VERMEER, Johannes
(b. 1632, Delft, d. 1675, Delft)

Woman with a Lute near a Window (detail)

c. 1663
Oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The left part (from the viewer's perspective) of the lady's figure is bathed in strong light, whereas the rest falls abruptly into penumbra. On the back wall, a large map on which the word EUROPA can be made out.