Amsterdam and Paris · 1810 and 1811 · 2 Vermeer lots
The Smeth van Alphen Sale
Pieter de Smeth van Alphen (1753–1809) was an Amsterdam merchant-banker whose collection was among the most important in the city. Its posthumous dispersal, principally at Amsterdam in August 1810 and continued in a mixed Paris sale of 1811, carried Girl Interrupted in her Music toward the Frick Collection and A Maid Asleep toward the Metropolitan Museum.
A great Amsterdam collection dispersed
Pieter de Smeth van Alphen (1753–1809) was an Amsterdam merchant-banker whose collection of seventeenth-century Dutch painting was among the finest in the city. Its posthumous dispersal came in two parts: the principal sale in Amsterdam in August 1810, and a mixed Paris sale held by Lebrun the following year.
Girl Interrupted in her Music sold in Amsterdam for 610 guilders and made its way toward the Frick Collection, while A Maid Asleep went through the Paris sale toward the Metropolitan Museum.
Vermeer in the sale
| Lot | Work | Buyer | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | Amsterdam, 1 August 1810  Girl Interrupted in her Music | J. de Vries | ƒ 610 |
| 150 | Paris (Lebrun), April 1811  A Maid Asleep | Alexandre-Joseph Paillet | — |