A Lady Playing the Guitar (after 1670s) is an oil on canvas painting by an unknown copyist after a c. 1672 work by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is an example of Dutch Golden Age painting and is part of the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This painting by a follower of Vermeer was documented as authentic by Hofstede de Groot in 1908:
Years later it became apparent that Hofstede de Groot (and Johnson G. Johnson) had been tricked and this was a copy of the version in Kenwood House. It is thanks to Johnson's deeply founded interest in art that all dubious attributions of paintings in his possession such as this one were allowed to remain in the collection, where it has become a quiet testament to the "Vermeer craze" at the turn of the 20th-century. Even after seeing the Kenwood House version, Hofstede de Groot was convinced of this painting's superiority, which demonstrates the skill of the unknown copyist. The provenance records mentioned by Hofstede de Groot pertain however to the Kenwood House version. It is still unknown where the dealer "Gooden" acquired the painting.
In 2023 during the Rijksmuseum Vermeer exhibition, the painting was presented during a symposium by Arie Wallert as a possible work by the master based on modern paint analysis.
References
Lady Playing the Guitar on museum website (not on show)