"Young Woman Seated at a Virginal," one of perhaps 36 known works by Johannes Vermeer, and the only one left in private hands (besides Queen Elizabeth's collection), is quietly on public display at Virginia's Chrysler Museum of Art.

Aspects of this work have puzzled art experts since it emerged from the collection of a Belgian baron in the 1990s. The painting was researched, analyzed, X-rayed, and examined under microscope. Ultimately, specialists, including Arthur Wheelock, concluded that Vermeer's hand was evident, based on numerous factors such as the usage of the artist's three distinctive pigments, including costly ultramarine, the vibrant blue created by mixing in ground lapis lazuli.

Sotheby's spent ten years reasearching "Young Woman" before offering it as a Vermeer in 2004 with a 22-page auction catalog essay. The painting reportedly sold for $30 million to Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino mogul, before he let it go privately four years later.

An unnamed New York private collector has loaned the Vermeer to the Chrysler through January 1, 2011, as part of a "Dutch Golden Age Paintings" exhibition.