A groundbreaking discovery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has revealed what appears to be a hidden self-portrait by Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) in his painting "The Girl Asleep" (1656-1657). Using advanced X-ray analysis, the museum's scientific team uncovered the concealed image that the Dutch master ultimately chose to paint over. This finding is particularly significant as no confirmed self-portraits of Vermeer are known to exist, except for a presumed one showing the artist from behind in "The Art of Painting" (1666).
The discovery was detailed in a collective work titled "Closer to Vermeer," published on July 24 by Thames & Hudson in the United States. This publication compiles new research findings on the Dutch Golden Age painter, whose enigmatic genre scenes and personal life continue to hold many mysteries. The Art Newspaper, upon reviewing these findings, identified additional evidence that strengthens the self-portrait theory.
The X-ray analysis revealed a framed mirror on the wall of an empty room visible through a partially open door in the painting's background. Within this mirror appears the reflection of a man with a raised arm, seemingly painting with his left hand—a detail attributed to the mirror's natural reversal effect. This discovery draws striking parallels to Diego Velázquez's self-portrait in the background of "Las Meninas" (1656), painted coincidentally in the same year. However, the image remains too dark to distinguish clear facial features or details.
The Art Newspaper pointed out to researchers that this underlying image bears resemblance to a detail from Nicolas Maes's painting "The Naughty Drummer" (1655), created approximately one year before Vermeer's work and housed in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. Behind a mother scolding her son for playing the drum too loudly, a framed mirror hangs on the wall, reflecting the artist at his easel. The Metropolitan Museum confirms that Vermeer, known to be familiar with Maes's work, could very well have seen and drawn inspiration from this painting. The pose of the sleeping young woman in Vermeer's work also recalls a female character from another Maes painting from the same year, "The Idle Servant" (1655).
Vermeer ultimately decided to conceal this self-portrait, perhaps to redirect attention toward the young woman in the foreground. He replaced the original mirror with a smaller, darker one without reflection, adding an adjacent window and table to the composition. However, he retained a painting hanging to the left behind the woman, depicting Cupid with a tragic mask at his feet—an allegory of deceived love suggesting the woman may not be sleeping but rather in a posture of dejection following romantic disillusionment. The glass, wine pitcher, and disheveled tablecloth positioned before her even suggest she might be drowning her sorrows in alcohol.
Several years later, Vermeer again incorporated a mirror into another composition, "The Music Lesson" (1662-1665). This time, the object reflected not the painter but the face of one of the scene's characters. This technique, previously used by Jan van Eyck in the background of "The Arnolfini Portrait" (1434) to reveal the "reverse of the scene," and by Johannes Gumpp in his 1646 self-portrait, allowed Flemish painters to demonstrate their mastery of reflections, mise en abyme, detail, and perspective.
Vermeer was also known for repeatedly erasing background elements in his compositions to achieve greater simplicity. X-ray examination revealed that he had initially hung a large painting of Cupid behind his "Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window" (1657). Similarly, two objects originally appeared in the background of "The Milkmaid" (1658) that were eventually removed. On that back wall, only a solitary nail and its shadow remain, serving as testimony to the artist's quest for minimalism and refinement in his work.
