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National Gallery of Art - THE COLLECTION
image of Woman Holding a Balance
Johannes Vermeer (artist)
Dutch, 1632 - 1675
Woman Holding a Balance, c. 1664
oil on canvas
stretcher size: 42.5 x 38 cm (16 3/4 x 14 15/16 in.) painted surface: 39.7 x 35.5 cm (15 5/8 x 14 in.) framed: 62.9 x 58.4 x 7.6 cm (24 3/4 x 23 x 3 in.)
Widener Collection
1942.9.97
On View
From the Tour: Johannes Vermeer and Dutch Scenes of Daily Life in the 1600s
Object 7 of 8

1866Thoré, Théophile E. J. (William Bürger). "Van der Meer de Delft." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 21 (October-December 1866): 297-330, 458-470, 542-575, no. 26/27.
1888Havard, Henry. Van der Meer de Delft. Paris, 1888: 37, no. 30.
1907Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century.... 8 vols., translated from the German edition. London, 1907-1917: 1(1907):586-587, no. 10.
1910Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. "A Newly Discovered Picture by Vermeer of Delft." The Burlington Magazine 18 (December 1910): 133-134.
1911Bode, Wilhelm von. "Jan Vermeer und Pieter de Hooch als Konkurrenten." Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 32 (1911): 1-2, repro.
1911Plietzsch, Eduard. Vermeer van Delft. Leipzig, 1911: 49-50, 98, 119, no. 35.
1912Frimmel, Theodor von. "A Woman Weighing Pearls by Vermeer of Delft." The Burlington Magazine 22 (October 1912): 48-49.
1913Hale, Philip L. Jan Vermeer of Delft. Boston, 1913: 238, no. 1, 265-267, 350-351, 369, 373, repro.
1913Widener 1913, unpaginated, repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold
1919Bode, Wilhelm von. Die Meister der holländischen und vlämischen Malerschulen. 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1919: 86-89, repro.
1921Vanzype, Gustave. Jan Vermeer de Delft. Brussels and Paris, 1921: 73, repro.
1923Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923 (unpaginated) unpaginated, repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1924Hausenstein, Wilhelm. Vermeer van Delft. Das Bild Atlanten zur Kunst, 10. Munich, 1924: fig. 17, 26, no. 17.
1925Lloyd, David. "The Vermeers in America." International Studio 82 (November 1925): 123-128, repro.
1929Lucas, Edward Verrall. Vermeer the Magical. London, 1929: 28-29, repro.
1931Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 50, repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1937Hale, Philip L. Vermeer. Boston and New York, 1937: 140-142, pl. 27.
1938Rudolph, Herbert. "'Vanitas.' Die Bedeutung mittelalterlicher und humanistischer Bildinhalte in der niederländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts." In Festschrift für Wilhelm Pinder zum sechzigsten Geburtstage. Leipzig, 1938: 405-433, repro. no. 2.
1939Plietzsch, Eduard. Vermeer van Delft. Munich, 1939: 31, 58, no. 9, repro. no. 36. (also 1948 English ed.).
1939Vries, Ary Bob de. Jan Vermeer van Delft. Amsterdam, 1939: 46, 58, 76, 86-87, no. 23, repro. no. 48 (also English ed., rev. ed., London, New York, Toronto and Sydney, 1948: 39, 87-88, pl. 17).
1940Goldscheider, Ludwig. The Paintings of Jan Vermeer. Oxford and New York, 1940: 13, pl. 33.
1942Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 7, as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1944Cairns, Huntington and John Walker, eds., Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 104, color repro., as Woman Weighing Gold.
1946Blum, André. Vermeer et Thoré-Bürger. Geneva, 1946: 30, 42, 60, 135, 171-172, no. 27.
1948Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 65, repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1949Thienen, Frithjof van. Jan Vermeer of Delft. New York, 1949: 19, 23, no. 23, repro.
1950Swillens, P. T. A. Johannes Vermeer: Painter of Delft, 1632-1675. Utrecht, 1950: 57-58, no. 20, 72, 78, 84, 86, 88, 105, 118, pl. 20.
1952Gowing, Lawrence. Vermeer. London, 1952: 44, 53, 135-136, pls. 44-46 (also 2nd ed., New York, 1970).
1952Malraux, André, ed. Vermeer de Delft. Paris, 1952: 16, repro., 62, no. xii, color repro.
