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Detail of the painting The Procuress (c. 1656), proposed self portrait by Vermeer [1] The following is a list of paintings by the Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675). After two or three early history paintings, he concentrated almost entirely on genre works, typically interiors with one or two figures. Vermeer's paintings of ...
Order Oil Paintingreproduction. Jan Vermeer, one of the greatest Dutch masters, is responsible for some of the most iconic imagery in the history of art, such as The Girl with a Pearl Earring (ca.1665), The Milkmaid (ca. 1660) and The Art of Painting (1665-1668). His artworks are a rarity, with only around 36 known paintings attributed to him.
- Dutch
- October 31, 1632
- Delft, Netherlands
- December 15, 1675
- Overview
- Early life
- Artistic training and early influences
Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch artist known especially for his paintings of 17th-century daily life. The 36 or so of his paintings that survive show a remarkable purity of light and form. Vermeer was not well known outside of Delft and Amsterdam until the 19th century, when the French critic Étienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré reassessed the artist’s work.
What is Johannes Vermeer famous for?
Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665) is probably Johannes Vermeer’s most famous work, but he is also known for his genre paintings. His subjects are often women in interior scenes completing chores, as in The Milkmaid (c. 1660), or engaged in private moments, as in Woman Reading a Letter (c. 1663).
How was Johannes Vermeer educated?
Surprisingly little is known about Vermeer’s decision to become a painter. He registered as a master painter in the Delft Guild of Saint Luke on December 29, 1653, but the identity of his master(s), the nature of his training, and the period of his apprenticeship remain a mystery.
What was Johannes Vermeer’s family like?
Delft, where Vermeer was born and spent his artistic career, was an active and prosperous place in the mid-17th century, its wealth based on its thriving delftware factories, tapestry-weaving ateliers, and breweries. Within Delft’s city walls were picturesque canals and a large market square, which was flanked by the imposing town hall and the soaring steeple of the Nieuwe Kerk (“New Church”). It was also a venerable city with a long and distinguished past. Delft’s strong fortifications, city walls, and medieval gates had furnished defense for more than three centuries and, during the Dutch revolt against Spanish control, had provided refuge for William I, prince of Orange, from 1572 until his death in 1584.
Vermeer was baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk. His father, Reynier Jansz, was a weaver who produced a fine satin fabric called caffa; he was also active as an art dealer. By 1641 the family was sufficiently prosperous to purchase a large house containing an inn, called the Mechelen, on the market square. Vermeer inherited both the inn and the art-dealing business upon his father’s death in October 1652. By this time, however, Vermeer must have decided that he wanted to pursue a career as a painter.
In April 1653 Vermeer married Catherina Bolnes, a young Catholic woman from the so-called Papenhoek, or Papist’s Corner, of Delft. This union led him to convert from the Protestant faith, in which he was raised, to Catholicism. Later in that decade, Vermeer and his wife moved into the house of the bride’s mother, Maria Thins, who was a distant relative of the Utrecht painter Abraham Bloemaert.
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Surprisingly little is known about Vermeer’s decision to become a painter. He registered as a master painter in the Delft Guild of Saint Luke on December 29, 1653, but the identity of his master(s), the nature of his training, and the period of his apprenticeship remain a mystery.
Since Vermeer’s name is not mentioned in Delft archival records during the late 1640s or early 1650s, it is possible that, as with many aspiring Dutch artists, he traveled to Italy, France, or Flanders. He also may have trained in some other artistic centre in the Netherlands, perhaps Utrecht or Amsterdam. In Utrecht Vermeer would have met artists who were immersed in the boldly expressive traditions of Caravaggio, among them Gerrit van Honthorst. In Amsterdam he would have encountered the impact of Rembrandt van Rijn, whose powerful chiaroscuro effects enhanced the psychological intensity of his paintings.
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Stylistic characteristics of both pictorial traditions—the Utrecht school and that of Rembrandt—are found in Vermeer’s early large-scale biblical and mythological paintings, such as Diana and Her Nymphs (c. 1653–54; also called Diana and Her Companions) and Christ in the House of Mary and Martha (c. 1654–56). The most striking assimilation of the two traditions is apparent in Vermeer’s The Procuress (1656). The subject of this scene of mercenary love is derived from a painting by the Utrecht-school artist Dirck van Baburen in the collection of Vermeer’s mother-in-law, while the deep reds and yellows and the strong chiaroscuro effects are reminiscent of Rembrandt’s style of painting. The dimly lit figure at the left of the composition is probably a self-portrait in which Vermeer assumes the guise of the Prodigal Son, a role that Rembrandt had also played in one of his own “merry company” scenes.
In the early 1650s Vermeer might also have found much inspiration back within his native Delft, where art was undergoing a rapid transformation. The most important artist in Delft at the time was Leonard Bramer, who produced not only small-scale history paintings—that is, morally edifying depictions of biblical or mythological subjects—but also large murals for the court of the prince of Orange. Documents indicate that Bramer, who was Catholic, served as a witness for Vermeer at his marriage. Although it would appear that Bramer was, at the very least, an early advocate for the young artist, nowhere is it stated that he was Vermeer’s teacher.
Johannes Vermeer (/ vərˈmɪər, vərˈmɛər / vər-MEER, vər-MAIR, Dutch: [joːˈɦɑnəs fərˈmeːr]; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.
In his earliest paintings, Vermeer surveyed the styles of various seventeenth-century artists. For example, in Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (ca. 1654–55; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh), he achieved an unlikely mixture of Anthony van Dyck and Hendrick ter Brugghen.
The slab denotes the rock of the Catholic Church. The large painting in the background is a simplified version of Christ on the Cross by Jacob Jordaens (c.1620), which was also owned by Vermeer's mother-in-law. The older painting even appears in the inventory of Vermeer's belongings after his death in 1675.
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Feb 9, 2024 · TITLES Over the years, scholars and museums have given a number of titles to each of Vermeer's paintings. For the sake of uniformity, the titles used in this catalogue are those found in Arthur K. Wheelock's Vermeer and the Art of Painting (pp. 169–186).
