Three years in the past it was revealed that the panel of Lady with the Pink Hat (round 1664-69) on the Nationwide Gallery of Artwork (NGA) in Washington, DC, was overpainted on prime of an earlier composition, a fairly standard portrait of a person. This earlier analysis prompt that the male determine was not the work of Vermeer, however by an unidentified artist. Its brushwork was free, not like Vermeer’s refined fashion.
However more moderen research, utilizing the newest imaging strategies, present that Vermeer’s preliminary paintwork was usually looser and finished rapidly on the underpainting stage. The NGA specialists due to this fact now argue that the male portrait could possibly be his personal work; this “has not but been confirmed or denied”.
Analysis suggests the underpainting could also be by the Dutch artist himself
Nationwide Gallery of Artwork/Kathryn Dooley and John Delaney
If the underpainting is certainly by Vermeer, it could be his solely recognized male portrait—and would throw contemporary mild on his early profession. Based mostly on the person’s costume (significantly his broad-brimmed hat and collar with a tasselled tie), the composition might be dated to 1650-55. Vermeer’s earliest recognized image is Christ within the Home of Mary and Martha (1654-55, Nationwide Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh), however he may need painted portraits earlier than his non secular topics of the mid 1650s.
Unidentified survivors
If that’s the case, some early Vermeer portraits may really survive, unidentified as from his hand. As youthful works, they’d most likely be unremarkable in fashion, explaining why that they had not been beforehand attributed to the grasp.
Equally intriguing is the suggestion that the hidden portrait behind Lady with the Pink Hat could possibly be a piece by his fellow Delft artist Carel Fabritius, now finest recognized for The Goldfinch (1654, Mauritshuis, The Hague).
A 1676 stock compiled after Vermeer’s dying reveals that he had then owned two male heads by Fabritius; he might even have had different panels which he reused. Solely a few dozen work by Fabritius are recognized, so if the underpainting was by him then this may signify a big addition to his oeuvre.
