Cupid with playing card

A 'Cupid', painted by an unknown painter in the upstairs back room, Room M.

The Cupid shown here is part of the background of the 'Lady Standing at the Virginal' painting by Vermeer in the National Gallery, London.

This painting of a Cupid by an unknown paiter depicts an image similar to those found in emblemata books (such as that by C. Ripa) which combine images and a short text, often a rhyme.

The size of the painting which is shown by Vermeer could have been different from the original. We know that Vermeer manipulated sizes and frames for his compositional needs. Vermeer was also an art dealer.

Note : This object was part of the Vermeer-inventory as listed by the clerk working for Delft notary public J. van Veen. He made this list on February 29, 1676, in the Thins/Vermeer home located on Oude Langendijk on the corner of Molenpoort. The painter Johannes Vermeer had died there at the end of December 1675. His widow Catherina and their eleven children still lived there with her mother Maria Thins.

The transcription of the 1676 inventory, now in the Delft archives, is based upon its first full publication by A.J.J.M. van Peer, "Drie collecties...", Oud Holland, 1957, pp. 98-103. My additions and explanations are added within square brackets [__]. Dutch terms have been checked against the world's largest language dictionary, the Dictionary of the Dutch Language (Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal , or WNT), which was begun by De Vries en Te Winkel in 1882.

This page forms part of a large encyclopedic site on Vermeer and Delft. Research by Drs. Kees Kaldenbach (email). A full presentation is on view at johannesvermeer.info.

Launched December, 2002; Last update March 2, 2017.

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