A Lady Playing the Guitar (after 1670s) is an oil on canvas painting by an unknown copyist after a c. 1672 work by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is an example of Dutch Golden Age painting and is part of the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Provenance This painting by a follower of Vermeer was documented as authentic by Hofstede de Groot in 1908:entry 26 for A Lady Playing the Guitar in Hofstede de Groot, 1908
Years later it became apparent that Hofstede de Groot (and John G. Johnson) had been tricked and this was a copy of the version in Kenwood House. It is thanks to Johnson's deeply founded interest in art that all paintings of dubious attribution in his possession, such as this one, were allowed to remain in the collection, where it has become a quiet testament to the "Vermeer craze" at the turn of the 20th century. Even after seeing the Kenwood House version, Hofstede de Groot was convinced of this painting's superiority, which demonstrates the skill of the unknown copyist. The provenance records mentioned by Hofstede de Groot pertain, however, to the Kenwood House version. It is still unknown where the dealer Stephen Gooden acquired the painting.
In 2023, during the Rijksmuseum Vermeer exhibition, the painting was presented during a symposium by Arie Wallert as a possible work by the master based on modern paint analysis.An Art Expert Has Made a Startling Claim: the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Vermeer Copy May Actually Be the Real Thing, April 5 2023 article in artnet news Research suggests that over-cleaning of the surface has led to a heavily abraded surface that thus far has stood in the way of such an attribution.
The two paintings were exhibited at Kenwood House between September 2025 and January 2026, displayed side by side for the first time in over 300 years.
See also The Guitar Player (Vermeer)
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External links Lady Playing the Guitar on museum website (not on show)