Double Vision. Vermeer at Kenwood

Johannes Vermeer, The Guitar Player, ca. 1670-72, Kenwood House.

Double Vision brings together two paintings both known as The Guitar Player. One painting, a treasure from Kenwood’s Iveagh Bequest, is signed by the great Johannes Vermeer (1632-75). The origin of the other, on loan from the John G. Johnson Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA, remains a mystery.

Philadelphia’s painting depicts the same young woman playing a guitar, but with a number of small differences. Thought to be by Vermeer by John G. Johnson who bought the picture and eventually gave it to the city of Philadelphia, the question of who painted it and when has been the subject of intense debate for the past 100 years.

This new display, marking the 350th anniversary of Vermeer’s death aged 43 in 1675, sees the paintings side by side for the first time in over 300 years.