“The Concert” by Johannes Vermeer

“The Concert” by Johannes Vermeer depicts a man and two women playing music and singing. The young woman is sitting at a harpsichord. The man is playing the lute and a woman standing while singing.

The harpsichord’s upturned lid is decorated with a landscape. A viola da gamba can be seen lying on the floor.  This masterpiece belongs to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, but was stolen in 1990 and remains missing.

It is reputed to be the most valuable unrecovered stolen painting ever, with a value estimated at over $200 million.

Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes, and most of his paintings are set in two rooms of his house in Delft.

There are similar furniture and decorations in various arrangements in his domestic scenes, and his art often portrays the same people. He was not wealthy, as he left his family in debt after his death.

He produced relatively few paintings compared to his contemporaries. Art historians mainly overlooked Vermeer’s works for several centuries after his death. 

However, his reputation has skyrocketed in the last few hundred years, and he is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.

As Vermeer’s fame increased, his work has been copied and stolen, which all helped to spread his reputation via the mass media. 

Han van Meegeren was a 20th-century Dutch painter, who became a master forger and created and sold many new “Vermeers” before being caught and tried.

In 1971, Mario Pierre Roymans stole Vermeer’s “Love Letter” from the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels. It was on loan from the Rijksmuseum as a part of the Rembrandt and his Age exhibition.

In 1990, this painting “The Concert”  was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

The announcement of the stolen masterpieces from the museum.

“The Concert” is one of only 34 known works by Vermeer and was stolen in the early morning hours of March 18, 1990.

Two thieves disguised as Boston police officers gained entry to the museum and stole thirteen works of art.

The total worth of the stolen pieces has been estimated at $500 million, making the robbery the most significant single property theft in world history.

Empty frames remain hanging in the museum.

Empty frames remain hanging in the museum in homage to the missing works and as placeholders for when they are returned.

Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life.

He was a moderately successful painter in his lifetime. However, he was not wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death.

There are only thirty-four paintings by Vermeer, and they are challenging to date. Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes, and most of his pictures are set in the rooms of his house in Delft.

There are similar furniture and decorations in various arrangements in his domestic scenes, and his art often portrays the same people.  He was not wealthy, as he left his family in debt after his death.

He produced relatively few paintings compared to his contemporaries. Art historians mainly overlooked Vermeer’s works for several centuries after his death. 

However, his reputation has skyrocketed in the last few hundred years, and he is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.

The Concert

• Title:                 The Concert
• Artist:               Johannes Vermeer
• Year:                 1664
• Type:                 Oil on canvas
• Period:              Dutch Golden Age
• Dimensions:     72.5 cm × 64.7 cm (28.5 in × 25.5 in)
• Museum:          Stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Johannes Vermeer

• Artist:                            Johannes Vermeer
• Born:                            1632 – Delft, Dutch Republic
• Died:                            1675 (aged 43) -Delft, Dutch Republic
• Nationality:                  Dutch
• Movement                   Dutch Golden Age, Baroque
• Notable works:
  • Girl with a Pearl Earring
  • The Concert
  • Lady at the Virginal with a Gentleman
  • Woman with a Pearl Necklace
  • The Milkmaid
  • The Little Street
  • The Allegory of Faith
  • The Music Lesson
  • The Lacemaker
  • The Geographer
  • Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
  • A Young Woman standing at a Virginal

‘The Concert’ By Johannes Vermeer

A Virtual Tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

• “The Story of Lucretia” by Sandro Botticelli
• “The Rape of Europa” by Titian
• “The Concert” by Johannes Vermeer (whereabouts unknown since its theft in 1990)
• “El Jaleo” by John Singer Sargent
• “Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast” by John Singer Sargent

What Was Lost: ‘The Concert’

A Virtual Tour of Boston’s Museums

• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
• Harvard Art Museums

STOLEN VERMEER RETURNED

~~~

“Tears come from the heart and not from the brain.”
– Leonardo da Vinci

~~~

---

Photo Credit: 1) Johannes Vermeer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 2) By Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 3) By Federal Bureau of Investigation [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons