Johannes Vermeer - A Woman with a Lute [c.1662-63]

In this work of the early 1660s, a young woman in an ermine-trimmed jacket plays a lute and looks intently out the window. The viola da gamba on the floor and songbooks on the table suggest that she may be waiting for a male visitor. The canvas has suffered from abrasion, especially in the foreground, where the paint has also darkened with age.

 

[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Oil on canvas, 51.4 x 45.7 cm]

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