The Astronomer

De astronoom

Artwork Specifications

Dimensions
51 × 45 cm
Location
Louvre Museum

Meet the artist

Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer1632–1675 · Dutch“I can't paint as well as Vermeer.”

Where to see it

Louvre Museum

Louvre Museum

Paris, France

One of only two Vermeer paintings depicting a male scholar. A man in a blue robe reaches toward a celestial globe by Jodocus Hondius. The open book is Metius's 1621 Institutiones Astronomicae, advising the astronomer to seek divine inspiration.

Believed to portray Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the pioneering microscopist. Shares canvas bolt with companion piece The Geographer. On the wall hangs a Finding of Moses, linking science to divine wisdom.

Seized by Nazis from the Rothschild collection in 1940, later recovered and returned. Now at the Louvre.

Read more on Wikipedia

More by Johannes Vermeer

The Lacemaker

The Lacemaker

1669

The Geographer

1668

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring

1665

The Music Lesson

1662

View of Delft

View of Delft

1660

The Milkmaid

The Milkmaid

1658

The Little Street

1657

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Collection highlights at Louvre Museum

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