Intellectuals

The Guitar Player
c. 1670-72
oil on canvas
20 1/4 x 18 1/4 in. (53 x 46.3 cm.)
Kenwood, English Heritage as
Trustees of the Iveagh Bequest


Painted a few years after A Lady Writing, this Vermeer shows a woman in that same yellow and fur jacket engaged in an intellectual activity much like writing. She is pictured also in a Dutch interior showcasing fabric, white walls, and a painting in the background. This painting, however, is not obscured, rather it is a clear landscape. Her body faces the opposite was as in many Vermeers, and she does not see the viewer, she instead looks to her right, engaged in playing her guitar. The color scheme is similar to A Lady Writing, as is the scale of the composition, and the fact that the woman is performing an intellectual task. 


"THE GUITAR PLAYER by Johannes Vermeer." Essential Vermeer. Web. 9 May 2011. <http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/guitar_player.html>.