The Allegory of Faith
Encyclopedia
The Allegory of Faith, also known as Allegory of the Catholic Faith is a painting created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer
in about 1670-1672 and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York since 1931.
This and Vermeer's only other, earlier, allegory, Art of Painting are his only works that fall under history painting
in the contemporary hierarchy of genres
, though they still have his typical composition of one or two figures in a domestic interior. Both share several features: the perspective is almost the same, and at the left of each painting is a multicolor tapestry
pulled to the left to disclose the scene. The Art of Painting also used symbolism from Cesare Ripa
(of Clio
, muse of history). Vermeer's Love Letter uses the same or a similar gilt panel. The Allegory and The Art of Painting two paintings differ markedly in style and purpose from Vermeer's other works. Both works show complex meaning, but this one "reveals that the artist's usual focus on naturalistic effects was a stylistic option, to be set aside when the subject called for another approach". The Art of Painting still reads as a naturalistic depiction of an artist and his model, and the pose, if not the costume, of the model is a simple one, whereas the pose of the figure in the The Allegory of Faith is Baroque
ly dramatic.
dress with gold trimmings. She sits on a platform a step higher than the black and white marble floor, her right foot on a terrestrial globe and her right hand on her heart as she looks up, adoringly, at a glass sphere hung from the ceiling by a blue ribbon. Her left arm rests on the edge of a table which holds a golden chalice, a large book, and a dark-wood crucifix
. Behind the crucifix is a gilt-leather panel screen. Beneath the book is a long piece of cloth, possibly a priest's stole. At the foot of the table is a crown of thorns
. All of these items are on the platform, which is covered by a green and yellow rug, the edge of which is on the floor. At the bottom of the picture, nearer the viewer, is an apple, and nearer still a snake which has been squashed by a cornerstone. On the dim, far wall behind the woman, a large painting of Christ's crucifixion
is hung on the wall behind the woman. To the viewer's left is a multicolored tapestry, pulled back at the bottom and seemingly the closest thing in the painting to the viewer. A chair with a blue cloth on it is immediately beneath and behind the tapestry and to the left of the snake and cornerstone.
in the painting is largely taken from Cesare Ripa
's Iconologia, an emblem book
(a collection of allegorical illustrations with accompanying morals or poems on a moral theme) which had been translated into Dutch in 1644 by D. P. Pers. The artist used various symbols that Ripa described and illustrated in his book, along with symbols taken from other books and traditions. Two of the four allegorical figures of Faith ("Fede. Geloof" and "Fede Catholica. Catholijck of algemeen Geloof") given in Ripa's book provide many of the symbols in the painting, including the color of the woman's clothing, her hand gesture, and the presence of the crushed snake and the apple.
In his book, Ripa states that Faith is the most important of the virtues. One image in the book shows her as a woman, dressed in white (signifying light and purity) and blue (which relates to heaven, as Ripa states in another text). Faith's hand on her breast symbolizes that the virtue rests in her heart. Christ is represented in the cornerstone crushing the snake (a symbol of the Devil), and the apple (the fruit Eve gave to Adam) represents original sin
,. which in Christian doctrine required the sacrifice of the Saviour
. Ripa describes Faith as "having the world under her feet", and Vermeer used the symbol quite literally, showing a globe of the earth under the woman's right foot. (The globe, with its distinctive cartouche
(decorative label) has been identified as one made by Hendrick Hondius
.).
in Washington, this is "an assemblage that gives the image a Eucharistic character not found in the text." By putting the golden chalice against the dark background of the painting's frame and the dark crucifix against the gilt-leather backdrop, the elements are given a greater prominence in the painting. Wheelock, citing his fellow academic at the University of Maryland
, Quint Gregory, believes the slight overlapping of the chalice and the gold backdrop of the crucifix "may symbolically suggest the essential role of the Eucharist in bridging the physical and spiritual realms", a very Catholic idea. Selena Cant calls the fact that the book, chalice and crucifix together represent the Catholic Mass.
