Art; Literature, Modern -- History and criticism; Music -- History and criticism
The subsequent history of these pictures, while too copious for
transcription here, may be skeletonised. This may answer the question
posed at the beginning of this little story. Gustave Vanzype asks:
What has become of the young woman weighing gold, which reappeared at
a sale in the year 1701, which Buerger thought he had found in the
canvas, The Weigher of Gold. And the Intoxicated Servant? The latter
is in the Altman collection; the former at Philadelphia, in Mr.
Widener's gallery. But let us see how the wise doctors of paint
dispute among themselves. How many Vermeers are there in existence,
that is, known to the world, for there may be others, for all we know,
hidden in the cabinets of collectors or sporting other names? Buerger,
who called Vermeer the Sphinx among artists, has generously attributed
to him 76 pictures. This was in 1866, and since then a more savant
authority has reduced the number to 40. Havard admits 56. The Vermeer
of Haarlem was to blame for this swollen catalogue. Bredius and De
Groot have attenuated the list. The Morgan Vermeer in the Metropolitan
Museum, a Vermeer of first-class quality, is not in some of the
catalogues, nor is the Woman Weighing Pearls, now in the possession of
P. A. B. Widener, of Philadelphia, to be found accredited to Vermeer
in Smith's Catalogue Raisonne. But not much weight can be attached to
the opinions of the earlier critics of Vermeer. For them he was either
practically unknown or else an imitator of Terburg, De Hooch, or
Mieris, he whose work is never tight, hard, or slippery.
The following list of thirty-four admittedly genuine Vermeers may
clear up the mystery of the 1696 sale at Amsterdam. Remember that the
authenticity of these works is no longer contested.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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