A tronie rather than a portrait — small, luminous, and among the most closely studied surfaces in European painting.
Artist
Johannes Vermeer
Date
c. 1665
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
44.5 × 39 cm
Location
Mauritshuis, The Hague
History
What the record shows
The work is a tronie: a study of a type or expression rather than a commissioned likeness. The sitter has never been identified.
It sold for two guilders in 1881 and was bequeathed to the Mauritshuis in 1902 by Arnoldus Andries des Tombe.
Extensive non-invasive imaging in 2018 revealed eyelashes and a green curtain behind the figure, both lost to the degradation of the original pigments.
Provenance
Chain of ownership
01Possibly the collection of Vermeer's patron Pieter van Ruijven
02Sale, The Hague, 1881, acquired by Arnoldus Andries des Tombe