The pose of the woman (hand on heart and eyes raised) is similar to Ripa's image of Theology. The pose was uncommon in Dutch art, but Vermeer was considered an expert in Italian painting, in which the image was often used (especially those of Guido Reni
[1575-1642], whose works were then owned in Holland). Wheelock believes the large book, which has a metal clasp, is a Bible, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art states on its website that the volume may be the Catholic Missale Romanum
.
The painting's iconography is not only Catholic, but some believe it is strongly influenced by Jesuit ideas. Departing from Ripa's allusion to the story of Abraham and Isaac
(an Old Testament story said to prefigure the faithful sacrifice of Christ on the Cross), Vermeer instead uses an image of the Crucifixion itself — an image dear to the Jesuits. Vermeer used Crucifixion, a painting from about 1620 by Jacob Jordaens
(1593–1678). The painter may have owned a copy of the painting. (This may be "the large painting representing Christ on the Cross" described in an inventory of his household at his death. Two other items in the inventory may be in this painting: the "gold-tooled leather on the wall" of his home's kitchen, and an "ebony wood crucifix").
Another Jesuit influence in the painting is said to be the glass orb on which the woman sets her eyes. According to Eddy De Johgh, Vermeer appears to have taken it from a 1636 emblem book by the Jesuit Willem Hesius, Emblemata sacra de fide, spe, charitate. In the emblem, "Capit Quod Non Capit", a winged boy, a symbol of the soul, is shown holding a sphere reflecting a nearby cross and the sun. In a poem accompanyig the emblem, Hesius states that the sphere's ability to reflect the world is similar to the mind's ability to believe in God. Selena Cant has written that the sphere is "symbol of the human mind and its capacity both to reflect and to contain infinity".
The woman's pearl necklace probably relates to pearls as ancient symbols of virginity, according to Cant. There is no source for the light on her dress, perhaps indicating that she is lit by an inner illumination — a strong indication to the viewer that she is not to be considered an individual, but a symbol, according to Liedtke.
According to Wheelock, "[T]he iconographic demands of this subject strained the credibility of his realistic approach. While essential for the painting's symbolic content, the ecstatic pose of the woman and the crushed snake seem incongruous within this Dutch setting." Walter Liedtke objected to Wheelock's point by asserting that the artist took a very realistic approach primarily in depicting the terrestrial globe and reflections in the glass sphere. Instead, according to Liedtke, the painting is best compared to contemporary Dutch paintings illustrating abstract concepts, including Adriaen Hanneman
's Allegory of the Peace (1664; still in situ at the Eerste Kamer in the Binnenhof), a histrionic picture showing how reticent Vermeer was in this work; and Karel Dujardin
's Allegory of the Immortal Fame of Art Vanquishing Time and Envy (1675; Historisches Museum, Bamberg); Gabriel Metsu
's The Triumph of Justice (late 1650s; Mauritshuis, The Hague); Adriaen van de Velde's The Annunciation (1667; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)as well as works by Van Honthorst and early works of De Lairesse.
ism in the painting indicates to Wheelock that the painter was not given specific instructions on the allegory but chose the various items himself. The original owner is unknown but may have been a Catholic in Delft
, possibly the Jesuits in the city. The Metropolitan Museum of Art website states, "This late work was surely commissioned, probably by a patron who was learned as well as devout."
The painting was one of thosee apparently not among the 21 works by the artist collection of Vermeer's main patron, Pieter Claesz van Ruijven (1624–1674), and auctioned off in the Dissius sale of 1696. Its first known owner was Herman Stoffelsz van Swoll (1632–1698), a postmaster and a Protestant. That Swoll was familiar with collecting art is indicated by the fact that the best man at his wedding in 1656 was a famous collector, Gerrit Reynst
. The year after Swoll's death, in 1699, the painting was auctioned off in Amsterdam
along with other works in Swoll's collection (which included Italian works). The sale catalogue described the work as "A sitting Woman with deep meanings, depicting the New Testament", and also stated, "powerfully and glowingly painted". After spending time in an unknown collection, the painting (described as "depicting the New Testament") was auctioned off in 1718, again in Amsterdam. It was auctioned again in 1735 (described as "artfully and minutely painted"), and in the Ietswaart sale of 1749 (described as "as good as Eglon van der Neer
"). The mixed fortunes of Vermeer's reputation in the 18th century can be seen in the prices paid for the painting at these various auctions: f 400 in 1699; f500 in 1718; f53 in 1735; f70 in 1749).
