Girl with a Red Hat

Girl with a Red Hat, painted around 1668-69 and now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, is one of Vermeer's most intimate paintings, executed on a small wooden panel rather than his usual canvas. The brilliant red hat, likely made of beaver felt, creates a striking color accent against the blue-gray background that has made this one of Vermeer's most recognizable images. Some scholars have questioned the attribution, but the luminous handling of color and the sophisticated use of camera-obscura-like optical effects support Vermeer's authorship.

The tiny panel painting displays extraordinary economy of means, with the red hat rendered in broad, confident strokes of vermilion and the lion-head finials catching highlights with pointillé dots. The blurred foreground tapestry and sharply focused face create a depth-of-field effect suggesting the use of a camera obscura.