The Concert

A painting nobody has seen since 1990

On the night of 18 March 1990, thieves disguised as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and stole thirteen works. Vermeer’s The Concert was among them. It has never been recovered and is often described as the most valuable stolen painting in the world.

The museum still displays the empty frame where it hung. Vermeer painted it around 1664.

Three musicians in a quiet room

A young woman in a pale satin skirt sits at a harpsichord. Beside her, a man seen from behind plays a lute, though only his back and shoulder are visible.

At the right, a second woman stands holding a sheet of music, singing and keeping time with her raised hand. The three seem absorbed in the music.

Paintings that comment on the scene

The open lid of the harpsichord is painted with a landscape. On the wall hang two paintings: a wild landscape at the left and, at the right, The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen, a brothel scene that Vermeer’s family owned.

Some see the contrast between the harmonious music and the brothel scene as a moral comment on love and temptation. Vermeer leaves it implicit.

A viola da gamba on the floor

In the foreground, a viola da gamba lies on the black and white tiled floor, beside a table covered with a heavy carpet. The empty foreground keeps the viewer at a distance from the musicians.

Music in Vermeer’s paintings

Music appears often in Vermeer’s work. Women play the virginal, the lute or the guitar, sometimes alone, sometimes with a gentleman. In Dutch art, music was linked with harmony, love and sometimes seduction. A music lesson could suggest courtship. The Concert shows three people making music together: a young woman at the harpsichord, a man with a lute and a woman singing.

The painting on the wall

On the right wall hangs a painting of The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen, showing a brothel scene. Vermeer’s mother-in-law owned this painting, and it also appears in another of his works. Its presence may contrast the harmony of the concert with the sensual love shown in the hanging picture. On the left, a landscape painting balances the composition.

The Gardner heist

The 1990 theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is the largest unsolved art theft in history. The thieves took thirteen works, including paintings by Rembrandt, Degas and Manet, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The museum offers a reward of ten million dollars for information leading to their recovery. Empty frames still hang on the walls where the paintings were, as Isabella Stewart Gardner’s will forbids changing the arrangement of her collection.

Known today from reproductions

Because the painting has been missing since 1990, it can be studied only from photographs taken before the theft. These images show the soft light, the black and white floor and the three figures gathered around the instruments. Every reproduction of The Concert is now also a reminder of its loss.

Seeing it today

The original cannot be seen, and its empty frame hangs in the Gardner Museum in Boston. Our hand-painted oil reproduction recreates the composition from historical photographs. For more paintings of women and music, explore our famous paintings of women.

Questions about The Concert

Where is The Concert now?

Its location is unknown. It was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990.

When was it painted?

Around 1664.

What is the painting on the wall?

The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen, which belonged to Vermeer’s family.

How large is it?

About 72.5 × 64.7 centimetres, oil on canvas.

How large is the reward for its recovery?

The Gardner Museum offers ten million dollars.

What painting hangs on the wall in the scene?

The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen, owned by Vermeer’s mother-in-law.

Sources and image credit

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: The Concert
• Wikimedia Commons: The Concert

Public-domain reproduction of The Concert (about 1664), via Wikimedia Commons. Detail images are crops of the same historical image; no reconstruction or upscaling.