Woman with scales

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Woman with Scales (The Pearl Weigher) (Jan Vermeer)
Woman with Scales (The Pearl Weigher)
Jan Vermeer , 1662–1664
Oil on canvas
42.5 x 38 cm
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
The Goldweigher , around 1664 by Pieter de Hooch

Woman with Scales , also called The Pearl Weigher , is an oil painting by Jan Vermeer between 1662 and 1664. It shows an obviously heavily pregnant woman who is fiddling with scales. The painting is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

Depictions of women busy weighing something with a small beam scale were a common motif used by Dutch painters of the time. It is possible that Jan Vermeer was inspired to take this picture through an oil painting by his Delft colleague Pieter de Hooch .

Image description

Compared to pictures like “ Maid with Milk Jug ” or “ Letter Reader in Blue ”, the interior is designed much darker. The lower shutters are closed and the curtains cover the upper part of the window, preventing sunlight from entering the room. The right hand of the woman holding the scales is right in the center of the picture. Due to the lighting, however, the viewer's attention is drawn to the woman's face, which appears calm and concentrated.

On the whitewashed wall behind the woman is a Flemish style depiction of the Last Judgment . Here, as judge, Jesus separates the righteous from the unjust. The enthroned Jesus is located directly above the woman's head, to the left and right of her head are people who plead for a positive judgment. The violent agitation of this depiction stands in stark contrast to the serenity of the woman in the foreground. The relation of this painting in the painting to the picture's content seems obvious: Just as the woman is weighed here, according to Christian belief, God too will one day weigh up what people do.

The painting was traditionally referred to as " The Pearl Weigher ". However, this image title is increasingly no longer used these days. Pearls can be seen on the table, but they are already lined up. Individual pearls that still have to be weighed cannot be discovered. Today the prevailing belief is that women are busy weighing money. On the edge of the table to the left of the woman are four small golden coins and one larger silver coin. When the painting was auctioned in 1696, the title in the auction also indicated this connection.

Painting materials

The dominant light yellow areas in the picture, such as the illuminated curtain on the left, the golden picture frame and also the small light area of ​​the dress are painted with tin yellow . Vermeer used yellow ocher and charcoal for the darker areas in the shade .

literature

  • Timothy Brook: Vermeer's Hat - The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World. Profile Books, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-84668-120-2 .
  • Kuhn, H. A Study of the Pigments and Grounds Used by Jan Vermeer. Reports and Studies in the History of Art, 1968, 154-202.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Timothy Brook: Vermeer's Hat - The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World. , P. 153
  2. ^ Kuhn, H. A Study of the Pigments and Grounds Used by Jan Vermeer. Reports and Studies in the History of Art, 1968, 154-202
  3. ^ Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance , ColourLex

Web links