A Quiet Abiding: Jacobus Vrel’s Interior with a Sick Woman by a Fireplace in The Leiden Collection

Jacobus Vrel (active 1654 – 1662) may be the most enigmatic artist of The Dutch Golden Age. For nearly three centuries his work was confused with that of Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675), whose work he prefigures in various ways. Yet almost nothing is known about his beginnings and career. How art historians have been able to identify this forerunner of Vermeer is one of the most intriguing episodes in recent Dutch art-historical scholarship. This installation features a single work by Vrel, Interior with a Sick Woman by a Fireplace, in which visitors will experience a superb example of an interior domestic scene not yet represented in the Norton’s Collection. As a part of the Norton’s Special Guests series, this work will be displayed with the Museum’s other Dutch paintings for two years. Image Credit: Jacobus Vrel (Dutch, Active, 1654 – 1662), Interior with a Sick, Woman by a Fireplace, circa 1654–1656, Oil on panel, 22 1/2 x 18 3/4 in. (57.3 x 47.7 cm), Image courtesy of The Leiden Collection, New York