Whatever the link between them, their resemblance announces a unique characteristic of Vermeer's maturity period: "They are like striking lessons of pure and cold poetry, of life spent in quietude; Vermeer abandons himself to a graphic sort of magic, through the interplay between objects and light." (J. Foucart).

"The Astronomer" by Johannes Vermeer was initially part of the Guy de Rothschild collection, being acquired by the Louvre in 1870, the only Vermeer until then preserved in the national collections. Although more than half of Vermeer's paintings passed through French hands (almost 19 paintings from a total of 32), "The Astronomer" was the only one that remained in France, and even that in a private collection. "The Astronomer" has changed many names throughout the years: it was named "The Philosopher", " The Geometer", "The Astrologer", and "The Geographer", just like the other "Geographer" by Vermeer, preserved at Francfort.
The two paintings ("The Astronomer" and "The Geographer") have been associated from as early as the year of their initial sale, in 1713, in Rotterdam. After that they were sold as pendants until 1797, the last year they were seen together. In 1800, "The Astronomer" was shown alone at the Gildemeester auction in Amsterdam. In 1885, "The Geographer" was sold to the Stadel Museum in Francfort.
Even though they were for a long time considered pendants (paintings of similar sizes, portraying the same sort of characters, in similar postures and surrounded by similar objects), it was often noted that the two had different dates (1668 and 1669), and they were not symmetrical: both men in the portraits are facing left.