The Astronomer (painting) in the context of "Dutch Golden Age painting"

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⭐ Core Definition: The Astronomer (painting)

The Astronomer (Dutch: De astronoom) is a painting finished in about 1668 by the Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer. It is in oil on canvas with dimensions 51 cm × 45 cm (20 in × 18 in).

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The Astronomer (painting) in the context of The Geographer

The Geographer (Dutch: De geograaf) is a painting created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer in 1668–1669, and is now in the collection of the Städel museum in Frankfurt, Germany. It is closely related to Vermeer's The Astronomer, for instance using the same model in the same dress, and has sometimes been considered a pendant painting to it. A 2017 study indicated that the canvas for the two works came from the same bolt of material.

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The Astronomer (painting) in the context of The Procuress (Vermeer)

The Procuress (Dutch: De koppelaarster) is a 1656 oil-on-canvas painting by the then 24-year-old Johannes Vermeer. It can be seen in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. It is his first genre painting and shows a scene of contemporary life, an image of mercenary love perhaps in a brothel. It differs from his earlier biblical and mythological scenes. It is one of only three paintings Vermeer signed and dated (the other two are The Astronomer and The Geographer). In 1696 the painting, being sold on an auction in Amsterdam, was named "A merry company in a room".

The woman in black, the leering coupler, "in a nun's costume", could be the eponymous procuress, while the man to her right, "wearing a black beret and a doublet with slashed sleeves", has been identified as a self portrait of the artist; there is a resemblance with the painter in Vermeer's The Art of Painting.

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