How does this artwork elucidate its Background?
Vermeer's artistic style in the 1670s is often compared to his earlier style of the mid-1660s. The Guitar Player properly demonstrates the energy of Vermeer's late style. His earlier paintings portray quiet self-contained worlds, but The Guitar Player is different. His late style demonstrated abstract painting techniques, in which the depiction of motion is portrayed through the diffused illustration of shifting objects. With Vermeer's experience, he began to create paintings that demonstrate dynamic poses and actions, implying that a movement (or in this case, sound) is taking place. The Guitar Player is often compared to Vermeer's, Woman with a Lute.
Woman with a Lute Guitar