Mauritshuis
Which collector owned The Allegory of Faith in Mar 1912?
The Allegory of Faith The Allegory of Faith , also known as Allegory of the Catholic Faith , is a Dutch Golden Age painting by Johannes Vermeer from about 1670–1672 . It has been in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1931 . This and Art of Painting are his only works that fall under history painting in the contemporary hierarchy of genres , though they still have his typical composition of one or two figures in a domestic interior . Both share several features : the perspective is almost the same , and there is a multicolor tapestry at the left of each painting , pulled to the left to disclose the scene . The Art of Painting also uses symbolism from Cesare Ripa of Clio , muse of history . Vermeers Love Letter uses a similar gilt panel . The Allegory and The Art of Painting differ markedly in style and purpose from Vermeers other works . Description . The painting depicts a woman in a fine white and blue satin dress with gold trimmings . She sits on a platform a step higher than the black and white marble floor , her right foot on a terrestrial globe and her right hand on her heart as she looks up , adoringly , at a glass sphere hung from the ceiling by a blue ribbon . Her left arm rests on the edge of a table which holds a golden chalice , a large book , and a dark-wood crucifix . Behind the crucifix is a gilt-leather panel screen . Beneath the book is a long piece of cloth , possibly a priests stole . Resting on top of the book is a crown of thorns . All of these items are on the platform , which is covered by a green and yellow rug , the edge of which is on the floor . At the bottom of the picture , nearer the viewer , is an apple , and nearer still a snake which has been squashed by a cornerstone . On the dim , far wall behind the woman , a large painting of Christs crucifixion is hung . To the viewers left is a multicolored tapestry , pulled back at the bottom and seemingly the closest thing in the painting to the viewer . A chair with a blue cloth on it is immediately beneath and behind the tapestry and to the left of the snake and cornerstone . Iconography . From Cesare Ripas Iconologia . Vermeers iconography in the painting is largely taken from Cesare Ripas Iconologia , an emblem book ( a collection of allegorical illustrations with accompanying morals or poems on a moral theme ) which had been translated into Dutch in 1644 by D . P . Pers . The artist used various symbols that Ripa described and illustrated in his book , along with symbols taken from other books and traditions . Two of the four allegorical figures of Faith ( Fede . Geloof and Fede Catholica . Catholijck of algemeen Geloof ) given in Ripas book provide many of the symbols in the painting , including the color of the womans clothing , her hand gesture , and the presence of the crushed snake and the apple . In his book , Ripa states that Faith is the most important of the virtues . One image in the book shows her as a woman , dressed in white ( signifying light and purity ) and blue ( which relates to heaven , as Ripa states in another text ) . Faiths hand on her breast symbolizes that the virtue rests in her heart . Christ is represented in the cornerstone crushing the snake ( a symbol of the Devil ) , and the apple ( the fruit Eve gave to Adam ) represents original sin , which in Christian doctrine required the sacrifice of the Saviour . Ripa describes Faith as having the world under her feet , and Vermeer used the symbol quite literally , showing a globe of the earth under the womans right foot . ( The globe , with its distinctive cartouche ( decorative label ) has been identified as one made by Hendrick Hondius ) . From other sources . The crucifix , painting of the Crucifixion and the glass orb are not mentioned by Ripa , and Vermeer changed some of the iconography that Ripa gave : Instead of Ripas suggestion that Faith hold the chalice and rest her hand on a book , Vermeer put them on the table next to her . According to Arthur Wheelock , a University of Maryland academic and curator of a Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington , this is an assemblage that gives the image a Eucharistic character not found in the text . By putting the golden chalice against the dark background of the paintings frame and the dark crucifix against the gilt-leather backdrop , the elements are given a greater prominence in the painting . Wheelock , citing his fellow academic at the University of Maryland , Quint Gregory , believes the slight overlapping of the chalice and the gold backdrop of the crucifix may symbolically suggest the essential role of the Eucharist in bridging the physical and spiritual realms , a very Catholic idea . Selena Cant calls the fact that the book , chalice and crucifix together represent the Catholic Mass . The pose of the woman ( hand on heart and eyes raised ) is similar to Ripas image of Theology . The pose was uncommon in Dutch art , but Vermeer was considered an expert in Italian painting , in which the image was often used ( especially those of Guido Reni [ 1575–1642 ] , whose works were then owned in Holland ) . Wheelock believes the large book , which has a metal clasp , is a Bible , but the Metropolitan Museum of Art states on its website that the volume may be the Catholic Missale Romanum . The paintings iconography is not only Catholic , but some believe it is strongly influenced by Jesuit ideas . Departing from Ripas allusion to the story of Abraham and Isaac ( an Old Testament story said to prefigure the faithful sacrifice of Christ on the Cross ) , Vermeer instead uses an image of the Crucifixion itself — an image dear to the Jesuits . Vermeer used Crucifixion , a painting from about 1620 by Jacob Jordaens ( 1593–1678 ) . The painter may have owned a copy of the painting . ( This may be the large painting representing Christ on the Cross described in an inventory of his household at his death . Two other items in the inventory may be in this painting : the gold-tooled leather on the wall of his homes kitchen , and an ebony wood crucifix ) . Another Jesuit influence in the painting is said to be the glass orb on which the woman sets her eyes . According to Eddy De Johgh , Vermeer appears to have taken it from a 1636 emblem book by the Jesuit Willem Hesius , Emblemata sacra de fide , spe , charitate . In the emblem , Capit Quod Non Capit , a winged boy , a symbol of the soul , is shown holding a sphere reflecting a nearby cross and the sun . In a poem accompanying the emblem , Hesius states that the spheres ability to reflect the world is similar to the minds ability to believe in God . Selena Cant has written that the sphere is symbol of the human mind and its capacity both to reflect and to contain infinity . The womans pearl necklace probably relates to pearls as ancient symbols of virginity , according to Cant . There is no source for the light on her dress , perhaps indicating that she is lit by an inner illumination — a strong indication to the viewer that she is not to be considered an individual , but a symbol , according to Walter Liedtke . Reception . Many art historians have considered the painting one of Vermeers less successful works . Cant , for instance , calls it harder , more brittle , less convincing . Faith herself appears uncomfortable : finely dressed , she appears too worldly to be a spiritual symbol , too solid to appear transported , the intimacy too forced and her expression too artificial . According to Wheelock , [ T ] he iconographic demands of this subject strained the credibility of his realistic approach . While essential for the paintings symbolic content , the ecstatic pose of the woman and the crushed snake seem incongruous within this Dutch setting . Walter Liedtke objected to Wheelocks point by asserting that the artist took a very realistic approach primarily in depicting the terrestrial globe and reflections in the glass sphere . Instead , according to Liedtke , the painting is best compared to contemporary Dutch paintings illustrating abstract concepts , including Adriaen Hannemans Allegory of the Peace ( 1664 ; still in situ at the Eerste Kamer in the Binnenhof ) , a histrionic picture showing how reticent Vermeer was in this work ; and Karel Dujardins Allegory of the Immortal Fame of Art Vanquishing Time and Envy ( 1675 ; Historisches Museum , Bamberg ) ; Gabriel Metsus The Triumph of Justice ( late 1650s ; Mauritshuis , The Hague ) ; Adriaen van de Veldes The Annunciation ( 1667 ; Rijksmuseum , Amsterdam ) as well as works by Van Honthorst and early works of De Lairesse . Provenance . Vermeers imaginative use of symbolism in the painting indicates to Wheelock that the painter was not given specific instructions on the allegory but chose the various items himself . The original owner is unknown but may have been a Catholic in Delft , possibly the Jesuits in the city . The Metropolitan Museum of Art website states , This late work was surely commissioned , probably by a patron who was learned as well as devout . The painting was one of those apparently not among the 21 works by the artist collection of Vermeers main patron , Pieter Claesz van Ruijven ( 1624–1674 ) , and auctioned off in the Dissius sale of 1696 . Its first known owner was Herman Stoffelsz van Swoll ( 1632–1698 ) , a postmaster and a Protestant . That Swoll was familiar with collecting art is indicated by the fact that the best man at his wedding in 1656 was a famous collector , Gerrit Reynst . The year after Swolls death , in 1699 , the painting was auctioned off in Amsterdam along with other works in Swolls collection ( which included Italian works ) . The sale catalogue described the work as A sitting Woman with deep meanings , depicting the New Testament , and also stated , powerfully and glowingly painted . After spending time in an unknown collection , the painting ( described as depicting the New Testament ) was auctioned off in 1718 , again in Amsterdam . It was auctioned again in 1735 ( described as artfully and minutely painted ) , and in the Ietswaart sale of 1749 ( described as as good as Eglon van der Neer ) . The mixed fortunes of Vermeers reputation in the 18th century can be seen in the prices paid for the painting at these various auctions : f 400 in 1699 ; f500 in 1718 ; f53 in 1735 ; f70 in 1749 ) . By the early 19th century the painting apparently had found its way to Austria , where it was depicted in the background of Portrait of a Cartographer and His Wife by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller in 1824 ( now in Westfälisches Landesmuseum , Münster ) . Atlases depicted in this painting contain maps primarily of Vorarlberg and Tirol at the western end of Austria , so perhaps the painting was in that area , according to Wheelock . At the end of the century , the painting ( at that time mistakenly attributed to Eglon van der Neer ) was part of the collection of Ilya Ostroukhov ( and later Dmitry Shchukin ) in Moscow , making it the fourth Vermeer owned by Russians at that time . In 1899 it was put up for sale by a dealer , Wächtler , in Berlin . That year Abraham Bredius bought it for about DM 700 . A Dutch newspaper at the time praised Bredius for the purchase : With this acquisition of the new Delft Vermeer , the New Testament , as an Eglon van der Neer , Dr . Bredius has once again found a bargain with his perspicacious eye . Bredius then loaned the work to the Mauritshuis , where it remained for the next 24 years , until 1923 when Bredius gave it to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam for a long-term loan . Bredius disliked the work , calling it ( in 1907 ) a large but unpleasant Vermeer . In 1928 , he sold it through the dealer Kleinberger to Michael Friedsam in New York , who bequeathed it in 1931 as part of the Friedsam Collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , where it has remained . Exhibitions . The painting has been loaned by The Met to a number of exhibitions that included multiple Vermeers being brought together from different museums . Amongst these were : - ”Vermeer . Il secolo d’oro dell’arte olandese” at le Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome , which opened on September 27 , 2012 and ran through January 20 , 2013 - ”Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age” at the Museum of Fine Arts , Budapest , which opened on October 30 , 2014 and ran through February 15 , 2015 - ”Vermeer et les maîtres de la peinture de genre” at the Louvre in Paris , which opened on February 22 , 2017 and ran through May 22 , 2017 ( painting was not listed in exhibit catalogue ) External links . - Metropolitan Museum of Art Web page about the painting - Vermeer and The Delft School , exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art , which contains material on this painting ( see index ) - The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer , exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art , which contains material on this painting ( cat . no . 10 )