A Vermeer mystery to ponder as masterpiece comes to Pasadena

Nov. 2, 2008 10:27 AM PT

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What’s with that yellow jacket, the one worn by the woman in Johannes Vermeer’s painting ‘A Lady Writing’?

It may be just one more mystery surrounding the highly revered 17th century Dutch master and the 35 paintings that have survived him. But the question is likely to arise yet again when ‘A Lady Writing’ visits the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Nov. 7 to Feb. 2, as part of an art exchange with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The ermine-trimmed satin wrap was a favorite prop, donned by figures in other Vermeer paintings including ‘Woman With a Pearl Necklace’ at the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin, ‘The Love Letter’ at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and ‘Mistress and Maid’ at the Frick Collection in New York. And it wasn’t an invention. The jacket was listed in an inventory of household items taken after the artist’s death. But no one knows whether it belonged to his wife or was chosen by Vermeer as an object with striking visual qualities.