Johannes Vermeer

Latest

Conservation on mysterious Vermeer painting reveals it may have been his final work

Pollution particles found in Young Woman seated at a Virginal, owned by the Rembrandt collector Thomas Kaplan, are helping to date the work, which only publicly surfaced at auction in 2004

Renewed Frick Collection balances tradition and transformation

The 90-year-old Manhattan institution—historic home of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick—opens a new chapter, expanding gallery space and inviting the public into the Frick family’s former living quarters for the first time

How to see every painting by Johannes Vermeer

Missed the blockbuster show at the Rijksmuseum? Fear not, we present an insider’s guide to seeing all his 36 paintings across the globe, from London and New York, to Braunschweig and Tokyo

An expert’s guide to Johannes Vermeer: five must-read books (and a website) on the Dutch Old Master

All you ever wanted to know about Vermeer, from a “legendary” show catalogue to an illustrated book for kids—selected by the curators Pieter Roelofs and Gregor J. M. Weber

Vermeer film proves that people really do want to watch art in cinemas

The company Exhibition on Screen is producing films about artists—and it may have just had a breakthrough with the Dutch artist

The Leiden Collection Vermeer

Young Woman seated at a Virginal (1670-75), in the collection of the US entrepreneur Thomas Kaplan, is the only painting by Vermeer still in private hands

Conservation on mysterious Vermeer painting reveals it may have been his final work

Pollution particles found in Young Woman seated at a Virginal, owned by the Rembrandt collector Thomas Kaplan, are helping to date the work, which only publicly surfaced at auction in 2004

Martin Bailey11 April 2025

From the archive | Can the new Vermeer make £20m?

A committee of experts has decided that the reattributed painting, Young Woman Seated at the Virginals, is authentic

Martin Bailey1 May 2004

From the archive | Young woman at a virginal: A Vermeer? 'Oh yes it is! Oh no it’s not!'

After its showing in New York, Baron Rolin’s “Young woman at a virginal” has been accepted as plausible enough to be included in the London stage of the exhibition, but some scholars have yet to be convinced

Martin Bailey1 July 2001

From the archive | A 36th Vermeer?

Paint analysis suggests that "Woman at a virginal", which is in private hands and has been dismissed for 50 years, may be by the master

Martin Bailey1 March 2001

Podcasts

Vermeer special: the man, the show and an attribution debate

As the "unmissable" show opens at the Rijksmuseum we talk to the curators, the museum's director and artist Alvaro Barrington

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored by Christie's

The Year in Review 2023: the biggest stories and the best shows

From the British Museum thefts to the consequences in art and heritage of the Israel-Hamas war

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speakers Louisa Buck and Benjamin Sutton. Produced by David Clack, Julia Michalska and Alexander Morrison
Sponsored by Christie's

The state of painting now

Plus, its enduring market appeal and new secrets revealed in a restored Vermeer

Sponsored by Christie's

Vermeer's hidden cupid, the Prado's Dutch-Spanish show, plus Helen Cammock

The story behind the revealing of Cupid in one of Vermeer's greatest masterpieces, and Helen Cammock on her Whitechapel show and nomination for this year's Turner Prize

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska and David Clack

Exhibitions

The Big Review: Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum ★★★★★

A less-is-more approach to the biggest ever exhibition of the Dutch Old Master’s paintings makes this blockbuster a triumph

Vermeer vs Pokémon: the double-edged sword of the blockbuster exhibition

Shows at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum were huge hits last year but managing visitors—and staff—proved challenging

Frick Collection to reopen in April with Vermeer exhibition in the works

Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is returning the favour and lending one of its works after showing the Frick’s Vermeers in its blockbuster exhibition last year

Louvre exhibition debunks 'isolated genius' myth of Vermeer

Dutch artist may not have secluded himself in Delft as previously believed

Walk in Vermeer's footsteps: exhibition in artist's home city reveals 'the man behind the paintings'

Prinsenhof Museum show in Delft opens along with landmark Rijksmuseum exhibition on Dutch 17th-century painter

The Girl with a Pearl Earring

'Girl with a Pearl Earring' reexamined in 100 billion pixels: discoveries from the Vermeer symposium in Amsterdam

Experts from around the world have revealed fascinating new information about the Dutch Old Master and his works

Online storm erupts over AI work in Dutch museum’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ display

