When is a Vermeer not a Vermeer?

Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Flute 1669-75, National Gallery of Art Washington

The National Gallery of Art in Washington recently reported that one of its Vermeers was being downgraded to a studio work, possibly even a forgery. After extensive scientific analysis on the six 'Vermeers' in their collection the museum has re-established the authenticity of three, and confirmed as forgeries two works which had long been recognised as such, as well as re-attributing Girl with a Flute. The painting had been in their collection since it was donated as a genuine Vermeer in 1942, although its authenticity has always been disputed by scholars. According to the gallery, their new analysis has shown that, whilst the painter was clearly familiar with Vermeer's techniques, they 'lack the skill or experience to reproduce them'.

Vermeer is unusual as an artist, in that very few of his works are known - 35 in total - and it is generally thought that he worked slowly, and alone, producing relatively few paintings over the course of his career. The suggestion that this is in fact a studio work offers a new perspective that, for at least some of his career in Delft, Vermeer did employ assistants. The gallery has speculated that these may actually have been family members, perhaps his daughter Maria, who would have been in her late teens when the work was supposedly painted (c.1669-75), but this seems rather tenuous. 

            Johannes Vermeer, Girl with the Red Hat c.1669, National Gallery of Art Washington

The painting is similar in style to Girl with the Red Hat, which uses the same model, and a similar close-up composition in which the figure looks outs of the canvas with an open-mouthed, ambiguous expression. Both paintings are very loosely painted, with Vermeer's characteristic white highlights visible blobs on the surface and paint application clearly evident throughout the varied colouration and texture of the costumes. Both exploit strong directional lighting from an unseen left-hand source. Both images juxtapose large primary colour blocks, off-set by areas of white, and emphasise the shallow picture space with a fussy background of tapestry or draperies. It is this which sets them apart from the simplicity of Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665), a work which nonetheless has other obvious similarities. All three fall into the category of tronie - figurative works which show off the artist's skill - rather than being specific examples of portraiture. Girl with a Flute sits comfortably within Vermeer's work on a number of levels. Images of musicians are common; the fur-edged blue dress is similar to that in Woman Holding a Balance (1662-5); she wears tear-drop pearl earrings; the lion's head decorated chair features in a number of paintings.

The National Gallery of Art is currently showing Vermeer's Secrets (October 2022-January 2023), an exhibition which explores their analysis of the artist's works, and the new information about Girl with a Flute effectively forms a publicity release for the show. The information has been widely reported. Vermeer is always big news, and the art world is currently gearing up for the Rijksmuseum's 'biggest ever' blockbuster of the artist's work in 2023 which will bring together 28 out of the 35 extant works. The media loves a fake, which panders to popular enthusiasm for debunking experts; the museum is able to boast of its new, more scientifically advanced analytical abilities which have finally proved the 'truth'; everyone will go to the exhibition determined to see whether they can tell it's not genuine. Meanwhile a few hundred thousand dollars will have been knocked off Girl with a Flute's valuation.

But the painting is still the same painting. Isn't it time art moved on from an obsession with 'the artist' and focussed more on the object itself? This Vermeer debate has coincided with news that one of the many versions of Titian's Venus and Adonis is going to be auctioned, and described as being by the artist himself, despite having previously been considered a studio copy. There are dozens of contemporary versions of the painting which Titian initially produced for Philip II of Spain: art was a business, this was a popular subject and it doesn't seem much of an exaggeration to say they were churned out. Their interest, surely, lies in how they varied, who they were produced for and why, why it was such a popular subject etc, rather than whether Titian himself applied any of the paint. Yet so much time, effort and ink is still wasted on proving or disproving a unique hand in works which were inevitably produced in a studio environment, and on a subject which can never be definitively proved one way or another. The painting is still the same painting. Girl with a Flute remains a mysterious, intriguing representation of a young woman who engages ambivalently with the viewer; she's wearing an odd, almost Oriental-looking hat; the background has an almost abstracted quality....These are the interesting things with, or without, the name Johannes Vermeer on the caption.