French Critic Revived Johannes Vermeer's Obscure Legacy

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Art historian and critic Etienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré, writing under the pseudonym W. Bürger, is largely credited with bringing Johannes Vermeer into prominence nearly 200 years after the Dutch Golden Age painter's death.

Vermeer, who passed away in 1675 at the age of 43, left behind a legacy largely confined to his hometown of Delft in the Dutch Republic. He died in debt, and his widow was compelled to sell most of his works to settle these obligations, scattering his paintings across the country. Working slowly and meticulously, Vermeer produced only 34 paintings that are definitively attributed to him, and he did not establish a large studio or leave behind pupils to continue his style. His limited travel also prevented him from building a broader reputation in major cities, contributing to his post-mortem obscurity. By the mid-19th century, his reputation was so diminished that some of his works were even fraudulently signed with the name of Pieter de Hooch, an artist whose name commanded higher prices at the time, to increase their market value.

Thoré-Bürger, a French art critic and collector, lived in exile across Western Europe from 1849 to 1859 due to his support for French Revolutionary radicals. He first encountered Vermeer's work, View of Delft (ca. 1660–61), in 1842 and was deeply impressed. However, finding additional works by Vermeer proved so challenging that he famously referred to the artist as his“sphinx.” During his travels, he began acquiring paintings he believed to be by the enigmatic artist.

Vermeer's resurgence began in 1866, when Thoré-Bürger contributed six of the artist's paintings to an exhibition of Old Master works at the Palais des Champs-Élysées. An additional five paintings attributed to Vermeer were also displayed, though some were later reattributed to his contemporaries. This exhibition, combined with two articles and a catalogue of Vermeer's works published by Thoré-Bürger, successfully reintroduced the artist to the art world.

Despite this renewed attention, the market's appreciation lagged. In 1881, Girl with a Pearl Earring (ca. 1665) sold at auction for only two guilders and 30 cents, which is approximately $35 in today's currency. Currently, the painting's estimated value reaches $600 million.

After Thoré-Bürger's death, several of his Vermeer paintings were sold. Three are now part of public collections: A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal (ca. 1670–72) and A Young Woman Seated at the Virginal (ca. 1670–72) are held at London's National Gallery, while Young Woman with a Pearl Necklace (ca. 1664) is at Berlin's Gemäldegalerie. Another work, The Concert (1664), is one of 13 pieces stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 and is considered the world's most valuable missing artwork, with a value of $200 million.

A different painting, A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals, which had long been in a private Belgian collection, reappeared at Sotheby's London in 2004. It sold for $30.1 million to casino magnate Steve Wynn, marking the first Vermeer to be offered at public auction in more than 80 years and setting the artist's current auction record. Thanks to Thoré-Bürger's dedicated efforts, Vermeer's legacy endures, despite fewer than 40 known paintings attributed to him. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a major institution in the United States.

We previously reported:

Johannes Vermeer's enduring influence, from Danish painting to modern film and poetry, is explored in Ruth Bernard Yeazell's new book, Vermeer's Afterlives.

Source: Artnet News

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