The woman with the lute, Vermeer's masterpiece, on show at Capodimonte, on loan from the Metropolitan Museum in New York!
One of the masterpieces of the painter Jan Vermeer, The woman with the lute, will be on display at Museum of Capodimonte of Naples thanks to an agreement between the Neapolitan museum and the Met (Metropolitan Museum) of New York, where the canvas is generally exhibited.
The exhibition will be open from the 18 November 2016 to the 9 February 2017 and some works by the Pinacoteca di Capodimonte will be added to the painting by the Dutch master, which will indicate to the public close link between Neapolitan and Dutch art of 600. In fact, the room adjacent to the one in which the masterpiece is exhibited will contain 4 paintings by Neapolitan artists, part of the precious Capodimonte collection, representing female players. It is Sofonisba Anguissola's Self-portrait at the Spinetta, by Santa Cecilia in Ecstasy by Bernardo Cavallino, of the Santa Cecilia at the harpsichord by Francesco Guarino and Santa Cecilia on the organ and musician angels and singers by Carlo Selitto.
In this way, as mentioned, one can compare the pictorial styles, but also the cultural bases, of Italian and Dutch artists.
Furthermore, to recreate the environment that is represented in the painting, they will be exhibited in the same room a lute ed a map, two key elements of the Vermeer framework.
The painting
The Lute Player is among the Vermeer's most important works of art and was probably painted in the 1664. It represents a woman tuning a musical instrument while, as in a sudden snap, she looks out the window. As in any painting by Vermeer, the message is always mysterious: does the woman observe someone go away or, instead, is she waiting for someone to arrive?
La light, another key element of the painting, comes from the outside and brings out the jewels she wears, that is, earrings and pearl necklace.
One of the most interesting details of the picture is also the map hanging on the wall, reproduced so well in detail that it recalls the one made by the cartographer Jodocus Hondius in 1613. It gives the observer an important cultural information: the Dutch are a people who open up to the world.
According to many art historians, the woman would be right there wife of Vermeer and to confirm it would be the research carried out on some inventories in which it was learned that the yellow cape she wore actually belonged to the woman.
The Vermeer app in Capodimonte
To make the information on the panel as accessible as possible to all, aapplication for smartphones really very useful. It is called "Vermeer a Capodimonte" and can be easily downloaded from the stores of the various operating systems.
Using it is simple because it will be enough to frame the painting with the smartphone camera and immediately the scanning will start. Instantly a menu will appear that will give textual information, video and audio that the visitor can choose freely. There will be no need for intermediate steps and all information will be immediately available. It is a way to bring young people even closer to art.