By the early 19th century the painting apparently had found its way to Austria, where it was depicted in the background of Portrait of a Cartographer and His Wife by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
in 1824 (now in Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster
). Atlases depicted in this painting contain maps primarily of Vorarlberg
and Tirol
at the western end of Austria, so perhaps the painting was in that area, according to Wheelock. At the end of the century, the painting (at that time mistakenly attributed to Eglon van der Neer) was part of the collection of Dmitrii Tchoukine in Moscow, making it the only Vermeer ever owned by a Russian. In 1899 it was put up for sale by a dealer, Wächtler, in Berlin. That year Abraham Bredius
bought it for about DM 700. A Dutch newspaper at the time praised Bredius for the purchase: "With this acquisition of the new Delft Vermeer, the New Testament, as an Eglon van der Neer, Dr. Bredius has once again found a bargain with his perspicacious eye." Bredius then loaned the work to the Mauritshuis
, where it remained for the next 24 years, until 1923 when Bredius gave it to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
in Rotterdam
for a long-term loan.
Bredius disliked the work, calling it (in 1907) "a large but unpleasant Vermeer". In 1928, he sold it through the dealer Kleinberger to Michael Friedsam in New York, who bequeathed it in 1931 as part of the Friedsam Collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has remained.
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...
in about 1670-1672 and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York since 1931.
This and Vermeer's only other, earlier, allegory, Art of Painting are his only works that fall under history painting
History painting
History painting is a genre in painting defined by subject matter rather than an artistic style, depicting a moment in a narrative story, rather than a static subject such as a portrait...
in the contemporary hierarchy of genres
Hierarchy of genres
A hierarchy of genres is any formalization which ranks different genres in an art form in terms of their prestige and cultural value....
, though they still have his typical composition of one or two figures in a domestic interior. Both share several features: the perspective is almost the same, and at the left of each painting is a multicolor tapestry
Tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...
pulled to the left to disclose the scene. The Art of Painting also used symbolism from Cesare Ripa
Cesare Ripa
Cesare Ripa was an Italian aesthetician who worked for Cardinal Anton Maria Salviati as a cook and butler.Little is known about his life. He was born in Perugia and died in Rome. After the death of the cardinal, Ripa worked for his relatives...
(of Clio
Clio
thumb|Clio—detail from [[The Art of Painting|The Allegory of Painting]] by [[Johannes Vermeer]]In Greek mythology, Clio or Kleio, is the muse of history. Like all the muses, she is a daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne...
, muse of history). Vermeer's Love Letter uses the same or a similar gilt panel. The Allegory and The Art of Painting two paintings differ markedly in style and purpose from Vermeer's other works. Both works show complex meaning, but this one "reveals that the artist's usual focus on naturalistic effects was a stylistic option, to be set aside when the subject called for another approach". The Art of Painting still reads as a naturalistic depiction of an artist and his model, and the pose, if not the costume, of the model is a simple one, whereas the pose of the figure in the The Allegory of Faith is Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
ly dramatic.
Description
The painting depicts a woman in a fine white and blue satinSatin
Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...
dress with gold trimmings. She sits on a platform a step higher than the black and white marble floor, her right foot on a terrestrial globe and her right hand on her heart as she looks up, adoringly, at a glass sphere hung from the ceiling by a blue ribbon. Her left arm rests on the edge of a table which holds a golden chalice, a large book, and a dark-wood crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
. Behind the crucifix is a gilt-leather panel screen. Beneath the book is a long piece of cloth, possibly a priest's stole. At the foot of the table is a crown of thorns
Crown of Thorns
In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion, was woven of thorn branches and placed on Jesus Christ before his crucifixion...
