Johannes Vermeer
Girl with a Red Hat
From $100
Vermeer’s rooms live on soft window light, and a flat copy turns them grey and gloomy. We graded our Jan Vermeer The Astronomer print beside the original so the light still falls across the globe, the hands and the face, and the deep blues and browns keep their glow. Vermeer astronomer prints rarely keep that quiet light.
Canvas, framed or paper
Stretched canvas. Printed on cotton canvas and stretched taut over a frame. The edges are mirror-wrapped, so the picture continues around the sides and none of it is lost to the fold.
Framed canvas. The same canvas, set in a black, white, natural wood or dark wood frame 0.83 in deep. The frame gives the work a finished edge and a little more presence on the wall.
Framed print. Printed on fine art matte paper and framed in solid pine, behind shatterproof plexiglass, in black, white, natural wood or dark wood. It arrives ready to hang. Framed sizes are measured on the outside of the frame.
Fine art print. Printed on 310gsm fine art matte paper, for framing your own way. It travels rolled and protected. From 18x24 inch.
Sizes
16x20 inch, 24x30 inch, 32x40 inch. Framed sizes are measured on the outside of the frame, so the visible painting is a little smaller.
On your wall
Its almost-square shape suits a study, a library or a quiet bedroom, above a desk or a chest. The deep blues and warm browns look lovely with navy, ochre and walnut, and a black or dark wood frame suits it.
About the painting
The Astronomer by Johannes Vermeer
Delft, 1668
Johannes Vermeer painted slowly, two or three pictures a year, in his mother-in-law’s house in Delft. Only thirty-four of his paintings are known today. This is one of two pictures he made of a scholar at work. He signed and dated it on the cupboard: 1668.
Reaching for the sky
A scholar in a Japanese-style robe leans over his desk by the window. His hand rests on a celestial globe, a map of the stars made by Jodocus Hondius. In front of him lies an astronomy book of 1621, open at a page with an astrolabe. On the wall hangs a painting of the finding of Moses.
The Dutch Golden Age
Its companion, The Geographer, was painted a year later on canvas cut from the same bolt of cloth. In 1941 The Astronomer was taken from the Rothschild family in Paris for a planned wartime museum in Linz, shipped in a crate marked H13, and found in a salt mine in 1945. It has hung in the Louvre since 1983.
Read the story
Johannes Vermeer painted a man reaching out to touch the stars, without ever leaving his room.
It's 1668, in Delft, in Holland. Vermeer is thirty-five.
He paints slowly, two or three pictures a year, in his mother-in-law's house, with a growing family all around him.
Here, a scholar sits at his desk by a tall window, in a long blue robe of the Japanese kind that was the fashion.
An astronomy book lies open in front of him, and a brass instrument for measuring the stars leans by the table.
His hand rests on a globe. Not a globe of the earth, but of the sky, with the stars and their pictures drawn on it.
Soft daylight falls in a band across the globe, across his hands, and across his face as he leans in.
Vermeer signs it on the side of the cupboard, with his name and the year.
A year later he paints a geographer, on canvas cut from the very same roll of cloth.
Then hard times come. In 1672 war ruins the art trade, and three years later Vermeer dies in debt, at forty-three.
In 1941 this painting is taken from its owners in Paris and packed in a crate marked H thirteen, for Hitler's planned museum. At the end of the war it's found in a salt mine.
Today it hangs in the Louvre.
Sit by the window with him, and put your hand on the stars.
The Astronomer. Johannes Vermeer, 1668.
How each piece is brought to life
Faithful to the original, and made to be felt on your wall.
Graded against the original
We compare every work with the original as we grade it, keeping the artist’s colours true while bringing back their depth and glow. Every mark stays the artist’s own.
Printed for you
Printed to order on cotton canvas or fine art paper, then framed if you chose a frame, in 1 to 3 business days.
On your wall
It arrives 5 to 12 business days later, tracked and free anywhere in the US. Framed pieces come ready to hang.
Questions
Is this the original painting?
No. The original hangs in a museum. What you receive is a fine art reproduction, remastered from the original and printed for you, with every mark where the artist left it.
Will the colour look flat?
This is where most reproductions disappoint, and it is where we spend the most time. Each work is graded side by side with the original: faithful to the artist’s colours, with the depth and warmth brought back, so it moves you on the wall the way it was meant to. Canvas reads a touch softer than a backlit screen, and every screen shows colour a little differently.
Will the edges be cropped?
Each size is a standard frame size, so we fit the painting by trimming a little from its edges. We never stretch or squash it, and we check every size by eye so no face, figure or signature is cut. On canvas the edges are mirror-wrapped, which keeps the whole picture on the front.
Which size is right for my wall?
Aim for about two-thirds the width of the furniture beneath it. Over a sofa or a sideboard, one of the two largest sizes will hold the wall. The size guide lists every size in inches and centimetres, with the kind of wall each one suits.
How long does it take?
Your piece is printed in 1–3 business days, then spends 5–12 business days in transit, tracked all the way. Delivery is free anywhere in the US. We are unable to deliver to PO boxes.
What if it arrives damaged?
Send us a photograph and we will remake it and send it again. There is nothing to return.
Can I return it?
Yes, within 30 days of delivery. Our returns policy has the details.
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Printed to order
Graded against the original, then printed for you on cotton canvas or fine art paper in 1–3 business days.
The whole painting
Every mark is the artist’s own, and canvas edges are mirror-wrapped so the whole picture stays on the front.
Free US shipping
On every order, tracked, 5–12 business days in transit.
30-day returns
Returns and exchanges within 30 days of delivery.
