In this artwork, how is the History of the painting discussed?
Like many other paintings by Vermeer, the painting was made for his patron Pieter van Ruijven (1624–1674). From him it passed possibly by inheritance to his wife, Maria de Knuijt [died 1681]. From her it then possibly passed by inheritance to her daughter, Magdalena van Ruijven and from her possibly by inheritance to her husband, Jacobus Abrahamsz. Dissius.  After his death the work was auctioned in Amsterdam on 16 May 1696. Until the early nineteenth century, the work remained in the hands of several Dutch owners until it was bought in 1827 by the Belgian politician François de Robiano (1778–1836) in whose family it remained until it was bought in 1907 by the American banker John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913). In 1946 the American art collector Horace Havemeyer (1886–1956) acquired the work. Harry Waldron Havemeyer and Horace Havemeyer donated the work to the National Gallery of Art in 1962.
Maria de Knuijt National Gallery of Art John Pierpont Morgan François de Robiano Pieter van Ruijven