Woman Holding a Balance

Infobox Painting|

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title=A Woman Holding a Balance
artist=Johannes Vermeer
year=1662-1663
type=Oil on canvas
height=42,5
width=38
city=Washington, D.C.
museum=National Gallery of Art

The "Woman Holding a Balance" is a painting finished around 1662-1663 by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is housed in the National Gallery of Art of Washington, D.C.

Analysis and meaning

Until recently this painting was best known as "The Goldweigher" or "Girl Weighing Pearls". Microscopic analysis, however, has revealed the pans of the balance to be empty. The highlight on the pans is not rendered with lead-tin yellow, which is used elsewhere on the canvas to depict gold. Vermeer represented pearls with a thin gray layer topped with a white highlight. The pan highlight is a single layer. In addition, there are no loose pearls on the table that would indicate other pearls waiting to be weighed.

This seemingly trivial analysis as to what is being weighed sheds light on the meaning of the work, for "Woman Holding a Balance" is overtly allegorical. She is dressed in the traditional blue outfit of Mary, and she is pregnant, which suggests there is a connection with the choice and the Final Judgment depicted in the background.

The woman stands between a depiction of the Last Judgment hung in a heavy black frame, and a table covered with jewelry representing material possessions. The empty scale stresses that she is balancing spiritual rather than material considerations. Vermeer's portrayal does not impart a sense of tension or conflict, rather the woman exudes serenity. Her self-knowledge is reflected in the mirror on the wall. Therefore, the painting suggests the importance of moderation, self-awareness, and a full understanding of the implications of a final judgment, and what it would be to be the woman who gave birth to it.

Composition

The composition is designed to focus attention on the small and delicate balance being held. The woman's arms act as a frame, with the small finger of her right hand extended to echo the horizontal lever of the balance. The bottom of the painting frame is even altered to provide a partial niche for the scales. The frame ends higher in front of the woman than it does behind her. The complex interplay between verticals and horizontals, objects and negative space, and light and shadow results in a strongly balanced, yet still active composition. The scales are balanced, but dynamically asymmetrical. A cleaning in 1994 revealed previously undetectable gold trim on the black frame that provides a tonal link to the yellow of the curtain and the woman's costume.

Vermeer has endowed "Woman Holding a Balance" with more overtly allegorical context than his other domestic scenes. As such, it loses some of the invitingly subjective interpretation of a less direct work such as "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter". Nevertheless, Vermeer's masterful composition and execution produced a powerful and moving work.