Overview

• Andrew Graham-Dixon says the sitter is likely Magdalena, child of Delft patrons Pieter van Ruijven and Maria de Knuijt, publishing the claim in the Sunday Times ahead of his new biography.
• He contends Vermeer worked largely for this couple, with Maria as the principal commissioner who owned most of the paintings and later left the artist money in her will.
• His reading interprets the image as evoking Mary Magdalene, arguing that the family’s Remonstrant-Collegiant beliefs shaped Vermeer’s subject matter and presentation.
• Other experts caution the painting may be a tronie rather than a portrait, noting previous suggestions and disputing any definitive identification of the sitter.
• The renewed debate arrives before the release of Graham-Dixon’s book, Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found, published by Allen Lane later this month.