A Lição de Música

Vermeer painted this in Delft in the early 1660s, a young woman at a virginal with a man standing close beside her, and almost nothing in it is left to chance. She has her back to us, but a mirror tilted above the keyboard catches her face turned slightly toward her companion, so we get the glance the pose hides. That same mirror does something sly. In its lower edge you can just make out the legs of a painter's easel, Vermeer quietly reminding you that this tender private scene was built and arranged. Along the lid of the instrument runs a Latin motto that translates as music is a companion in joy and a balm in sorrow. The painting has hung in the British royal collection since 1762, when George III bought a whole Venetian collection that happened to contain it.