Lady Seated at a Virginal

Another painting, probably also by Johannes Vermeer known as A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals, belongs to a private collection shows also a young woman seated at a virginal. This painting and Lady Seated at a Virginal are quite separate works, and as each are known by alternate names confusion between them may exist.

The picture shows a woman facing left and playing a virginal. In the left foreground is a viola da gamba holding a bow between its strings. A landscape is painted on the inside lid of the virginal, and the painting on the wall is either the original or a copy of The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen ({{circa|1622}}, now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston), which belonged to Vermeer's mother-in-law.{{cite web |title=A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal |url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/johannes-vermeer-a-young-woman-seated-at-a-virginal |publisher= National Gallery, London web site |access-date=20 September 2009}} The painting is {{convert|51.5|x|45.5|cm}}.

Because of its style, the painting has been dated to about 1670. It has been suggested that it and Lady Standing at a Virginal (also owned by the National Gallery) may have been created as pendants, because their sizes, date and subject matter are all similar. A recent study has shown that the canvas for the two paintings also came from the same bolt.{{cite web |title=Canvas matches in Vermeer: a case study in the computer analysis of canvas supports |url=http://people.ece.cornell.edu/johnson/LiedtkeMMJ.pdf|first1=Walter|last1=Liedtke|author-link1=Walter Liedtke|first2=C. Richard Jr.|last2=Johnson|first3=Don H.|last3=Johnson|access-date=5 May 2013}} In addition, the ground applied to the canvas appears identical to that used for both the Lady Standing and the New York Young Woman Seated.{{cite journal |author1=Sheldon, Libby |author2=Costaras, Nicolas |year = 2006 | title = Johannes Vermeer's Young Woman Seated at a Virginal | journal = Burlington Magazine |volume = 148 | pages = 89–97}} However their provenances before the 19th century differ, and Vermeer sometimes varied a theme in otherwise unrelated paintings. In the 19th century, both paintings were owned by the art critic Théophile Thoré, whose writings led to a resurgence of interest in Vermeer starting in 1866. The painting entered the National Gallery with the Salting Bequest in 1910.

The painting is one of several works by Vermeer featuring keyboard instruments, including The Music Lesson, The Concert, and Lady Standing at a Virginal. Scholars believe these may all be based on the same instrument, built by Johannes Ruckers.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eB1tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |page=82 |title=The Science of Musical Sound |first=William Ralph Jr. |last=Bennett |date=4 September 2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319927961}}{{cite book |page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIelMWzUR6gC&pg=PA105 |last=Huerta |first=Robert D. |title=Giants of Delft: Johannes Vermeer and the Natural Philosophers: the Parallel Search for Knowledge During the Age of Discovery |publisher=Bucknell University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780838755389}}

{{Commons category|A young woman seated at a virginal (London)}}

• Dutch Golden Age painting
• List of paintings by Johannes Vermeer

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• {{cite book |url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/65202/rec/17 |title=Vermeer and the Delft School |last=Liedtke |first=Walter A. |author-link=Walter Liedtke |year=2001 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87099-973-4}}

{{Johannes Vermeer}}

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Category:1670s paintings

Category:Paintings in the National Gallery, London

Category:Musical instruments in art

Category:Genre paintings by Johannes Vermeer