Poor Vermeer only crawled and never balled, until Thoré-Bürger came around.

Vermeer died just 43 years young in the 1600s. His reputation floundered in obscurity for hundreds of years until one dude with a vision yelled at the world to stop and pay attention: Art critic maestro Théophile Thoré-Bürger, whose biggest #lifegoal was to get people on board the Vermeer bandwagon. Thoré-Bürger was kind of a dick, like the Simon Cowell of the 19th century Paris art scene. Théo was crazy in love with Vermeer's work and had quite the collection of Vermeers, including A Young Woman Standing at the Virginal, Girl with a Pearl Earring, and notable others. So Vermeer's spike in popularity wouldn't hurt Théo's pockets either. 

Théo dropped the good word on Vermeer, and other Dutch artists like Frans Hals, spreading the fame of Dutch and Flemish painters far and wide. Thoré-Bürger's new light on Vermeer sent prices for works like this one from near zero to circa-1996 Tickle Me Elmo status. But Thoré-Bürger held on tight to A Young Woman Standing at the Virginal. After he passed, The National Gallery in London pried the painting out of his cold, dead fingers and proudly displays it to this day. 

A Young Woman is thought to be part one of a pendant set by Vermeer. Thoré-Bürger had the matching piece, A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, hid away in his collection. The tricky thing is that cataloguers played fast and loose with which young woman was which. Probably because of the whole not really giving a damn about Vermeer schtick.

A virginal is a harpsichord. No one knows why it is called a virginal, but theories include that the sweet sound resembles that of virgins' voices, or that the instrument was mostly played by virgins, or that it was named after the Virgin Mary.

Paintings within paintings alert: The landscape on the left is thought to have been painted by Allart van Everdingen, and the Cupid on the right by Allart's brother, Caesar van Everdingen.

Cupid is not a baby referee at an adorable soccer game holding up a yellow card. He is showing us a queen of hearts, the symbol of love.

If fashion if judged by sleeve poufiness, this outfit is very chic.