Artwork
Woman with a Lute
Woman with a Lute is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Johannes Vermeer. It dates from 1662 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
A map of Europe hangs on the wall, underscoring the connection to the outside world, and books and a chair with a lion‑head motif complete the interior scene.
The work, titled Woman with a Lute (c. 1662–1663), depicts a young woman seated near an open window, dressed in a yellow satin jacket trimmed with ermine and wearing large pearl earrings. She gazes outward, seemingly expecting a male visitor, while a lute rests on the floor and a viola da gamba lies partially hidden, symbols of temperance and a musical courtship. A map of Europe hangs on the wall, underscoring the connection to the outside world, and books and a chair with a lion‑head motif complete the interior scene.
The painting belongs to Vermeer’s series of women musicians from the Dutch Golden Age and was acquired by railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, who bequeathed it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1900.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil on canvas, measuring 51.4 × 45.7 cm. The canvas appears to be cut from the same bolt used for Vermeer’s Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid. Vermeer applies thin layers of oil paint to achieve a smooth surface, and the painting shows muted tonalities and a restrained palette compared with earlier genre scenes. He models forms with soft shadows and delicate contours that heighten the sense of intimate interior space.
The composition is organized within rectangular motifs, framing the figure and a lute, while a viola da gamba is subtly visible in the foreground. Over time the paint surface has experienced abrasion and the colors have darkened, affecting the perceived spatial depth.
History & Provenance
The painting is dated to circa 1662–1663, based on stylistic analysis and the artist’s undocumented working practice. It was likely executed shortly after Vermeer’s Young Woman with a Water Pitcher and may share its canvas bolt with Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid. No record of a commission survives.
Provenance is uncertain before the early nineteenth century; the work possibly appeared at the Amsterdam auction of Philippus van der Schley and Daniel du Pré on 22 December 1817. Thereafter it entered the collection of railroad industrialist Collis P. (or S.) Huntington, who bequeathed his holdings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1900.
Woman with a Lute is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The museum acquired the painting in 1900 through a bequest from the estate of railroad industrialist Collis P. Huntington. Prior to entering the museum's holdings, the work was possibly sold at an auction in Amsterdam on December 22, 1817, involving the estates of Philippus van der Schley and Daniel du Pré.
The painting's exhibition history includes its feature in the show Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry. It was also included as catalog number 8 in an exhibition centered on The Milkmaid, for which a fully online catalog is available via the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Overview
Johannes Vermeer's painting, Woman with a Lute, created around 1662–1663, depicts a young woman in a quiet interior. This oil on canvas work, measuring 20¼ by 18 inches, is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The composition focuses on the figure as she engages with her instrument, positioned near a window, with soft light illuminating the scene from the left.
Context
Created around 1662–1663, this painting likely followed Young Woman with a Water Pitcher in Vermeer's output. The canvas itself provides a material link to another work, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, as both were cut from the same bolt. Over time, the painting's original spatial depth and atmospheric qualities have been somewhat altered due to the natural darkening of foreground elements and some abrasion of the paint surface.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Johannes Vermeer ( vər-MEER, vər-MAIR, Dutch:; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life.
