The Concert (Vermeer)
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| Artist | Johannes Vermeer |
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| Year | circa 1664 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 72.5 cm × 64.7 cm (28.5 in × 25.5 in) |
| Location | Whereabouts unknown since the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery in 1990. |
The Concert (c. 1664) is a painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The 69 centimeter high by 63 centimeter wide picture depicts a man and two women playing music. It belongs to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, but was stolen in March 1990 and remains missing to this day. It is thought to be the most valuable unrecovered stolen painting, with a value estimated at over $200,000,000.[1]
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[edit] Description
The picture shows three musicians: a young woman siting at a harpsichord, a man playing a lute, and a woman who is singing. The harpsichord is decorated with an Arcadian landscape motif. The theme of music is taken even farther by Vermeer with the placement of stringed instruments on and under the table in the picture's left foreground.
On the wall in the picture's background are two paintings. To the right appears the often cited by Vermeer The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen, to the left a pastoral landscape. Together with music, which in Dutch painting at the time of Vermeer often was associated with love and seduction,[2] the picture of Baburen plays a sexual component.
[edit] Provenance
The whereabouts of the painting The Concert were for a long time unclear, appearing in 1780.[3] In 1892, it was acquired by Isabella Stewart Gardner in an auction in Paris and subsequently displayed in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, beginning in 1903. On the night of March 18, 1990 thieves disguised as policemen stole 16 paintings out of the museum, including The Concert. To this day the painting has not resurfaced.[4]
[edit] The Concert in popular culture
- Stolen, a documentary film about the theft of The Concert was produced in 2006 by Persistence of Vision Films.
- In an episode of The Simpsons, American History X-cellent (original air date: April 11, 2010), Mr. Burns is jailed after he is discovered to have The Concert among his collection.
- In an episode of The Venture Brothers Victor. Echo. November. The Concert along with Storm on the Sea of Galilee and several other noted works are displayed among Phantom Limb's collection of stolen art.
- In an episode of Gallery Fake "Duet". Fujita is talked into representing a buyer in a black market auction of "The Concert".
- In an episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert claims to be in possession of the work.
- In The 39 Clues: The Medusa Plot The Painting is found by Amy and Dan Cahill in Italy.
[edit] References
- ^ Stolen, a documentary about the theft of The Concert, from the PBS website.
- ^ http://www.essentialvermeer.com/cat_about/concert.html
- ^ http://www.essentialvermeer.com/cat_about/concert.html
- ^ http://www.gardnermuseum.org/collection/artwork/2nd_floor/dutch_room/the_concert
