Vermeer, Jan Van Delft - Officer With a Laughing Girl Art Print

An archival premium Quality Art Print of an Officer with a Laughing Girl by Jan Van Delft Vermeer for sale by Brandywine General Store. This oil on canvas was originally purchased by Pieter Van Ruijven in 1674 and passed through around a dozen hands through the years until purchased in 1911 by Henry Clay Frick. The original size of the artwork is 18.11 by 19.69 inches and still resides in the Frick Collection. The main subject in this composition painted by the Dutch Artist Jan Vermeer in 1657, is a woman in a yellow dress, with light coming from the left hand side of the painting from an open window with a large map on the wall. A man, the officer, is setting at the table with his back to us and wearing a large hat. The woman resembles Vermeer's wife, Catharina Bolnes, who posed for many of his paintings. The woman has on a blue apron which suggests that the man may have been a surprise visitor, while she was doing her morning chores. The man is a cavalier, wearing a red coat and an expensive hat showing his wealth and rank. His hat is made of beaver pelt, which was weather resistant and would have been imported from the New Netherlands in the New World and would have been a very expensive item in this era. His rank as an officer is identified by the black sash he wears. The meaning of this painting has been lost to history, some critics think this is a casual courtship, while others think the woman might be a prostitute holding out her hand for the money and the map on the wall shows her worldliness. Old Masters art print #31