. All of these items are on the platform, which is covered by a green and yellow rug, the edge of which is on the floor. At the bottom of the picture, nearer the viewer, is an apple, and nearer still a snake which has been squashed by a cornerstone. On the dim, far wall behind the woman, a large painting of Christ's crucifixion
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
is hung on the wall behind the woman. To the viewer's left is a multicolored tapestry, pulled back at the bottom and seemingly the closest thing in the painting to the viewer. A chair with a blue cloth on it is immediately beneath and behind the tapestry and to the left of the snake and cornerstone.
Iconography
From Cesare Ripa's Iconologia
Vermeer's iconographyIconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
in the painting is largely taken from Cesare Ripa
Cesare Ripa
Cesare Ripa was an Italian aesthetician who worked for Cardinal Anton Maria Salviati as a cook and butler.Little is known about his life. He was born in Perugia and died in Rome. After the death of the cardinal, Ripa worked for his relatives...
's Iconologia, an emblem book
Emblem book
Emblem books are a category of mainly didactic illustrated book printed in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, typically containing a number of emblematic images with explanatory text....
(a collection of allegorical illustrations with accompanying morals or poems on a moral theme) which had been translated into Dutch in 1644 by D. P. Pers. The artist used various symbols that Ripa described and illustrated in his book, along with symbols taken from other books and traditions. Two of the four allegorical figures of Faith ("Fede. Geloof" and "Fede Catholica. Catholijck of algemeen Geloof") given in Ripa's book provide many of the symbols in the painting, including the color of the woman's clothing, her hand gesture, and the presence of the crushed snake and the apple.
In his book, Ripa states that Faith is the most important of the virtues. One image in the book shows her as a woman, dressed in white (signifying light and purity) and blue (which relates to heaven, as Ripa states in another text). Faith's hand on her breast symbolizes that the virtue rests in her heart. Christ is represented in the cornerstone crushing the snake (a symbol of the Devil), and the apple (the fruit Eve gave to Adam) represents original sin
Original sin
Original sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...
,. which in Christian doctrine required the sacrifice of the Saviour
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. Ripa describes Faith as "having the world under her feet", and Vermeer used the symbol quite literally, showing a globe of the earth under the woman's right foot. (The globe, with its distinctive cartouche
Cartouche (design)
A cartouche is an oval or oblong design with a slightly convex surface, typically edged with ornamental scrollwork. It is used to hold a painted or low relief design....
(decorative label) has been identified as one made by Hendrick Hondius
Henricus Hondius II
Henricus Hondius II or Hendrik Hondius the Younger was a Dutch engraver, cartographer and publisher.He was born in Amsterdam, the son of the famous cartographer Jodocus Hondius who had started a map-making business in the city. Hendrik initially helped his family in the business, but in 1621...
.).
From other sources
The crucifix, painting of the Crucifixion and the glass orb are not mentioned by Ripa, and Vermeer changed some of the iconography that Ripa gave: Instead of Ripa's suggestion that Faith hold the chalice and rest her hand on a book, Vermeer put them on the table next to her. According to Arthur Wheelock, a University of Maryland academic and curator of a Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery of ArtNational 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, this is "an assemblage that gives the image a Eucharistic character not found in the text." By putting the golden chalice against the dark background of the painting's frame and the dark crucifix against the gilt-leather backdrop, the elements are given a greater prominence in the painting. Wheelock, citing his fellow academic at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland
When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...
, Quint Gregory, believes the slight overlapping of the chalice and the gold backdrop of the crucifix "may symbolically suggest the essential role of the Eucharist in bridging the physical and spiritual realms", a very Catholic idea. Selena Cant calls the fact that the book, chalice and crucifix together represent the Catholic Mass.
The pose of the woman (hand on heart and eyes raised) is similar to Ripa's image of Theology. The pose was uncommon in Dutch art, but Vermeer was considered an expert in Italian painting, in which the image was often used (especially those of Guido Reni
Guido Reni
Guido Reni was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. Soon after, he was joined in that...
