EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published by The Art Newspaper, an editorial partner of CNN Style.
One of Johannes Vermeer’s most famous paintings, “The Guitar Player,” has gone on show alongside its “twin” in a new exhibition.
“Double Vision: Vermeer,” which opened at London’s Kenwood House on Monday, displays the Dutch master’s original 1672 image of the guitar-playing woman alongside its doppelgänger, “Lady with a Guitar.” In doing so, the new presentation reignites a century-old debate about who painted the latter, which was once thought to be Vermeer’s original.
“’The Guitar Player’ by Vermeer is an exquisite work of art, perfectly capturing a single moment in time. It is one of only 37 known paintings by Vermeer, an artist who specialized in depicting everyday life in domestic interiors,” said a statement from English Heritage, which runs Kenwood House.
“Since the 1920s scholars have puzzled over the relationship between these two paintings, but this display does not draw conclusions, instead inviting visitors to witness the prowess of one of the greatest artists of the 17th-century and respond to this question for themselves,” added English Heritage.