1954Bloch, Vitale. Tutta la Pittura di Vermeer di Delft. Milan, 1954: 21, 33, pl. 38-39 (also 1963 English ed., trans. Michael Kitson, All the Paintings of Jan Vermeer, New York, 1963: 20-21, 33, pl. 38-39).
1956Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 44, color repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1957Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 53, as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1958Goldscheider, Ludwig. Jan Vermeer: The Paintings. London, 1958: 22, 138, no. 21, pl. 51, color pl. 52 (also 1967 ed.).
1960Baird, Thomas P. Dutch Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Seven in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 36, color repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1960The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 26, color repro. 14, as Woman Weighing Gold.
1961Mirimonde, Albert P. de. "Les Sujets musicaux chez Vermeer de Delft." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 57 (January 1961): 29-52.
1963Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 100, repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1965Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 135, as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1966Descargues, Pierre. Vermeer. Trans by James Emmons. Geneva, 1966: 93, 131, color repros. 87, 92.
1966Rosenberg, Jakob, Seymour Slive, and E. H. ter Kuile. Dutch Art and Architecture: 1600-1800. Batlimore, 1966: 121-122, pl. 91b (Rev ed., London, 1984).
1966Cairns, Huntington and John Walker, eds., A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:256, color repro., as Woman Weighing Gold.
1967Bianconi, Piero. The Complete Paintings of Vermeer. New York, 1967: 92, no. 24, color pl. xix.
1967Koningsberger, Hans. The World of Vermeer 1632-1675. New York, 1967: 148, 152, 153, color repro.
1968Kühn, Hermann. "A Study of the Pigments and the Grounds Used by Jan Vermeer." Studies in the History of Art (1968-69):191-192.
1968European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 122, repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1970Walicki, Michal. Jan Vermeer van Delft. Dresden, 1970: 32-37, repro.
1971Carstensen, Richard, and Marielene Putscher. "Ein Bild von Vermeer in medizinhistorischen Sicht." Deutsches Ärzteblatt-Ärtzliche Mitteilungen 68 (December 1971): 1-6.
1973Mistler, Jean. Vermeer. Paris, 1973: unpaginated, repro. 19.
1973Sonnenburg, Hubert von. "Technical Comments." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 31 (Summer 1973): unpaginated.
1973Walsh, John, Jr. "Vermeer." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 31 (Summer 1973): unpaginated, color repro. 75.
1974Grimme, Ernst Günther. Jan Vermeer van Delft. Cologne, 1974: 54, cat. 17, repros. 11, 12.
1975Blankert, Albert, contr. by Rob Ruurs and Willem van de Watering. Johannes Vermeer van Delft, 1632-1675. Utrecht and Antwerp, 1975: 62-64, 82, 149-150, no. 15, color repro. (English ed.,Oxford,1978: 22, 41-44, 49, 54, 67, 161-162, no. 15, colorpl. 15).
1975Dudok van Heel, S. A. C. "De Kunstverzamelingen van Lennep met de Arundeltekeningen." Amstelodamum 67 (1975): 137-173.
1975European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 362, repro., as A Woman Weighing Gold.
1976Alpers, Svetlana. "Describe or Narrate? A Problem in Realistic Representation." New Literary History 8, no. 1 (Autumn 1976): 15-41.
1976Harbison, Craig. "Reformation Iconography: Problems and Attitudes." Print Review (Tribute to Wolfgang Stechow) 5 (1976): 78-87, fig. 8.
1976Wright, Christopher. Vermeer. London, 1976: 13-14, 74, 76, 78, 81, fig. 25.
1977Menzel, Gerhard W. Vermeer. Leipzig, 1977: 48, 56-57, color repro., detail.
1977Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "Review of Albert Blankert's Johannes Vermeer van Delft, 1632-1675." The Art Bulletin 59, no. 3 (September 1977): 439-441.
1978Picture Gallery Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin: Catalogue of Paintings 13th-18th Century. Trans. Linda B. Parshall. 2nd rev. ed. Berlin-Dahlem, 1978: 212.
1979Snow, Edward A. A Study of Vermeer. Berkeley, 1979: 10, 34-36, 38, 44, 60, 62, 97, 126, 132-136, 138, 174-176, color repro. Fig. 13, color details figs. 26, 51, 52.
