Explore the Provenance of this artwork.
The painting is considered a work with significance for Vermeer because he did not part with it or sell it, even when he was in debt. On 24 February 1676, his widow Catharina bequeathed it to her mother, Maria Thins, in an attempt to avoid the sale of the painting to satisfy creditors.: 338–339  The executor of Vermeer's estate, the famous Delft microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, determined that the transferral of the work to the late painter's mother-in-law was illegal and, according to John Michael Montias, at least a curious transaction.: 219, 229  On 15 March 1677 most of his paintings were sold in an auction at the Guild in Delft. It is not known who bought The Art of Painting; perhaps it was Jacob Dissius. It can not be determined with certainty whether the painting is quoted in the auction Dissius of 1696 as "Portrait of Vermeer in a room with various accessories." The painting was owned by Gerard van Swieten, and passed into the hands of Gottfried van Swieten. In 1813, it was purchased for 50 florins by the Bohemian-Austrian Count Rudolf Czernin. It was placed on public display in the Czernin Museum in Vienna.
Until 1860, the painting was considered to have been painted by Vermeer's contemporary, Pieter de Hooch; Vermeer was little-known until the late 19th century. Hooch's signature was even forged on the painting. It was at the intervention of the German art historian Gustav Friedrich Waagen that it was recognised as a Vermeer original.
Gottfried van Swieten Rudolf Czernin painting Pieter de Hooch Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Czernin Museum Austria florins Jacob Dissius Maria Thins Gerard van Swieten Muse Bohemia Painting Vienna Gustav Friedrich Waagen John Michael Montias