''Lady Standing at a Virginal'' is a

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

created by the Dutch artist

Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , ; 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. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...

in about 1670–1672, now in the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current dire ...

Description

The oil painting depicts a richly dressed woman playing a

virginal The virginals is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginals is a smaller and simpler, rectangular or polygonal, form of harpsichord. ...

in a home with a tiled floor, paintings on the wall and some of the locally manufactured

Delftware Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue () or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major cen ...

blue and white tiles of a type that appear in other Vermeer works. The identities of the paintings on the wall are not certain, according to the National Gallery, but the landscape on the left may be by either

Jan Wijnants Jan Jansz Wijnants (alternatively Wynants) (1632 – buried 23 January 1684) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography He was born in Haarlem, the son of a Catholic art dealer also named Jan Wijnants.Allart van Everdingen Allaert van Everdingen (; bapt. 18 June 16218 November 1675 (buried)), was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker in etching and mezzotint. Biography Van Everdingen was born at Alkmaar, the son of a government clerk. He and his older broth ...

. The second painting, showing

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid ( , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. He is also known as Amor (Latin: ...

holding a card, is attributed to

Caesar van Everdingen Cesar Pietersz, or Cesar Boetius van Everdingen (1616/17 – buried 13 October 1678), older brother of Allart van Everdingen and Jan van Everdingen, was a Dutch Golden Age portrait and history painter. Biography He was born in Alkmaar and ed ...

, Allart's brother. This motif originated in a contemporary

emblem An emblem is an abstract art, abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' ...

and may either represent the idea of faithfulness to a single lover or, perhaps, reflect the presence of the virginal, the traditional association of music and love. The painting has been dated on stylistic grounds and on the evidence of the costume. This work can be related to another Vermeer in the collection, '' Lady Seated at a Virginal'', on a canvas of almost exactly the same size, with which it may form a pair. A recent study has shown that the

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...

for the two paintings came from the same bolt. In addition, the ground applied to the canvas of each painting appears to be identical and also to be shared with the New York '' Young Woman Seated at the Virginals''. The painting is depicted in David Hockney's 1977 oil painting ''Looking at Pictures on a Screen''.

References

External links

Essential Vermeer website
Web page on the painting {{Authority control (arts) 1670s paintings Paintings in the National Gallery, London Musical instruments in art Genre paintings by Johannes Vermeer Portraits of women Paintings of Cupid

Description

See also

Further reading

References

External links