Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/610

 5 86 JOHANNES VERMEER SECT. He wears a skull-cap, a black costume slashed with white at the back, and a broad sash round his hips ; he has red stockings and black shoes. The girl is dressed in blue ; under her left arm she holds a book bound in yellow calf, and she has a trumpet in her right hand. The green of her garland has turned to blue ; in the picture on the easel the leaves are represented as more blue than they really are. The girl's figure is partly hidden by a large table to the left, on which are a carpet, a plaster mask, a sketch-book, and other volumes. In front of the table is a chair j there is another chair to the right behind the easel. The left upper corner of the picture is filled with a richly worked Gobelins tapestry. The floor is paved with greyish -white tiles. A chandelier hangs from the timbered roof. On the wall is a map of the Seven Provinces. The textures are finely rendered in this work. The prevailing colour is blue ; but there are also passages of brownish red, a greenish blue, a dirty yellow, and a characteristic orange in the handle of the brush, and here and there in the map. At the top of the map is the inscription : " Nova XVII Provinciarum . . . descriptio . . . et accurata earundem . . . edit . . . per Nicolaum Piscatorem." Signed on an inset forming part of the larger map, on a level with the girl's shoulder, "J. Ver-Meer" ; canvas, 52 inches by 44 inches. Described by Waagen, iii. 27. After Vermeer's death the picture was in the possession of his widow, Catharina Bolnes, who gave it to her mother as security for a loan. Now in the collection of Count Czernin von Chudenitz, Vienna, No. 117. 9. The Goldsmith's Shop. In a gold- and silversmith's shop four tradesmen sit at a table. One has a touchstone in his hand, another is writing j there are also two workmen. Canvas, 12 inches by 13^ inches. Sale. Barend Kooy, Amsterdam, April 20, 1820, No. 56 (21 florins, Benjamin). 9. A Woman weighing Gold. See B. 26. According to the description in the sale catalogues this picture corresponds precisely to the picture of the Nieuhoffsale of 1777 (10). The woman, however, wears a red dress and a black cap. It is stated also in this case that an open door gives a view into a second room. Moreover, the dimensions differ from those of 10. Canvas, 24 inches by 21 inches. Sates. The Hague, I78o(?), No. 97 (180 florins). Amsterdam, June 13, 1809, No. 100 (126 florins). 10. A Woman weighing Gold. B. 26 and 27 ; H. 29 and 30. In an interior a woman, wearing a dark blue velvet jacket trimmed with fur, stands weighing gold at a table with a blue cover. On the table is a box of pearls and jewels, near a dark blue carpet. On the wall hangs a picture of the " Last Judgment." Signed in full ; panel, i6| inches by 14 inches. Safes. Amsterdam, May 16, 1696, No. I (155 florins, including a case). Amsterdam, April 20, 1701, No. 7 (113 florins).