The Astronomer (Vermeer)

The Astronomer (Dutch: De astronoom) is a painting finished in about 1668 by the Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer. It is in oil on canvas, 51 cm × 45 cm (20 in × 18 in), and is on display at the Louvre, in Paris, France.[1]

The Astronomer
ArtistJohannes Vermeer
Yearc. 1668
MediumOil on canvas
MovementDutch Golden Age painting
Dimensions51 cm × 45 cm (20 in × 18 in)
LocationMusée du Louvre, Paris

Portrayals of scientists were a favourite topic in 17th-century Dutch painting[1] and Vermeer's oeuvre includes both this astronomer and the slightly later The Geographer. Both are believed to portray the same man,[2][3][4] possibly Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.[5] A 2017 study indicated that the canvas for the two works came from the same bolt of material, confirming their close relationship.[6]

The astronomer's profession is shown by the celestial globe (version by Jodocus Hondius) and the book on the table, the 1621 edition of Adriaan Metius's Institutiones Astronomicae Geographicae.[2][3][4][7] Symbolically, the volume is open to Book III, a section advising the astronomer to seek "inspiration from God" and the painting on the wall shows the Finding of Moses—Moses may represent knowledge and science ("learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians").[8]

Provenance
1720 catalog listing the work.
Johannes Vermeer, The Geographer 1668-69 oil on canvas; 53×47 cm. Steadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, Germany. The Geographer used the same model and other elements as The Astronomer.

The provenance of The Astronomer can be traced back to 27 April 1713, when it was sold at the Rotterdam sale of an unknown collector (possibly Adriaen Paets or his father, of Rotterdam) together with The Geographer. The presumed buyer was Hendrik Sorgh, whose estate sale held in Amsterdam on 28 March 1720 included both The Astronomer and The Geographer, which were described as ‘Een Astrologist: door Vermeer van Delft, extra puyk’ (An Astrologist by Vermeer of Delft, topnotch) and ‘Een weerga, van ditto, niet minder’ (Similar by ditto, no less).

Between 1881 and 1888 it was sold by the Paris art dealer Léon Gauchez to the banker and art collector Alphonse James de Rothschild, after whose death it was inherited by his son, Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild. In 1940 it was seized from his hotel in Paris by the Nazi Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg für die Besetzten Gebiete after the German invasion of France. A small swastika was stamped on the back in black ink. The painting was returned to the Rothschilds after the war, and was acquired by the French state as giving in payment of inheritance taxes in 1983[9][10] and then exhibited at the Louvre since 1983.[10][11][12]

Further reading
  • Liedtke, Walter A. (2001). Vermeer and the Delft School. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-87099-973-4.

References
  1. "L'Astronome ou plutôt L'Astrologue". Atlas: the database of the exhibited works of art (in French). Musée du Louvre. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
  2. Bailey, Anthony (2001). Vermeer: A View of Delft. pp. 165–170. ISBN 0-8050-6930-5.
  3. Bailey, Martin (1995). Vermeer. pp. 102–104.
  4. van Berkel, Klaas (1996). "Vermeer and the Representation of Science". The Scholarly World of Vermeer. pp. 13–14. ISBN 90-400-9825-5.
  5. Van Berkel, K. (February 24, 1996). Vermeer, Van Leeuwenhoek en De Astronoom. Vrij Nederland (Dutch magazine), p. 62–67.
  6. Johnson, C. Richard Jr, and Sethares, W.A. (2017). "Canvas Weave Match Supports Designation of Vermeer's Geographer and Astronomer as a Pendant Pair". Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. 9. doi:10.5092/jhna.2017.9.1.17.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. Welu, James (1986). "Vermeer's Astronomer: Observations on an Open Book". Art Bulletin. 68 (2): 263–267. doi:10.1080/00043079.1986.10788338.
  8. Acts 7:22
  9. Lottman, Herbert R (1995). Return of the Rothschilds: the great banking dynasty through two turbulent centuries. London: Tauris. p. 312. ISBN 9781850439141.
  10. Feliciano, Hector (1998). The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-04191-4.
  11. "L'Astronome". Communauté Louvre (in French). Musée du Louvre. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  12. Abbe, Mary (15 October 2009). "Louvre show at MIA has Hitler's favorite painting". Star Tribune. Minneapolis.
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