Johannes Vermeer - The Concert, 1663-1666

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This oil painting on canvas depicts two women and a man in a music room. The woman on our left is seen in profile, seated at a harpsichord whose top is open to reveal a painted verdant country landscape. She wears a long white satin skirt and a vibrant yellow bodice with puffy sleeves and black trim. White ruffles are visible at her neckline. Her hair is tied into a bun by a ribbon and she wears a pearl necklace and pearl drop earrings. She gazes at her hands that rest on the keyboard. She has medium colored skin, although her face appears darker due to being in a shadow. In the middle is a man seated with his back toward us. He has long dark hair, a brown jacket, a sash across his right shoulder and a sword dangling to his left. He sits in a chair that has a red back and a vine and floral design on the edge of the seat and back supports. The standing woman to our right holds a sheet of paper in her left hand and her right hand is lifted slightly. Her mouth is open and she sings. Her body is turned slightly to our left and she gazes at the paper in her hand. She has medium skin and her blonde hair is pulled back and falls in curls. She wears a long blue skirt with white fur trim along the hem, a gray jacket with white fur trim at the sleeves, neckline, front and bottom edges and a string of pearls and pearl earrings. A blue and dark red carpet is draped over a large dark wood table to our left. A string instrument, that appears to be a guitar, rests on that table. A straw basket sits on the floor to the right of the table and holds a viola da gamba. Although not visible in the painting, there is a source of light to our left, which is made apparent by the light that streams across the table and the black and marble floor. Light is also reflected on the seated woman’s skirt, her pearl necklace and earrings, the gold threads of the man’s sash, the standing woman’s forehead and jacket’s trim on her chest. The walls of the room are white washed and appear gray. There are two large paintings on the wall; one is a dark forest landscape and the other has three half-length figures.

Johannes Vermeer (Delft, 1632 - 1675, Delft)

The Concert, 1663-1666

Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 64.7 cm (28 9/16 x 25 1/2 in.)

Dutch Room

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Commentary

In a pristine domestic parlor, two women and a man concentrate on making music. The standing woman holds a sheet of music and raises her hand to beat time for her companions. Turned enigmatically away from our gaze, the seated gentleman wears an elaborate decorated sash that indicates his membership in a civic militia. Some scholars have been tempted to interpret Dutch musical scenes like this as moral warnings against seduction and illicit sex. Indeed, hanging on the wall at the right is a painting of a procuress by Dirck van Baburen. Although the subject of this painting-within-a-painting seems to suggest that something improper is taking place, the Procuress was in fact owned by Vermeer’s family. Moreover, the figures in the room are intently preoccupied with their music: they do not look at each other, and seem unaware they are being observed. Their intensity does not invite interruption. Lying on the large table at left is a lute, while a viola da gamba lies on the floor. Are these instruments soon to be taken up by the trio, or are others to join the group? Vermeer crafts rather deliberately a sense of mystery: this study in social interaction is a comedy of manners open to our interpretation.

The mystery is intensified by Vermeer’s famed attention to the reflections of light. It sparkles off the women’s pearls (Mrs. Gardner’s favorite), the gold threads of the man’s sash, the white silk skirt, and even the Persian carpet heaped on the table.

Isabella Stewart Gardner may have been drawn to the painting by its elegant depiction of the domestic music-making that she herself was so fond of. The painting was her first major acquisition, and she bought it without the help of experts. It was bought at the Paris auction of the estate of Théophile Thoré (1807–1869), a prominent critic who wrote under the pseudonym William Bürger. He had been instrumental in reviving the reputation of Vermeer, which made this painting especially important.

Source: Alan Chong, "The Concert," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 149.