Girl with a Red Hat
Encyclopedia
Girl with a Red Hat is a small painting by the Dutch
painter Johannes Vermeer
, executed 1665-1666, in the National Gallery of Art
in Washington, D.C.
. It is one of a number of Vermeer's tronie
s -- depictions of models fancifully dressed that were not (as far as is known) intended to be portraits of specific, identifiable subjects.
, who deeded it on March 30, 1932 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust in Pittsburgh (a holding-place for Mellon's pictures while the NGA was being established), which gave it to the National Gallery of Art in 1937.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
painter Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
, executed 1665-1666, in the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. It is one of a number of Vermeer's tronie
Tronie
A tronie is a common type, or group of types, of works of Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish Baroque painting that shows an exaggerated facial expression or a stock character in costume...
s -- depictions of models fancifully dressed that were not (as far as is known) intended to be portraits of specific, identifiable subjects.
Provenance
The painting may have been among those owned by Vermeer's patron, Pieter Claesz van Ruijven (1624-1674), and possibly, through inheritance it may have been passed on to his wife, Maria de Knuijt (died 1681); her daughter, Magdalena van Ruijven (1655-1682); and Magdalena's husband, Jacob Abrahamsz Dissius (1653-1695). It is thought to have been sold in Amsterdam on May 16, 1696 (probably no. 39 or 40). It was bought at a sale at the Hôtel de Bouillon, in Paris on December 10, 1822 (no. 28.) by Baron Louis Marie Atthalin (1784-1856), then owned by inheritance to his nephew and adopted son, Laurent Atthalin; by inheritance to Baron Gaston Laurent-Atthelin (died 1911), Les Moussets, Limey, Seine-et-Oise; by inheritance to his wife, Baroness Laurent-Atthelin of Paris. The painting was sold by M. Knoedler & Co., New York and London, in November 1925 to Andrew W. MellonAndrew W. Mellon
Andrew William Mellon was an American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector and Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932.-Early life:...
, who deeded it on March 30, 1932 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust in Pittsburgh (a holding-place for Mellon's pictures while the NGA was being established), which gave it to the National Gallery of Art in 1937.
Exhibitions
- 1925 — "Loan Exhibition of Dutch Masters of the Seventeenth Century", M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1925, no. 1.
- 1928 — "A Loan Exhibition of Twelve Masterpieces of Painting", M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1928, no. 12.
- 1995 — "Dutch Cabinet Galleries", National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1995-1996, no cat.
- 1995 — "Johannes Vermeer", National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Cabinet of Paintings MauritshuisMauritshuisThe Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis is an art museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. Previously the residence of count John Maurice of Nassau, it now has a large art collection, including paintings by Dutch painters such as Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Steen, Paulus Potter and Frans...
, The Hague, 1995-1996, no. 14, repro. - 1998 — "A Collector's Cabinet", National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, no. 60.
- 1999 — "Johannes Vermeer: The Art of Painting", National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, brochure, fig. 11.
- 2001 — "Vermeer and the Delft School", The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The National Gallery, London, 2001, no. 74, repro.