Mauritshuis currently has 170 works on display as part of its “My Girl with a Pearl” initiative while Vermeer’s masterpiece is on loan

Mauritshuis shines a light on its famous Vermeer

A team of international specialists are studying Girl with a Pearl Earring for two weeks straight

The ‘pearly triangle’: neurological investigation reveals secret of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring

The study also found that when volunteers looked at five works of art in the Hague’s Mauritshuis museum, their brains responded ten times more positively than when they viewed reproductions

New secrets of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring to be revealed online next week

Mauritshuis museum's detailed technical examination uncovers new findings on the Dutch artist's brushwork, pigments and technique

Conservation

Hidden Cupid resurfaces in one of Vermeer’s best-known works after two and a half centuries

Laboratory tests revealed "sensational" discovery that the figure in Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window was overpainted decades after the artist’s death

Comment | Cupid ‘outing’ in Vermeer painting is the right move

The uncovered figure changes the composition of Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window

Mauritshuis shines a light on its famous Vermeer

A team of international specialists are studying Girl with a Pearl Earring for two weeks straight

The master's hand: a treasured Vermeer gives up its secrets

Extensive scientific testing of the Frick’s Mistress and Maid proves that it was not finished by someone else

Tests reveal secrets of four Vermeer paintings—including their authenticity—in Washington, DC show

The National Gallery of Art has carried out scientific tests on the works, finding fascinating discoveries beneath the paint

Questions of attribution

Vermeer special: the man, the show and an attribution debate

As the "unmissable" show opens at the Rijksmuseum we talk to the curators, the museum's director and artist Alvaro Barrington

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored by Christie's

Vermeer at the National Gallery in Washington, DC declared not the real thing

The downgrading follows a study of the six paintings in the museum's collection thought to be by the Dutch master, which are now the subject of an exhibition detailing the findings

Rijksmuseum upgrades three Vermeers ahead of blockbuster show—but not everyone agrees

New additions to Old Master's canon go against a recent analysis conducted by Washington D.C's National Gallery of Art

Does the Philadelphia Museum of Art hold an unknown Vermeer?

Expert says he discovered two paint pigments that were only used in that combination by the Dutch Old Master at the time

Vermeer mysteries and puzzles

The hunt for as many as nine elusive Vermeer paintings continues

As the Rijksmuseum's once-in-a-lifetime blockbuster brings together an unprecedented number of works by the Old Master, paintings including a self-portrait are still missing

The Met's Vermeer may contain a hidden self-portrait of the artist at work

X-ray technology has revealed that a hidden man in the background of 'A Maid Asleep' is holding a paintbrush

Did this mysterious Dutch painter inspire Vermeer?

The story of enigmatic artist Jacobus Vrel will be told in an exhibition scheduled for 2023 and in a book published this month

Vermeer reality TV show brings back to life painter's missing masterpieces

A hit in The Netherlands, "The New Vermeer" challenges artists to recreate works from a wide variety of materials—including Lego

Revisiting the Gardner heist: no paintings, no arrests, but mobsters galore in new Netflix series

While the four-part documentary retreads well-worn ground, it reminds viewers why the unsolved crime remains so intriguing

Vermeer's artistic influence

Bob Dylan on Da Vinci, Van Gogh and the camera obscura

The singer says his landscapes would have a soundtrack by Charlie Parker or Peetie Wheatstraw

Vermeer and the masters of genre painting

The Dutch painter and his contemporaries could not resist the temptation to improve one another's compositions

Pieter de Hooch steps out from Vermeer's shadow in new Delft show

First survey in the Netherlands puts the spotlight back onto the ‘other’ Golden Age painter

Vermeer in his lifetime

Was Vermeer a painter of pleasure or a staunch Jesuit supporter? New book challenges our knowledge of the artist

Gregor Weber's biography "Johannes Vermeer: Faith, Light and Reflection" also supports the controversial view that Vermeer used a camera obscura

Walk in Vermeer's footsteps: exhibition in artist's home city reveals 'the man behind the paintings'

Prinsenhof Museum show in Delft opens along with landmark Rijksmuseum exhibition on Dutch 17th-century painter

Revealed: Vermeer's patron was, in fact, a woman—and she bought half the artist’s entire oeuvre

New research in the Rijksmuseum's catalogue for its Vermeer blockbuster suggests that Maria de Knuijt may have influenced his subject matter

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