Talk:The Astronomer

Information on the painting

To someone who can be bothered to expand this page: try this site for ideas: [] —The preceding unsigned comment was added by R160K (talk • contribs) 20:22, 31 March 2007 (UTC).

Louvre

There is a dispute concerning how the painting entered the collection of the Louvre. As a donation or as a tax payment to the state. Opinions are welcome here...Modernist (talk) 03:50, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

So far the only online sources I'm finding state that the painting was either sold or donated to the Louvre. If it was intended as a tax payment there needs to be a source to support the claim. JNW (talk) 04:20, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

I re-added the reference by Barbiedrag that mentions inheritance tax, I'd like another source however...Modernist (talk) 04:24, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Found and added. JNW (talk) 04:32, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for that addition, good find - the gift seems to be part of some complicated negotiations and not just something to clear up a tax liability...Modernist (talk) 04:35, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Funny how the health of the market determins the goodwill behind such things. Ceoil 22:09, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

During the Nazi Years

I recently came across some info on this painting's history, but since I am not an expert I will leave it to others to determine if this is relevant for the article. The painting's whereabouts during the Nazi years was described in the book The Devil’s Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich by Robert K. Wittman an David Kinney (2016). Wittman is a noteworthy expert on recovering artworks stolen by the Nazis during World War II, and the book's subject, Alfred Rosenberg, was in charge of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg operation that is already mentioned in the article. The book describes that the painting was hidden for a few years in a salt mine near the village of Alt Aussee, Austria and was discovered by Allied investigators shortly after the end of the war. Hitler had apparently planned to keep it for his personal collection. This is described in Chapter 22 of the Wittman/Kinney book; sorry I can't provide precise page numbers because I was reading an e-book version that rearranged the original page numbers. ---DOOMSDAYER520 (Talk|Contribs) 17:09, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

Featured picture scheduled for POTD

Hello! This is to let editors know that File:Johannes Vermeer_-_The_Astronomer_-_1668.jpg, a featured picture that is used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for June 7, 2026. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2026-06-07. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you!  — Amakuru (talk) 12:54, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

The Astronomer is an oil painting on canvas by the Dutch Golden Age artist Johannes Vermeer, completed in 1668. The work depicts an astronomer studying a celestial globe beside a copy of Adriaan Metius's Institutiones Astronomicae Geographicae. Closely related to Vermeer's The Geographer, it is thought to portray the same sitter, possibly Antonie van Leeuwenhoek; a 2017 study showed that both paintings were made from canvas cut from the same bolt. The painting was seized by the Nazis from the Rothschild family during the Second World War, returned to them when the war concluded, and acquired by the French state in 1983. It is now in the collection of the Louvre in Paris.

Painting credit: Johannes Vermeer

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