Imagine you are a student of a great and renowned artist. One day, you create a masterpiece to rival that of your teacher’s best efforts. Unfortunately, rather than receiving recognition, history forgets you and attributes your work to your master of renown. That’s what happened to one of the apprentices of one of the art world’s greatest painters. 

Even if you don’t know Vermeer’s oeuvre, ask anyone if they’ve ever seen this picture—chances are they have. This oil painting, called Girl With a Pearl Earring, is one of the most famous pictures in the world. 

Thankfully, the authorship of Girl With a Pearl Earring was not put into question. However, controversially, one of the four pictures in Washington, D.C.’s National Gallery of Art has been found to be falsely attributed to Vermeer. The discovery was made during the gallery’s closure at the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

Girl with a Flute was thought for many years to be a Vermeer original. The woman depicted here through oil painted onto wood was the same model to appear in Vermeer’s painting, Girl with a Red Hat, itself an unusual work for the artist.

Any casual observer would miss the qualities that distinguish the authorship of this painting from Girl with a Flute. Indeed, for almost 400 years, experts and collectors admired and traded Girl with a Flute as a certified Vermeer. Only recently did its status change, thanks to the observant historians at the Gallery in Washington, D.C.

In a press release to the public, the National Art Gallery said that the painting was likely—in part or fully—created by someone close to Vermeer. This includes an underling, likely a direct apprentice, or a family member of the great painter.

Johannes Vermeer was a Baroque-era painter who lived in Delft, Netherlands, during the late 17th century. One of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age—his paintings are known for their exceptional use of light, color, and composition. 

Vermeer’s use of light creates a sense of realism, and his scenes exude tranquil atmospheres. It is thought that he used a technique called “camera obscura” to project the outside world onto his canvas, allowing him to capture the effects of light with exceptional accuracy. 

History dictates that Johannes Vermeer was not known to have had any formal apprentices, and there is little information about his studio or school to be found in the historical record. Little is known about Vermeer besides the fact that he dedicated himself almost wholly to his craft.

Despite a few notable exceptions, artists rarely flourish on their own. Vermeer, influenced by the works of Caravaggio and other artists of the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the Italian master painters, was a member of the Delft Guild of Saint Luke—a trade organization for artists. 

How did the historians at D.C. notice this discrepancy after so many others had not? The current exhibit is the result of an investigation made possible due to the global Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent closure of the National Gallery from March 2020 all the way to May 2021. 

With the museum officially closed to visitors, the experts at the National Art Gallery took advantage of the opportunity to thoroughly examine the paintings using advanced techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF) imaging spectroscopy and microsampling analysis. 

Girl with a Flute wasn’t the first work to be subject to this scale of scientific scrutiny, of course. Some of Vermeer’s actual paintings have been under the microscope as well. The results of these studies have revealed fakes brought fascinating findings of their own— revealing much about the long-dead Dutch master and his work.

The D.C. National Art Gallery researchers also used false-color infrared reflectance imaging, which helped them identify thicker, more noticeable brushstrokes of lead white underneath a painted wall’s soft glow. Here’s an example from Vermeer’s Woman Holding a Balance showing what they uncovered.

Scans of the “Girl with a Red Hat” revealed details that would otherwise never have been discovered: The painting’s subject went from a man in a wide-brimmed hat, cloak, and collar to a woman in a red hat. This may have marked a turning point in Vemeer’s style.

The same process of analyzing the composition was done for A Lady Writing A Letter, featured here. It showed that the woman in the painting was initially holding the quill upright as if they were in the middle of writing. This provides a subtle look into a genius mind.

In plain English, a CT scan’s layered stratigraphy can describe what’s happening under the surface of the paint as well as how far, which can help researchers build a better timeline. Neither elemental mapping nor infrared light reflection can measure depth. 

The researchers ruled out that the Girl with a Flute is a copycat piece. They believe that the painting was made during Vermeer’s lifetime. Besides the fact that this artist used the same model for this tronie—a non-commissioned portrait for commercial sale—it has similarities to Vermeer’s Girl with the Red Hat.

One researcher noted that Vermeer used earth green to shadow faces in his paintings, a highly-unusual technique among Dutch painters during his time. A green shadow in Girl with a Flute would suggest Vermeer as being the original painter. 

National Gallery officials could only theorize about the real author of Girl with a Flute. There is no evidence of any students registered with the local painters guild or mention of friends or family receiving lessons from Vermeer. 

Other evidence gave away the true artist’s identity—or rather, disproved it. For example, Vermeer used small highlights to dapple the lips of his subjects. The technique of adding tiny dots to reflect a nearby color was likely observed by the artist behind Girl With a Flute—but not mastered.

Not every gallery would be brave enough to announce to the world that one of their paintings, which had for such a long time been considered a masterpiece, was not one of the painter’s original works—or at least not so loudly. Once the world began opening up, the gallery made this finding a part of an event.

The Girl with a Flute discovery didn’t come completely out of the blue. The museum noted that they had always attributed the painting to Vermeer with caution. They were simply glad to have closed the case on one of the art world’s biggest questions. 

While there is consensus about the gallery’s findings, it is not universal. The Rijksmuseum, the national art museum in Vermeer’s homeland of the Netherlands, controversially labeled the painting one of the old master’s original works and not of his studio.

The National Art Gallery has taken sharp critiques from professional critics for the announcement as well. Art historian Eric Sluijter challenged the National Gallery of Art’s conclusions on the authenticity of Girl with a Flute. He says their research is credible but not without flaws. 

Kaywin Feldman, director of the gallery, said that the discovery of other artists working alongside Vermeer is “one of the most significant findings about [him] to be discovered in decades,” adding that she is “proud of the team who worked together to study these paintings.”