THE CONCERT By Johannes Vermeer Editorial Photo

The painting portrays a young female lutenist, a bearded man as the client and an older woman, the procuress, pointing to her open hand soliciting payment.The Concert and The Music Lesson are two paintings that point out the difficulties of interpreting precisely the meanings of Vermeer's works. The theme of music is a frequent one in Dutch art and is generally associated with love and seduction. Paintings by Steen, Van Mieris, and Metsu often include a small statue of Cupid surmounting a door or mantelpiece as a reference to the underlying emotional context of the scene. Associations with love and seduction are also evident in the general attitudes or the figures in these paintings. The music instructor frequently appears more than professionally interested in his student and her progress as a musician.