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| Young Woman with a Water Pitcher |
Standing in the open window, a woman prepares to start the day with her ablutions from a silver jug and basin, with a linen cover protecting her dress and hair.
The first work by Vermeer to include the American collection, this painting embodies the artist's interest in domestic themes, giving a glimpse of a woman's private life before she presents her public face to the world.
Vermeer practiced the reuse of arrangements and props from one painting to another; Similar maps appear in the background of this painting and Young Woman with a Lute, also in this gallery.
This canvas around 1662, one of Vermeer's most beautiful works, is Vermeer's first painting to include the American public collection.
The MMA Canvas is one of a small group of canvases dating from around 1662-65 where isolated women appear as concubines from their personal domains.
Among other images of this type may include Women in Blue Reading a Letter (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), Women with Pearl Necklace (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), Women with Balance, and possibly A Lady Writing (both National Art Gallery, Washington) .
Amsterdam paintings share a certain composition with the work of MMA.
Technical analysis reveals that a larger map than now seen initially extends to the left rear of the woman, so that her head is trapped in the lower left corner of the wall.
In addition, the back of the seat is set at an angle placed in the left foreground and partially overlapping the window.
Seats, use of open windows as spatial devices, and bright local coloration are consistent with the Vermeer style in works dating from around 1658 / 59-62.
[2010; adapted from Liedtke 2007]
Provenance
Robert Vernon, London (1801?–d. 1849; his estate sale
Christie's, London, April 21, 1877, no. 97
as "Lady at Table—Ewer and Dish," by Metsu, for £404.5.0 to Colnaghi)
Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt, Powerscourt, near Enniskerry
co. Wicklow, Ireland (1878–?1887); [Agnew, London]; [Bourgeois Frères, Paris]
[Charles Pillet, Paris, 1887; sold to Marquand for $800]; Henry G. Marquand, New York (1887–89)
Artist:
Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, Delft 1632–1675 Delft)
Date:
ca. 1662
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
18 x 16 in. (45.7 x 40.6 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1889
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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