The Guitar Player (1672) 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 specialised in depicting everyday life in domestic interiors. In this painting, a young woman looks up while playing her guitar, as the strings continue to vibrate. Today, Vermeer is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age, and the rarity of his work has only increased his status. Across the Atlantic, however, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, there is another remarkable painting, a near doppelgänger to The Guitar Player. Painted on similar-sized canvases, the paintings depict the same scene, a young woman with her guitar, but there are a number of differences; the main being that Kenwood’s sitter has her hair in ringlets, while Philadelphia’s does not and, perhaps most significantly, Kenwood’s painting is signed by the artist, while Philadelphia’s version is not. Originally thought to be a Vermeer, and then assumed to be a copy, the origins of the Philadelphia painting have been unclear.

Wendy Monkhouse, English Heritage’s Senior Curator at Kenwood, said:

“It is an arresting experience to come face to face with a masterpiece by Vermeer, let alone to see its near doppelgänger beside it. We are extremely grateful to the Philadelphia Museum of Art who have lent their version of The Guitar Player so that visitors to Kenwood can see the two works up close for themselves. It is a remarkable painting with wonderful details, from the painting within a painting on the wall, the table laden with books and folds of luxurious blue fabric, to the translucent pearls around the sitter’s neck, which catch the light.  

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.”

One reason why visual comparison between the two works has been difficult thus far is that while Kenwood’s version is one of Vermeer’s best-preserved works and remains in near-original condition, the Philadelphia version is significantly altered. It is displayed in its unrestored state, giving visitors a rare opportunity to see a painting as it would appear in a conservation studio, with an old tear and effects of pre-20th-century cleaning efforts that caused damage to the paint fully visible.

Jennifer Thompson, The Gloria and Jack Drosdick Curator of European Painting and Sculpture and Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection, said:

“Since 1927, when the Kenwood picture was given to the British nation, there has been steady scholarly debate over the two versions of The Guitar Player, paintings which are curiously linked in subject matter and technique. Double Vision provides a thrilling opportunity to place the two pictures side by side and to consider what science and connoisseurship offer to our understanding of Vermeer and 17th-century painting materials and techniques.”

In 2023–5, the Philadelphia painting has been the subject of collaborative research enabling a comparison of materials, techniques and artistic process. The research has involved teams of scientists, conservators, curators and art historians from the Philadelphia Museum of Art in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art, Washington. New research has also been undertaken on the Kenwood painting by English Heritage and the National Gallery (London). The full conclusions of the research are not yet finalised, but tantalising glimpses beneath the surface so far have revealed:

• Differences in the ground layers: the ‘ground’ is the first layer of paint applied on the canvas, used to prepare it for painting. Artists could prepare a canvas themselves or purchase a pre-prepared canvas from a commercial supplier. It is widely believed that Vermeer bought pre-prepared canvases for his works. From scientific analysis of minute paint samples, it was determined that the canvas of the Kenwood painting was prepared with a single pale grey-brown ground consisting of a mixture of lead white and chalk, toned with earth and black pigments. This is similar to Vermeer’s other late works. The colour of the Philadelphia ground is dark brown, consisting mainly of burnt umber, as well as lead white, chalk, bone black, and clay
• Expensive ultramarine paint, favoured by Vermeer and used extensively in the Kenwood painting, is not found in Philadelphia’s. Instead, the artist used indigo, a cheaper blue pigment
• The greens used in the landscapes also differed. Where Vermeer used green earth in Kenwood’s landscape, the Philadelphia landscape is painted with a mixture of indigo and yellow ochre, creating the green

Research is ongoing, and experts are still interpreting all the scientific data that has been gathered. More insight into the relationship between the two paintings will be revealed in a forthcoming academic article.

Now, The Guitar Player pair is on display at Kenwood from today (1 September 2025) until 11 January 2026.

For further technical analysis and information about The Guitar Player at Kenwood and the Philadelphia painting, visit: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/guitar_player_vermeer

Double Vision: Vermeer at Kenwood is generously supported by The Friends of the Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, and Riverstone Living. The exhibition has been made possible by the provision of Government Indemnity arranged by Arts Council England.