Vermeer’s The Music Lesson, aka Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman, was painted in 1662. To think that the Queen could have this hanging in her study or bedroom and indeed maybe she does… So little has changed, it is actually quite curious, and almost sobering, that thousands of homes similarly have a piano, a cello, a rug/tablecloth, a jug. Only our clothes are quite different. There are probably hundreds of articles on the web about the symbolism inherent in this painting. But maybe we can just look at it tout court – as a painting of a music lesson.