Explore the Debates over attribution of this artwork, Saint Praxedis (painting).
The painting may have two signatures. The more obvious of the two reads "Meer 1655", while the second appears as "Meer N R o o".  It is possible that this second signature originally read "Meer naar Riposo", or "Vermeer after Riposo": Riposo was Ficherelli's nickname. The Doerner Institute's examination of the signatures concluded that both signatures were original and composed of pigments typical of the painting. Wheelock's examination also led him to conclude that both signatures were original, and recent technical examination has demonstrated that the clearer signature is likely to have been added at, or close to, the date the painting was created. However, these new investigations agreed with the earlier opinion of the conservator Jørgen Wadum that the possible second signature is too indistinct to be deciphered.An analysis of the lead white paint, performed by the Rijksmuseum in 2014 in association with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, suggests Dutch or Flemish origin with a strong possibility that the pigment was related to paint used in Vermeer's Diana and Her Companions.  The use of a chalk ground is associated with Dutch paintings of this era and the work reflects an unusually extensive use of ultramarine, typical of Vermeer's later work, but not of his earlier paintings, Diana and Her Companions or Christ in the House of Martha and Mary. Wheelock identified stylistic similarities with two history paintings that scholars have confidently attributed to Vermeer. He also noted similarities between the depiction of the saint's face and the figure in Vermeer's A Girl Asleep and argued that the painter's conversion to Catholicism could have given him an interest in the subject matter. Although it is thought unlikely that the Ferrara painting left Italy or that Vermeer visited Italy, Wheelock pointed out that Vermeer had a reputation as an authority on Italian art. It is possible that another version or copy of the Ferrara painting was the model for Vermeer's work.In 1998, Wadum argued that the painting was not a copy of the work in Ferrara, or of any other work, because the background elements were painted before the foreground, which is typical of an original work rather than a copy. In 2014, Christie's suggested that this could reflect experimentation by Vermeer, a young artist modeling and adapting techniques in the original.In advance of a 2023 exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, Saint Praxides was one of three disputed works of art in Vermeer's oeuvre that the museum "upgraded" and deemed to be authentic works by the artist.
history painting Doerner Institute Ferrara Diana and Her Companions lead white ultramarine Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Christie's Rijksmuseum A Girl Asleep