Johannes Vermeer, Girl With the Red Hat
1665–66Paintings sorted by   Historical period  |   Painter  |  Subject matter  |  Pigments used
Overview
Medium: Oil
Support: Wood Panel
Size:Â 22.8 x 18 cm
Art Period: Baroque
National Gallery of Art Washington
Accession Number:Â 1937.1.53
The provenance of the painting is given in reference (1)
Vermeer, ‘Girl with a Red Hat’ is one of the two Vermeer’s paintings not painted on canvas but on a wooden panel and is his smallest but one of his most beloved works.
The pigment analysis revealed a palette consisting of natural ultramarine, lead white, yellow ochre, umber, green earth, vermilion, and madder lake.
(1) National Gallery of Art Washington, Girl with the Red Hat, Provenance.Â
The attribution of this painting to Vermeer has been questioned but the opinion of the scholars in the present time tends towards its authenticity. It is painted on a wood panel which is unusual for Vermeer and is also painted over a portrait of a man as had been shown by Infrared Reflectography and X-Ray Radiography (1).
(1) National Gallery of Art Washington, Girl with the Red Hat
Pigments
Pigment Analysis
This pigment analysis is based on the work of Hermann Kühn of Doerner Institute in Munich (1) and the material quoted in the reference (2).
1 Red hat: The first layer consists of vermilion and black pigment. This layer was overglazed with a layer of madder lake.
2Â Shadows in the face:Â green earth.
3 Brown part of the wall: the ground consists of chalk. The paint layer contains umber and small amounts of yellow ochre.
4 The green area in the upper edge: azurite and yellow ochre with small amounts of natural ultramarine.
5 The green area in the left edge: azurite with small amounts of natural ultramarine and yellow ochre.
6 Blue area in the left edge: lower layer consisting of umber and an upper layer containing natural ultramarine and lead white.
References
(1) Kuhn, H., A Study of the Pigments and the Grounds Used by Jan Vermeer, Reports and Studies in the History of Art, National Gallery of Art (Washington, 1968).
(2) Costaras, N., A Study of the Materials and Techniques of Johannes Vermeer, in Gaskell, I. and Jonker, M. ed., Vermeer Studies, in Studies in the History of Art, 55, National Gallery of Art, Washington 1998, pp. 148 – 167.
Pigments Used in This Painting
Resources
See the collection of online and offline resources such as books, articles, videos, and websites on Johannes Vermeer in the section ‘Resources on Painters‘
PowerPoint Presentations
Painter in Context: Johannes Vermeer
A richly illustrated presentation on the painting technique and pigments employed by Johannes Vermeer specially crafted for Art Education. (Number of Slides = 24)
- Each presentation starts with the basic resources on the painter such as his biography, main catalogs of his paintings, and a bibliography.
- Next, you find slides describing the painting technique of the artist and the pigments he usually employed in his work.
- The majority of the slides show examples of paintings containing the specific pigments.
Slides showing the basic resources on the paintings of the Dutch Baroque painter Johannes Vermeer.Â
The painting technique of Johannes Vermeer is described and illustrated in the next slides.
The majority of the slides show important examples of paintings where Vermeer employed specific pigments. The slides are organized according to the color of the pigments.
Videos
Video: 'Girl With the Red Hat' by National Gallery of Art
Video: 'Vermeer's Girl with a Red Hat' by Julian Adams
Publications and Websites
Publications
(1) Costaras, N., A Study of the Materials and Techniques of Johannes Vermeer, in Gaskell, I. and Jonker, M. ed., Vermeer Studies, in Studies in the History of Art, 55, National Gallery of Art, Washington 1998, pp. 148 – 167.
(2) Marjorie E. Wieseman, Wayne Franits & H. Perry Chapman, Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence, Yale University Press 2011.
(3) Salomon, N. From Sexuality to Civility: Vermeer’s Women, in Gaskell, I. and Jonker, M. ed., Vermeer Studies, in Studies in the History of Art, 55, National Gallery of Art, Washington 1998, pp. 309-322.
Websites
Janson, J. Girl with a Red Hat by Johannes Vermeer at Essentialvermeer.com
National Gallery of Art Washington, Girl with the Red Hat