[1575-1642], whose works were then owned in Holland). Wheelock believes the large book, which has a metal clasp, is a Bible, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art states on its website that the volume may be the Catholic Missale Romanum
Roman Missal
The Roman Missal is the liturgical book that contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.-Situation before the Council of Trent:...
.
The painting's iconography is not only Catholic, but some believe it is strongly influenced by Jesuit ideas. Departing from Ripa's allusion to the story of Abraham and Isaac
Binding of Isaac
The Binding of Isaac Akedah or Akeidat Yitzchak in Hebrew and Dhabih in Arabic, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah...
(an Old Testament story said to prefigure the faithful sacrifice of Christ on the Cross), Vermeer instead uses an image of the Crucifixion itself — an image dear to the Jesuits. Vermeer used Crucifixion, a painting from about 1620 by Jacob Jordaens
Jacob Jordaens
Jacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their...
(1593–1678). The painter may have owned a copy of the painting. (This may be "the large painting representing Christ on the Cross" described in an inventory of his household at his death. Two other items in the inventory may be in this painting: the "gold-tooled leather on the wall" of his home's kitchen, and an "ebony wood crucifix").
Another Jesuit influence in the painting is said to be the glass orb on which the woman sets her eyes. According to Eddy De Johgh, Vermeer appears to have taken it from a 1636 emblem book by the Jesuit Willem Hesius, Emblemata sacra de fide, spe, charitate. In the emblem, "Capit Quod Non Capit", a winged boy, a symbol of the soul, is shown holding a sphere reflecting a nearby cross and the sun. In a poem accompanyig the emblem, Hesius states that the sphere's ability to reflect the world is similar to the mind's ability to believe in God. Selena Cant has written that the sphere is "symbol of the human mind and its capacity both to reflect and to contain infinity".
The woman's pearl necklace probably relates to pearls as ancient symbols of virginity, according to Cant. There is no source for the light on her dress, perhaps indicating that she is lit by an inner illumination — a strong indication to the viewer that she is not to be considered an individual, but a symbol, according to Liedtke.
Reception
Many art historians have considered the painting one of Vermeer's less successful works. Cant, for instance, calls it "harder, more brittle, less convincing. Faith herself appears uncomfortable: finely dressed, she appears too worldly to be a spiritual symbol, too solid to appear transported, the intimacy too forced and her expression too artificial."According to Wheelock, "[T]he iconographic demands of this subject strained the credibility of his realistic approach. While essential for the painting's symbolic content, the ecstatic pose of the woman and the crushed snake seem incongruous within this Dutch setting." Walter Liedtke objected to Wheelock's point by asserting that the artist took a very realistic approach primarily in depicting the terrestrial globe and reflections in the glass sphere. Instead, according to Liedtke, the painting is best compared to contemporary Dutch paintings illustrating abstract concepts, including Adriaen Hanneman
Adriaen Hanneman
Adriaen Hanneman was a Dutch Golden Age painter best-known today for his portraits of the exiled British royal court. His style was strongly influenced by his contemporary, Anthony Van Dyck.-Biography:...
's Allegory of the Peace (1664; still in situ at the Eerste Kamer in the Binnenhof), a histrionic picture showing how reticent Vermeer was in this work; and Karel Dujardin
Karel Dujardin
Karel Dujardin was a Dutch painter.-Biography:Karel Dujardin was a Dutch painter and etcher, born in Amsterdam in 1622. Although active as a portrait and history painter, he is best known for his Italianate landscapes. Typical of his landscape paintings is Farm Animals in the Shade of a Tree...
's Allegory of the Immortal Fame of Art Vanquishing Time and Envy (1675; Historisches Museum, Bamberg); Gabriel Metsu
Gabriel Metsu
Gabriël Metsu was a Dutch painter of history paintings, genre works and portraits.- Life :Metsu was the son of the Flemish painter Jacques Metsu , who lived most of his days at Leiden, and Jacomijntje Garniers, his third wife, whom he married in 1625. Jacomijntje was the widow of a painter with...
