Cleaning Vermeer
March 5 2012
Picture: Rijksmuseum
Martin Bailey in The Art Newspaper reveals that the Rijksmuseum's has recently cleaned Vermeer's Woman in Blue:
Visitors to the Rijksmuseum will soon be able to see Vermeer’s newly restored Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, 1663-64, when it returns home following a Japanese tour which funded the work’s restoration. A century ago, the critic Jan Veth wrote that “nothing has ever been painted that is more noble and refined than this blue young woman”, but age took its toll and the blue appeared to gradually fade beneath the varnish. The painting has once again regained its colour and is due to be unveiled at the museum on 30 March.
