VERMEER

The Little Street in Delft	Girl with a Pearl Earring	The Music Lesson	The Milkmaid	View of Delft	Young Woman with a Water Jug
The Lacemaker	The Geographer	The Astronomer	Mistress and Maid	Girl reading a letter at an open window	The Concert

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Johannes Vermeer

October 31, 1632 (baptism) - December 15 1675

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Biography

Johannes Vermeer or Jan Vermeer was a Dutch painter. He specialized in domestic interiors, portraits and city views. His entire life was spent in Delft. Vermeer was a Master in the Delft painters' guild from 1653, and was highly regarded in his lifetime, although he seems to have never been particularly wealthy, leaving his wife and 11 children in debt at his death. His name and reputation were almost forgotten until 1866 when the art critic Thoré Burger published an essay attributing 66 pictures to him (only 34 paintings are firmly attributed to him today). The few contemporary references to his paintings all relate to surviving works, so it is unlikely that there were ever many more - he may have been a slow worker and probably (like many Dutch painters of this period) had another source of income - a trip to The Hague in 1672 to authenticate some paintings suggests that he may have been a picture dealer.

Vermeer produced transparent colours by adding the paint onto the canvas in loosely granular layers, a technique called pointillé (not to be confused with pointillism). David Hockney, among other historians, has speculated that Vermeer possibly used a camera obscura to achieve precise positioning in his compositions, and this view seems to be supported by certain light and perspective effects which would be the result of lenses and not the naked eye; however, the issue is disputed by many other historians.

Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes, and even his two known landscapes are framed with a window. His works are largely genre pieces and portraits, with the exception of two cityscapes. His paintings cover all layers of society, at one time portraying a simple milkmaid at work, at other times works show the luxury and splendour of rich notables and merchantmen in their roomy houses. Religious and scientific connotations can be found in his works.

After his death, Vermeer and his work were forgotten. Nowadays, only a small number of paintings has survived. In Delft, Vermeer was a respected artist but seems to have never sold one of his paintings. The small number of paintings of which we now know they are Vermeer's can be attributed to the fact that he was a very precise painter. His compositions are remarkable and so is his representation of space. His relatively short life and career as an artist is seen as another reason for small Vermeer heritage. It is assumed that many of his paintings were lost after his death. Despite the fact that we only have a small number of paintings, Vermeer is now considered to be one of the greatest Dutch painters.

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