Two versions of the Guitar Player to hang alongside each other at Kenwood in London for first time in 300 years
Two almost identical paintings have been at one time attributed to the great Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer – but what is the relationship between them?
Visitors to a new display at Kenwood in London will be invited to draw their own conclusions on this intriguing question when two versions of a 17th-century painting, titled the Guitar Player, hang alongside each other for the first time in 300 years.
For many years, the paintings – one of which is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while the other hangs at Kenwood – were believed to have been painted by the Dutch master. But in the 1920s, the consensus shifted.
The Kenwood painting, which is in much better condition and – crucially – is signed by the artist, was the original Vermeer, experts agreed. The Philadelphia version, in which the young woman wears her hair not in ringlets but tight braids, was widely accepted to be an 17th- or 18th-century copy.
