Focus on this artwork and explain the Provenance and attribution.
The painting's early provenance is unclear, though possibly it was owned in Vermeer's lifetime by Pieter van Ruijven and later inherited by Jacob Dissius. By 1904 it was one of two Vermeers owned by Alfred Beit, the other being Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid. It remained in the Beit family until sold to Baron Rolin in 1960. The painting was not widely known until described in the catalogue of the Beit collection published in 1904. In the first decades following 1904 it was widely accepted as a Vermeer. Then in the mid-twentieth century, as some "Vermeers" were discovered to be forgeries by Han van Meegeren and doubt was cast on others, it fell from favour.In 1993 Baron Rolin asked Sotheby's to conduct research into the painting. A series of technical examinations followed, which have convinced most experts that it is a Vermeer. Rolin's heirs sold the painting through Sotheby's in 2004 to Steve Wynn for $30 million. It was later purchased for the Leiden Collection owned by Thomas Kaplan. It has appeared in several Vermeer exhibitions in recent years, in the United States, Britain, Japan, Italy, France, and the Netherlands.
Provenance Han van Meegeren Alfred Beit provenance Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid Thomas Kaplan Leiden Collection Sotheby's Jacob Dissius Steve Wynn Pieter van Ruijven