Table of Contents
Johannes Vermeer, Johannes also called Jan is the Dutch artist who created paintings that are among the most popular and revered images inart history. Although approximately 36 of his paintings have survived, these rare works are among the greatest treasures in the world's top museums. Vermeer began his career in the early 1650s painting large Biblical and mythological scenes, but most of his later paintings - for which he is most famous - depict scenes of everyday life in interiors. These works are notable for their purity of light and form, qualities that radiate a tranquil, timeless sense of dignity. Vermeer also painted cityscapes and allegorical scenes.
Why is Johannes Vermeer so famous?
Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch artist best known for his paintings of everyday life in the 17th century. The approximately 36 of his surviving paintings show a purity of light and form. Vermeer was not known outside Delft and Amsterdam until the 19th century, when the French critic Étienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré reassessed the artist's work.
Text continues below image.
What is Johannes Vermeer famous for?
Girl with a pearl earring (ca. 1665) is probably Johannes Vermeer's most famous work, but he is also known for his genre paintings. His subjects are often women in indoor scenes doing chores, as in The Milkmaid (c. 1660), or in private moments, as in Woman Reading a Letter (c. 1663).
How was Johannes Vermeer raised?
Surprisingly little is known about Vermeer's decision to become a painter. He registered as a master painter with the Delft Guild of Saint Luke on December 29, 1653, but the identity of his master, the nature of his training and the time ofhis training remain a mystery.
What was Johannes Vermeer's family like?
Johannes Vermeer was born the son of Reynier Jansz, a weaver who produced a fine satin fabric called caffa and who was also an art dealer. The family was rich enough. Vermeer later married Catherina Bolnes, a young Catholic with whom he had 15 children (four died in infancy or childhood).
How did Johannes Vermeer die?
Johannes Vermeer's finances suffered from the economic downturn following the French invasion of Holland in 1672, and he was heavily in debt when hedied suddenly three years later, possibly from a short-term illness, leaving his wife and children in poverty. His wife believed that stress had ruined his health.
Early life of Vermeer
Delft, where Vermeer was born and spent his artistic career, was an active and prosperous place in the mid-17th century. The wealth was based on flourishing Delft pottery factories, carpet weaving workshops and breweries. Within Delft's city walls were picturesque canals and a large market square, flanked by the imposing town hall and the towering tower of the Nieuwe Kerk. It was also a venerable city with a long and distinguished past. Delft's strong fortifications, city walls and medieval gates had provided defense for more than three centuries, and during the Dutch uprising against the Spanishdomination came from William I., the 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. In 1641 the family was wealthy enough to buy a large house on the market with an inn called Mechelen. Vermeer inherited both the inn and the art business after his father's death in October 1652. By then, 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 fromthe so-called Papenhoek or Papistenhoek in Delft. Through this union he converted from the Protestant faith in which he had been raised to Catholicism. Later that decade, Vermeer and his wife moved to the home of the bride's mother, Maria Thins, who was a distant relative of the Utrecht painter Abraham Bloemaert.
Artistic training and early influences
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 does not appear in Delft archives in the late 1640s or early 1650s, it is possible that he, like many aspiring Dutch artists, traveled to Italy, France or Flanders. He may also have trained in another artistic center in the UK, perhaps Utrecht or Amsterdam. In UtrechtVermeer met artists who had immersed themselves in the boldly expressive traditions of Caravaggio, including Gerrit van Honthorst. In Amsterdam he is said to have become acquainted with the influence of Rembrandt van Rijn, whose powerful chiaroscuro effects enhanced the psychological intensity of his paintings.
Stylistic features
Stylistic features of both painting traditions - the Utrecht school and that of Rembrandt - can be found in Vermeer's early large-scale Biblical and mythological paintings, such as Diana and her Nymphs (ca. 1653-54; also called Diana and her Companions) and Christ in the Houseof Mary and Martha (ca. 1654-56). The most striking assimilation of the two traditions is visible in Vermeer's The Prostitute (1656). The subject of this scene of mercenary love is taken from a painting by the Utrecht school artist Dirck van Baburen in the collection of Vermeer's mother-in-law, while the deep red and yellow tones and strong chiaroscuro effects are reminiscent of Rembrandt's painting style. The dimly lit figure to the left of the composition is probably a self-portrait in which Vermeer takes the guise of the prodigal son, a role Rembrandt had also played in one of his own "merry company" scenes.
In the early 1650s, Vermeer probably also found a lot of inspiration in his native city of Delft, where art was undergoing rapid change. The most important artist in Delft at that time was Leonard Bramer, who not only made small-scale history paintings - that is, morally edifying representations of biblical or mythological subjects - but also large murals for the court of the Prince of Orange. Documents show that Bramer, who was Catholic, acted as witness for Vermeer at his wedding. Although it appears that Bramer was at least an early advocate of the young artist, it is nowhere said that he was Vermeer'swas a teacher.
Another important painter that Vermeer must have known in Delft during this period was Carel Fabritius, a former student of Rembrandt. Fabritius's suggestive, pensive images and innovative use of perspective seem to have profoundly influenced Vermeer. This connection was noted by the poet Arnold Bon, who wrote about Fabritius's tragic death in 1654 in the explosion of the powder keg in Delft and noted that "Vermeer followed Fabritius' path masterfully". But although Vermeer was aware of Fabritius' work, there is no indication that he studied with Fabritius.
Regardless of the circumstances of his early artistic upbringing, Vermeer began depicting scenes from everyday life in the second half of the 1650s. These genre paintings are the paintings with which he is most associated. Gerard Terborch, an artist from Deventer who masterfully added texture to his depictions of domestic activities, may have encouraged Vermeer to focus on scenes from everyday life. Terborch's influence is clearly visible in one of Vermeer's earliest genre paintings, Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (ca. 1659), in which he created a quiet space for the young woman to read her letter.In contrast to the characteristic dark interiors of Terborch, Vermeer had this remarkably private scene bathed in radiant light that flows in through an open window. The painting also reveals Vermeer's growing interest in illusionism, not only through the addition of a yellow-green curtain hanging from a rod that extends across the top of the painting, but also through the subtle reflections of the woman's face in the open window.
Vermeer's interior scenes in this period were also influenced by the work of Pieter de Hooch, a leading genre painter in Delft at the time. De Hooch was onemaster of using perspective to create a light interior or courtyard scene in which figures are comfortably situated. Although there are no documents linking Vermeer and de Hooch, it is very likely that the two artists were in close contact during this period, as the subject matter and style of their paintings were very similar during those years. Vermeer's View of Houses in Delft (ca. 1658; also called Het Straatje) is such a work: just like in the Hoochs court scenes, Vermeer has portrayed a world of domestic tranquility here, where women and children carry out their daily activities within the reassuringenvironment of their homes.
