(Panel 25) The Music Lesson

1632-65, Original by Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)
Oil on canvas

Vermeer is such a wonderful painter! He enables us to feel we are witnessing an intimate event in person, almost like a scene from a film. Looking at The Music Lesson we can imagine hearing the gentle tinkling of the virginals, and perhaps the gentleman singing a love song. Or we can speculate about a whispered conversation between the lady and her suitor.

The copy is the same size as the original in the Queen’s Collection at Buckingham Palace. I found it very challenging to paint, but satisfying. It was executed from photographs, although occasional visits to the original revealed more of the exquisite subtlety of Vermeer’s artistry.

Copying this painting has assisted an appreciation of Vermeer’s handling of paint and use of colour. It has increased my understanding of various aspects of his method. For example, his apparently casual composition, made possible by a carefully structured framework. The contrasting use of hard and soft edges to his forms. His exploration of shifting nuances of light and shade. Although there has been much speculation about Vermeer’s use of a camera obscura, reconstructions of the scene have established that he must have manipulated and changed the lighting to a marked degree. The proposition for me now is to explore how elements of these lessons can help me develop my personal work.

Peter Burgess