Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. Nonetheless, he produced relatively few paintings and evidently was not wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death.
Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and frequently used very expensive pigments. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.
"Almost all his paintings", Hans Koningsberger wrote, "are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women."
His modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death. He was barely mentioned in Arnold Houbraken's major source book on 17th-century Dutch painting and was thus omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries.
Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and frequently used very expensive pigments. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.
"Almost all his paintings", Hans Koningsberger wrote, "are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women."
His modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death. He was barely mentioned in Arnold Houbraken's major source book on 17th-century Dutch painting and was thus omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries.
Show lessRead more
Wikipedia29 stories
View AllRelated works from the web
Artworks not sourced from our partners' collections
Related works from the webWoman Reading a Letter (1664)
www.wikidata.org
Woman in Blue Reading a Letter - Wikidata
The Lacemaker (1670)
www.wikidata.org
The Lacemaker - Wikidata
The Astronomer (1668)
www.wikidata.org
The Astronomer - Wikidata
Officer and Laughing Girl (1660)
www.wikidata.org
Officer and Laughing Girl - Wikidata
Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid (1671)
www.nationalgallery.ie
Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid by Johannes Vermeer (1632 ...
Diana and Her Companions (1656)
www.wikidata.org
Diana and her Nymphs - Wikidata
Girl with a Flute (1670)
www.wikidata.org
Girl with a Flute - Wikidata
Lady Seated at a Virginal (1672)
www.wikidata.org
A Young Woman seated at a Virginal - Wikidata
Lady Standing at a Virginal (1672)
en.wikipedia.org
Lady Standing at a Virginal - Wikipedia
Saint Praxedis (1655)
www.wikidata.org
Saint Praxedis - Wikidata
More art movements
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.