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 reasonably standard portrait of a person. This earlier analysis instructed that the male determine was not the work of Vermeer, however by an unidentified artist. Its brushwork was unfastened, in contrast to Vermeer’s refined fashion.
However more moderen research, utilizing the newest imaging strategies, present that Vermeer’s preliminary paintwork was usually looser and finished shortly on the underpainting stage. The NGA specialists subsequently now argue that the male portrait might 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 might be his solely identified male portrait—and would throw recent gentle on his early profession. Primarily based on the person’s costume (significantly his broad-brimmed hat and collar with a tasselled tie), the composition may be dated to 1650-55. Vermeer’s earliest identified 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 spiritual topics of the mid 1650s.
Unidentified survivors
In that case, some early Vermeer portraits may truly survive, unidentified as from his hand. As youthful works, they might most likely be unremarkable in fashion, explaining why they’d not been beforehand attributed to the grasp.
Equally intriguing is the suggestion that the hidden portrait behind Lady with the Pink Hat might be a piece by his fellow Delft artist Carel Fabritius, now finest identified for The Goldfinch (1654, Mauritshuis, The Hague).
A 1676 stock compiled after Vermeer’s demise reveals that he had then owned two male heads by Fabritius; he may even have had different panels which he reused. Solely a couple of dozen work by Fabritius are identified, so if the underpainting was by him then this may characterize a major addition to his oeuvre.
