Ms. Missner:
We can offer the following items---all
taken from Frances-Suzman Jowell, “Vermeer and Thoré-Bürger : Recoveries of Reputation” in Gasket
& Jonker, edd., Studies in the History of
Art 55 (
“One may presume [that A Lady Standing at the Virginal] was purchased sometime
between 1860 and 1876 from the German dealer Otto Mündeler for 500
francs.” (Jowell, p. 40)
“As shown in a recently published
letter, [Woman with a Pearl Necklace] was bought
from Henry Grevedon in June 1866 with 4,000 francs borrowed from his friend
Léopold Double” (p. 41)
Bürger “was able to purchase A Lady Seated at the
Virginal for a mere 2,000 francs in 1867 . . .” (p. 49)
Bruce Hebblethwaite, the National
Gallery’s cataloguer of art auction and sales publications, checked the
reference cited in Lugt for the Hotel Drouot sale of the Thoré-Burger
collection, of
Best,
John Hagood
Reference Librarian
National Gallery of Art
Washington, DC
(202) 842-6688
-----Original Message-----
From: Michele Missner
Sent:
I have written to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and
the National Gallery in
-----Original Message [i.a.] -----
[ to Hagood, Wed. Jan. 14 ]
Thank you. I do not know if the
paintings were bought at auction. I do have a list of the paintings if
that will be of any help.
This is the exact question that I am
trying to find answers for:
"After
Vermeer's death, no one heard of him for a century or two. Finally a
French critic named Théophile Thoré rediscovered him in 1866 and spread the
word about how great he was. the Impressionists caught on. Anyway,
Thoré not only wrote about Vermeer but bought four of his paintings for
himself: Woman with a Pearl Necklace, now in the National Museum in Berlin
(Staatliche Museen zu Berlin); The Concert,stolen from the Gardner Museum in
Boston; Young Woman Seated at a Virgina and Young Woman standing at a Virginal,
both of them now at the National Gallery in London.
What I'd
like to know is how much Thoré had to pay for his four paintings."
In my
search, I have also found that Thore is known as Thore-Burger and did use a
psuedonym of Burger at one time.
If I find
the answer to your question about auctions from the patron, I will
send it on. Thank you again.
Michele
Missner
-----Original Message-----
From: Hagood, John
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Library, NGA
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004
8:30 AM
To: Michele Missner
Subject: RE: Vermeer Provenance
Ms. Missner,
Thank you for writing. I just wanted to let you know I’ll be
working on this question, but haven’t come up with anything yet. Would you happen to know, by the way, whether
the pictures were bought at auction, or through some other means?
I’ll hope to be back to you by the
end of the week.
Best,
John Hagood
Reference Librarian
National Gallery of Art
(202) 842-6688
-----Original Message-----
From: Michele Missner
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 8:51 PM
To: Library, NGA
Subject: Vermeer Provenance
I am a research librarian and I have
a client who is interested in Vermeer. He is trying to find out how much
Theophile Thore-Burger, who brought Vermeer to public attention with an article
he wrote in 1866, paid for 4 Vermeers that he bought around that time.
I know that you had a Vermeer exhibit a few years ago and wonder if you
could be of assistance in directing me toward this information.
Thank you,
Michele Missner
Research Librarian