The New Vermeer – Bringing a Lost Painting Back to Life
After my participation in Project Rembrandt (NTR) and The Secret of the Master (AVROTROS), I was invited to join the television program The New Vermeer as a so-called “master painter.” A great honour – but also quite the challenge.
For the program, we were asked to reconstruct a painting by Johannes Vermeer that has been lost over time. Several of Vermeer’s works are known to have disappeared – some even relatively recently, such as The Concert, which was stolen in the infamous 1990 art heist in Boston. But for this episode, I was tasked with reimagining a much earlier lost work:
“A Seigneur Washing His Hands in a Perspective Room with Figures”
We know this intriguing title thanks to an old inventory list in which the painting was once recorded. No image or sketch has survived, so no one today has ever actually seen it. That meant diving deep into Vermeer’s world – the period it was likely painted, the stylistic choices, common themes, and the types of objects and details typically found in his work.
Interestingly, the word “Figures” (or Beelden in Dutch) in the 17th century didn’t refer to statues as we might assume today, but rather to human figures. I was fortunate to receive expert guidance from specialists at the Rijksmuseum, especially when it came to furniture, textiles, and the intricate patterns of Eastern carpets.
One of the biggest challenges was finding a suitable location – one that still felt authentic to the mid-1600s, despite centuries of renovation. Eventually, I found it: the tower of Castle Doorwerth. Thanks to the generous cooperation of the castle’s caretaker, I was allowed to use the space for a day, complete with models in period costume.
If you look closely, you’ll see I included a beautiful gold washbasin set that appears in other Vermeer paintings. Naturally, there’s no faucet – such plumbing didn’t exist at the time. Even the fruit in the foreground is historically accurate: no nectarines, but a peach instead. Every detail needed to be correct. And then, of course, it still had to be painted.
As a small wink to Vermeer’s personal life, I included a painting by Dirck van Baburen in the background – a piece Vermeer depicted multiple times and which was reportedly owned by his mother-in-law.
I’m proud to say I won the episode with this work. The painting has since been sold – a truly rewarding conclusion to an intense and fascinating journey.
