Officer and Laughing Girl is an
oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch artist
Johannes Vermeer, produced around 1657. Created during the
Dutch Golden Age, the painting has dimensions of 50.5 by 46.0 centimetres (19.9 in × 18.1 in). The main subject is a woman in a yellow dress, light is coming from the left-hand side of the painting from an open window, and there is a large map on the wall. Each of these elements occur in some of his other paintings, although this painting differs slightly with the man also sitting at the table. Art historians, who have suggested conflicting interpretations of the work, believe that a painting by
Gerard van Honthorst inspired the composition and that Vermeer used a
camera obscura to create the perspective. The work is now part of the
Frick Collection in New York.
Painting credit: Johannes Vermeer