39 Introduction In the second half of the 19th century, Johannes Vermeer became a sought-after artist rescued from apparent obscurity, and his works have been the subject of intense scholarly scrutiny ever since. Catalogues raisonnés have been compiled and the many undated works arranged in well-argued, yet no less arguable chronologies.1 Often these were based on impressions of stylistic development or apparent technical improvements over time. Some of the proposed chronologies by earlier scholars were based on the idea that a painter’s development as an artist necessarily follows a linear progression. Reality, however, is often much more nuanced, as artists may return to earlier techniques to reconsider their visual impact under new circumstances. For instance, upon seeing an as-yet-unfinished work in the artist’s studio, a connoisseur collector or amateur may voice a preference for a certain artistic trope or symbolic reference and the artist may accordingly take these into account. Recent examinations of Vermeer’s canvases have demonstrated that some paintings tentatively dated as seven to eight years apart appear to be painted on pieces of canvas from the same bolt.2 This and other discoveries, such as partial overpaint of Vermeer’s compositions in later centuries, seem to have sparked a wish for a fresh look at how the 17th century Delft artist created his tantalising and magnificent works of art. What may fool our present appreciation of a painting are changes that have taken place over time, long after the work left the studio. One such may be different ageing properties of the artist’s materials, which often depend on the quality of the pigments or binding media as well as on past environmental conditions in the private houses where the paintings once hung. Such issues may cause one painting to have a markedly different appearance from another from the same period, even when both were made by one and the same hand. For example, exacting scientific analysis of the Girl with a Pearl Earring (Den Haag, Mauritshuis) revealed not only that the girl would have once had eyelashes, but also that the now almost monochrome background was in fact originally a dark curtain with folds.3 Similarly, examination of Vermeer’s Mistress and Maid (New York, The Frick Collection) recently revealed that the faint-brown curved folds of a curtain behind the figures was originally translucent dark-green in colour and is an overpainting, by the artist’s hand, over the representation of a large-scale Flemish-style tapestry which itself featured multiple figures (figs. 1, 2).4 The visual effect would thus have presumably been more akin to that of Vermeer’s Girl with a Red Hat Lost in Transformation The Altered Paintings of Johannes Vermeer Jørgen Wadum Fig. 1 Johannes Vermeer Mistress and Maid, c. 1666–68, oil on canvas, 90.2 × 78.7 cm, New York, The Frick Collection, Henry Clay Frick Bequest, Inv. no. 1919.1.126 Fig. 2 Johannes Vermeer, Mistress and Maid, infrared image, © Curtesy the Department of Paintings Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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