Art! Art! Art! › Works

Girl Interrupted at her Music

Johannes Vermeer, 1660

Johannes Vermeer's Girl Interrupted at her Music is held by The Frick Collection in New York. This small oil on canvas shows a music lesson or gathering at the moment a young woman looks up from her sheet music and straight out at the viewer.

Where to see it

The painting belongs to The Frick Collection in New York, which lists its location as The Frick Collection. Henry Clay Frick bought it in 1901. Display arrangements can change, so check The Frick Collection's official website for current display status and visiting information before you go.

What to look for in person

A Look Toward the Viewer

Start with the two figures at the table. A seated woman in a red jacket and white linen cap holds a sheet of music, but instead of reading it she lifts her eyes and looks out of the picture, as though someone has just stepped into the room. Beside her, a man bends over to study the same sheet. The title names this exact moment: the music has paused, and you, standing in front of the canvas, seem to be the reason for the pause.

The Objects on the Table

Let your eye travel across the tabletop. Vermeer has set out a cittern, a plucked stringed instrument, along with more sheet music, a ceramic jug and a glass of red wine. Together they suggest a domestic scene built around music and company. The canvas is modest, under half a metre wide, so move close to see how each object is rendered, then step back to see how they sit around the two figures and draw your gaze toward the woman's face.

A Cupid Revealed, a Birdcage Added

On the back wall hangs a picture of Cupid with one hand raised, set in a dark ebony frame. For a period this image was hidden beneath overpaint showing a plain wall and a hanging violin; it reappeared during a restoration in 1907. Now look at the birdcage at the left. In 1899 the scholar Cornelis Hofstede de Groot judged it to be a later addition rather than part of Vermeer's original design, a reminder that the surface you see has been altered over time.

About the painting

Girl Interrupted at her Music is an oil on canvas by Johannes Vermeer, recorded with an inception date of 1660. It measures 39.4 cm high by 44.5 cm wide, a size that rewards close viewing. Vermeer did not sign the picture. Its early history is only partly documented. It may have appeared in the Dissius collection sale held in Amsterdam in 1696, but that link is not certain. The first secure record comes from an Amsterdam sale in 1810, where it fetched 640 guilders. In the following decades it passed through several hands, including the collector Pieter de Smeth van Alphen, the dealer Samuel Woodburn, and the banker Francis Gibson, whose daughter Elizabeth Pease Gibson later inherited it. In 1901 the painting moved through the London dealer Lawrie & Co. and then Knoedler before Henry Clay Frick acquired it, and it has remained with the Frick holdings in New York ever since. The picture's appearance has also changed over the years. The Cupid on the back wall was once covered by overpaint and was uncovered during a restoration in 1907, while the birdcage at the left was identified in 1899 as a later addition. When you visit, it helps to keep both points in mind: the scene combines Vermeer's original composition with traces of later hands. Stand where the woman's gaze meets yours, and the painting's central idea, a quiet moment broken by an arrival, becomes clear.

Key facts

More by Johannes Vermeer

• The Concert
• The Girl with the Wine Glass
• The Lacemaker — Louvre Museum
• Woman with a Pearl Necklace — Gemäldegalerie Berlin
• Woman in Blue Reading a Letter — Rijksmuseum
• The Milkmaid — Rijksmuseum
• Girl with a Pearl Earring — Mauritshuis
• A Young Woman seated at a Virginal — National Gallery
• The Music Lesson
• A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal — National Gallery
• Diana and her Nymphs — Mauritshuis
• Girl with a Flute — National Gallery of Art

Sources

• Wikidata Q1219698
• Wikipedia (en) (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Wikipedia (ja) (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Wikipedia (it) (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Wikipedia (fr) (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• www.frick.org