1979Watson, Ross. National Gallery of Art. London, 1979: 75, pl. 61, color repro.
1980Reuterswärd, Patrik. "Om realismen i holländsk bildtradition." Konsthistorisk tidskrift 49 (June 1980): 1-16, repro.
1980Seth, Lennart. "Vermeer och van Veens 'Amorum Emblemata.'" Konsthistorisk tidskrift 49, no. 1 (June 1980): 17-40.
1980Sutton, Peter C. Pieter de Hooch: Complete Edition with a Catalogue Raisonné. Oxford, 1980: 45, 68 note 37, fig. 32.
1981Slatkes, Leonard J. Vermeer and His Contemporaries. New York, 1981: 55-56, color repro., color detail.
1981Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Jan Vermeer. New York, 1981: 41, 42, 106-109, color repro., color detail (2nd rev. ed., 1988: 82, color repro.).
1983Salomon, Nanette. "Vermeer and the Balance of Destiny." In Essays in Northern European Art Presented to Egbert Haverkamp Begemann on His Sixtieth Birthday. Anne-Marie Logan, ed. Doornspijk, 1983: 216-221, repro.
1984Gaskell, Ivan. "Vermeer, Judgment and Truth." The Burlington Magazine 126 (September 1984): 557-561, repro.
1984Philadelphia 1984, no. 118.
1984Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. (rev. ed.) New York, 1984: 301, no. 400, color repro.
1985European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 421, repro.
1986Aillaud, Gilles, Albert Blankert, and John Michael Montias. Vermeer. Paris, 1986: 49, 51, 112, 114, 116, 183-185, repro. xv (also 1988 English ed., New York).
1986Sutton 1986, 311, repro.
1988Bialostocki, Jan. "Mere Imitation of Nature or Symbolic Image of the World? Problems in the Interpretation of Dutch Painting of the XVIIth Century." In The Message of Images: Studies in the History of Art. Vienna, 1988: 166-180, 271-273, fig. 129.
1988Reuterswärd, Patrik. "Vermeer. Ett försvar för ögats vittnesbörd." Konsthistorisk tidskrift 57, part 2 (1988): 55-59, fig. 2.
1989Montias, John Michael. Vermeer and His Millieu: A Web of Social History. Princeton, 1989: 162, 182, 191, 255-256, 261, fig. 30.
1990Cunnar, Eugene R. "The Viewer's Share: Three Sectarian Readings of Vermeer's Woman with a Balance." Exemplaria 2 (1990); 501-536.
1991Bal, Mieke. Reading "Rembrandt": Beyond the Word-Image Opposition. Cambridge and New York, 1991: 1-4, 19-23, 177, repro. 0.1.
1991Nash, John. Vermeer. London, 1991: 24,2 6, 28, 39, 98-99, color repro.
1992National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 137, repro.
1995Johannes Vermeer. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1995-1996: no. 10.
1995Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Vermeer and the Art of Painting. New Haven, 1995: 97-103, color repro.
1995Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 371-377, color repro. 373.
1997Gowing, Lawrence. Vermeer. London, 1997: no. 45, repro.
1997Gebhardt, Volker. Kunstgeschichte Malerei. Cologne, 1997: no. 127, repro.
1997Niggemeyer, Margarete and Hans-Walter Stork. Perlen schimmern auf den Toren. 1997: 63, repro.
1997Robinson, James. "Vermeer." Classical Realism Journal III/2 (1997): 4-21, repro. 15.
1997Scholz, Georg. Lyrische Bilder: Gedichte nach Gemälden von Jan Vermeer. Munich, 1997: 42, repro.
1997Toman, Rolf. Die Kunst des Barock: Architektur, Skulptur, Malerei. Cologne, 1997: 465, repro.
1997Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Vermeer: The Complete Works. New York, 1997:36-37, no. 16, repro.
1998Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675): Sainte Praxede, Saint Praxedis. Musée de la Chapelle de la Visitation, Monaco, 1998: 7, repro. no. 7.
1998Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition: Faith, Reason and Power in the Early Modern World. New York, 1998: no. 22.10, repro.
1998Schlenke, Hubertus. Vermeer, mit Spinoza gesehen. Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1998: 52-55, 94-99, repro. no. 13a, 13b, 21, 21a.
1999Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. 2 vols. New York, 1999: 2:795-797, fig. 19-53, repro.

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