Woman Seated at a Virginal by Vermeer Postcard

Woman Seated at a Virginal is an oil on canvas painting by Johannes Vermeer, master of the Dutch Golden Age of painting. Set in a room of the painter’s home & studio, this composition of a lady playing a musical instrument in a lush interior epitomizes the realism, attention to detail and brilliant, jewel-like colors of Vermeer and the Dutch "Little Masters" of the 17th century Baroque era. Johannes (Jan) Vermeer (1632 - 1675) was a Dutch painter of interior scenes whose works were rediscovered in the 19th century. Working as both painter and art dealer, Vermeer slowly produced a few of his painstakingly executed, richly pigmented compositions per year, living entirely within his home city of Delft, never achieving the fame of his near contemporaries Rubens and Rembrandt. In the Modernist era, Vermeer’s richly textured, vibrantly colorful compositions planned in careful perspective and quasi-scientific naturalism found a new following among the artists of the Realist and Impressionist schools.