer, Groningen en het Hof van Brabant in Brussel.
  13. ^ Schilder, Günter. "Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica I". Explokart Research Project. Universiteit Utrecht. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014.
  14. doi:10.1163/187501742X00087
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  15. doi:10.1080/00233604908603471
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  16. ^ Ripa, Caesar (1709). Iconologia, or, Moral emblems. London: Benj. Motte. p. 38.
  17. ^ Ripa, Cesare (1645). Iconologia di Cesare Ripa (in Italian). Venice: Christoforo Tomasini. p. 269.
  18. ^ Groot-Schilderboek. 1712. pp. 4, 6, 115, 121, 293.
  19. ISBN 3-487-09604-8
    .
  20. ^ Ripa, Cesare (14 May 1645). "Iconologia di Cesare Ripa ...: Divisa in tre libri, ne i quali si esprimono varie imagini di virtù, vitij, affetti, passioni humane, arti, discipline, humori, elementi, corpi celesti, prouincie d'Italia, fiumi, & altre materie infinite vtili ad orgni stato de persone". presso Cristoforo Tomasini – via Google Books.
  21. ISBN 9780674995253
    .
  22. ^ "Vermeer: The Art of Painting, Art and History". National Gallery of Art. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016.
  23. ^ "Allegory of Painting". The Leiden Collection.
  24. ^ "Kroonluchter". johannesvermeer.info. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  25. ^
    ISBN 9780691002897
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  26. ^ Janson, Jonathan. "Johannes Vermeer: Provenance". Essential Vermeer.
  27. ^ "Besitzfolgen" [Ownership]. Kunst & Politik (in German).
  28. ^ a b c d "Vermeer: The Art of Painting, The Painting's Afterlife". National Gallery of Art. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016.
  29. ^ Waagen, G. F. (1862). Handbuch der Deutschen und Niederländischen Malerschulen, Bd II. Stuttgart. p. 110.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  30. ^ "Vergessenheit und Wiederentdeckung" [Forgetting and Rediscovery]. Kunst & Politik (in German).
  31. ^ Schoenberg, E. Randol (17 March 2011). "Will Austria part with Hitler's Vermeer?". Jewish Journal.
  32. ^ "Interessenten für das Bild" [Interest in the Picture]. Kunst & Politik (in German).
  33. ISBN 9781843835394
    .
  34. ^ a b "On the current state of the discussion of the provenance of Vermeer's "The Art of Painting"". Kunsthistorisches Museum. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  35. ISBN 978-1-86019-902-8
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  36. ^ Hinckley, Catherine (18 March 2011). "Austrian Panel Rejects Claim for Vermeer Bought by Hitler". Bloomberg.
  37. ^ Lindsay, Ivan (13 November 2014). "From Napoleon to the Nazis: the 10 most notorious looted artworks". The Guardian.
  38. ^ "About this Work: Vermeer, Portrait of the Artist in his Studio, Malcolm Morley". The Broad. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  39. ^ Hobbs, Robert (2005). Malcolm Morley: The Art of Oil Painting [Catalog for Exhibit, 5 May - 25 June 2005] (PDF). New York: Sperone Westwater Gallery. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
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