's The Triumph of Justice (late 1650s; Mauritshuis, The Hague); Adriaen van de Velde's The Annunciation (1667; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)as well as works by Van Honthorst and early works of De Lairesse.
Provenance
Vermeer's imaginative use of symbolSymbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ism in the painting indicates to Wheelock that the painter was not given specific instructions on the allegory but chose the various items himself. The original owner is unknown but may have been a Catholic in Delft
Delft
Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....
, possibly the Jesuits in the city. The Metropolitan Museum of Art website states, "This late work was surely commissioned, probably by a patron who was learned as well as devout."
The painting was one of thosee apparently not among the 21 works by the artist collection of Vermeer's main patron, Pieter Claesz van Ruijven (1624–1674), and auctioned off in the Dissius sale of 1696. Its first known owner was Herman Stoffelsz van Swoll (1632–1698), a postmaster and a Protestant. That Swoll was familiar with collecting art is indicated by the fact that the best man at his wedding in 1656 was a famous collector, Gerrit Reynst
Gerrit Reynst
Gerrit Reynst was, like his younger brother Jan , a Dutch merchant and art collector from Amsterdam. He was an alderman and member of the town council, entering it in 1646.-The Collection:Gerrit's collection included Italian old-master paintings and antiquities, such as by Johann Liss...
. The year after Swoll's death, in 1699, the painting was auctioned off in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
along with other works in Swoll's collection (which included Italian works). The sale catalogue described the work as "A sitting Woman with deep meanings, depicting the New Testament", and also stated, "powerfully and glowingly painted". After spending time in an unknown collection, the painting (described as "depicting the New Testament") was auctioned off in 1718, again in Amsterdam. It was auctioned again in 1735 (described as "artfully and minutely painted"), and in the Ietswaart sale of 1749 (described as "as good as Eglon van der Neer
Eglon van der Neer
Eglon van der Neer , was a Dutch painter of historical scenes, portraits and elegant, fashionable people, and later of landscapes.-Life:...
"). The mixed fortunes of Vermeer's reputation in the 18th century can be seen in the prices paid for the painting at these various auctions: f 400 in 1699; f500 in 1718; f53 in 1735; f70 in 1749).
By the early 19th century the painting apparently had found its way to Austria, where it was depicted in the background of Portrait of a Cartographer and His Wife by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller was an Austrian painter and writer.He briefly attended the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but later had to finance his life by painting portraits. In 1811 he worked as a teacher of arts for the children of Count Gyulay in Croatia...
in 1824 (now in Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
). Atlases depicted in this painting contain maps primarily of Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...
and Tirol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
at the western end of Austria, so perhaps the painting was in that area, according to Wheelock. At the end of the century, the painting (at that time mistakenly attributed to Eglon van der Neer) was part of the collection of Dmitrii Tchoukine in Moscow, making it the only Vermeer ever owned by a Russian. In 1899 it was put up for sale by a dealer, Wächtler, in Berlin. That year Abraham Bredius
Abraham Bredius
Abraham Bredius , was a Dutch art collector, art historian and museum curator.-Life:He travelled widely visiting various art collections in his youth, and worked at the Dutch Museum for History and Art before becoming director from 1889 to 1909 of the Mauritshuis...
bought it for about DM 700. A Dutch newspaper at the time praised Bredius for the purchase: "With this acquisition of the new Delft Vermeer, the New Testament, as an Eglon van der Neer, Dr. Bredius has once again found a bargain with his perspicacious eye." Bredius then loaned the work to the Mauritshuis
Mauritshuis
The 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...
, where it remained for the next 24 years, until 1923 when Bredius gave it to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is the main art museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The museum began in 1847 with the collection of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans . Much of the museum's original collection was destroyed in a disastrous 1864 fire...
in Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
for a long-term loan.
Bredius disliked the work, calling it (in 1907) "a large but unpleasant Vermeer". In 1928, he sold it through the dealer Kleinberger to Michael Friedsam in New York, who bequeathed it in 1931 as part of the Friedsam Collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has remained.