''The Astronomer'' (Dutch: ) is a painting finished in about 1668 by the

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...

. It is in

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest o ...

with dimensions .

Description

Johannes Vermeer - The Geographer - Google Art Project

Portrayals of scientists were a favourite topic in 17th-century Dutch painting and Vermeer's oeuvre includes both this astronomer and the slightly later ''

The Geographer ''The Geographer'' (Dutch: ) is a painting created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer in 1668–1669, and is now in the collection of the Städel museum in Frankfurt, Germany. It is closely related to Vermeer's '' The Astronomer'', for instance usi ...

''. Both are believed to portray the same man, possibly

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek ( ; ; 24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as " the ...

. A 2017 study indicated that the canvas for the two works came from the same bolt of material, confirming their close relationship. The astronomer's profession is shown by the celestial globe (version by

Jodocus Hondius Jodocus Hondius (Latinized version of his Dutch name: ''Joost de Hondt'') (17 October 1563 – 12 February 1612) was a Flemish and Dutch engraver and cartographer. He is sometimes called Jodocus Hondius the Elder to distinguish him from hi ...

) and the book on the table, the 1621 edition of Adriaan Metius's . Symbolically, the volume is open to Book III, a section advising the astronomer to seek "inspiration from God" and the painting on the wall shows the

Finding of Moses The Finding of Moses, sometimes called Moses in the Bullrushes, Moses Saved from the Waters, or other variants, is the story in chapter 2 of the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible of the finding in the River Nile of Moses as a baby by the daughte ...

—Moses may represent knowledge and science ("learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians").

Provenance

Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelven pryzen p 242

The provenance of ''The Astronomer'' can be traced back to 27 April 1713, when it was sold at the Rotterdam sale of an unknown collector (possibly or his father, of Rotterdam) together with ''

''. The presumed buyer was

Hendrik Sorgh Hendrik may refer to: * Hendrik (given name) * Hans Hendrik, Greenlandic Arctic traveller and interpreter * Hendrik Island, an island in Greenland * Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, a municipality in the Netherlands * A character from ''Dragon Quest XI'' See ...

, whose estate sale held in Amsterdam on 28 March 1720 included both ''The Astronomer'' and ''The Geographer'', which were described as '' ('An

Astrologist Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...

by Vermeer of Delft, top-notch') and '' ('Similar by ditto, no less'). Between 1881 and 1888 it was sold by the Paris art dealer Léon Gauchez to the banker and art collector

Alphonse James de Rothschild Mayer Alphonse James Rothschild (1 February 1827 – 26 May 1905), was a French financier, vineyard owner, art collector, philanthropist, racehorse owner/breeder and a member of the Rothschild banking family of France. Biography Known as Al ...

, after whose death it was inherited by his son,

Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild (24 February 1868 – 30 June 1949), also known as Baron Édouard de Rothschild was an aristocrat, French financier and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France. Early life Born in Pari ...

. In 1940 it was seized from his hotel in Paris by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

'' Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg'' after the German invasion of France. A small

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. I ...

was stamped on the back in black ink. The painting was returned to the Rothschilds after the war, and was acquired by the French state as giving in payment of inheritance taxes in 1983 and then exhibited at the Louvre since 1983.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astronomer, The Genre paintings by Johannes Vermeer 1668 paintings Paintings in the Louvre by Dutch, Flemish and German artists Books in art Maps in art Astronomy in the Dutch Republic Cartography in the Dutch Republic Early modern Netherlandish cartography Science and technology in the Dutch Republic

Description

Provenance

See also

References

Further reading

External links