A painting by Vermeer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has long been known to conceal an image of a man, which was painted by the artist. Now, new investigations have revealed that the hidden figure appears to be an artist, wielding a paintbrush in front of an easel. The man probably represents a self-portrait of Vermeer.
The discovery was made when A good sleeper has recently been the subject of detailed non-invasive research by curator Dorothy Mahon and her colleagues at the Met. The latest technology, including X-ray fluorescence, has made it possible to see much more than before.
Investigation revealed not just the figure of a man, but an artist at work, his hand outstretched in a pose suggesting he was holding a paintbrush. When Vermeer painted on it, he appears to have turned the easel into a window frame. These fascinating findings were reported at a Vermeer symposium at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and they may have wider ramifications.
The arts journal can now go further in the story. We have identified a painting by Nicolaes Maes, a contemporary of Vermeer, which includes the small figure of an artist at his easel, reflected in a mirror hanging on the wall in the background of an interior scene. Maes painting, The ugly drummerwhich is in the Thyssen Collection, Madrid, shows the mirror just above the figure of the mother. The ugly drummer dates from around 1655 and A good sleeper from 1656-57, which will make the Vermeer a very slightly later painting.
Nicholas Maes, The ugly drummer (circa 1655)
Maes lived in Dordrecht, 30 km from Vermeer’s Delft. Although there is no evidence that the two artists met, they may have, and it is highly likely that Vermeer was familiar with at least some of Maes’ paintings. If Vermeer followed Maes’ example, then the repainted man, often seen as a suitor or the householder, is indeed an artist at work, reflected in a mirror. Vermeer depicted mirrors in several of his paintings, and the inventory compiled after his death indicates that he owned one.
A mirror detail by Nicolaes Maes The ugly drummer (circa 1655)
Identify the man hidden in A good sleeper as an artist can tell us much more about the meaning of the image. The sleeping woman may not be a maid but a model exhausted by the pose. If so, the paint may need to
be renamed.
Mahon continues research on the Vermeer with his collaborators, Silvia Centeno and Federico Carò.
