A scholar in a Japanese-style robe leans against a worktable with a nautical chart, holding dividers while gazing toward the window light. One of only three Vermeer works both signed and dated. Shares canvas bolt with companion piece The Astronomer.

Believed to portray Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the pioneering microscopist. The dynamic diagonal — unusual for Vermeer — gives it a sense of intellectual urgency.

Now at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt.