VERMEER, Johannes, Featured Paintings in Detail (1)

VERMEER, Johannes

Featured Paintings in Detail

(1)

VERMEER, JohannesGirl with a Pearl Earringc. 1665Oil on canvas, 46,5 x 40 cmMauritshuis, The Hague

VERMEER, JohannesGirl with a Pearl Earring (detail)c. 1665Oil on canvasMauritshuis, The Hague


The girl is wearing an exotic turban and is set against a neutral, dark background, very nearly black, which establishes a powerful three-dimensionality of effect - a process recommended by Leonardo da Vinci.

VERMEER, JohannesThe Milkmaidc. 1658Oil on canvas, 45,5 x 41 cmRijksmuseum, Amsterdam

VERMEER, JohannesThe Milkmaid (detail)c. 1658Oil on canvasRijksmuseum, Amsterdam


Nineteenth-century artists from Millet to van Gogh were impressed by this painting's vigorous paint, powerful realism, and rich texture. The paint is rather thick and grainy, the impasto heavy, and Vermeer's pontillé technique already begins to play an important role. Yellow (the cook's blouse) and blue (her apron, the lining of her sleeves, the cloth, and the Nassau stoneware pitcher on the table) predominate.


The bread in the basket, and the rolls on the table, are speckled with shimmering points of light and are fascinating examples of Vermeer's wonderful pointillist technique.

VERMEER, JohannesA Lady and Two Gentlemenc. 1659Oil on canvas, 78 x 68 cmHerzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig

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VERMEER, JohannesA Lady and Two Gentlemen (detail)c. 1659Oil on canvas, 78 x 68 cmHerzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig

A young woman wearing an elegant red dress is seated in the foreground turned toward the left and looking half-smilingly at the viewer. It is one of the rare instances when Vermeer animates one of his figures with a semblance of expression. She seems to be courted by a fine gentleman, bent over and encouraging the young lady to take a sip from the wine glass that she holds in her hand


This detail in the window appears in both the A Lady and Two Gentlemen and A Lady Drinking and a Gentleman. It is an image of Temperance, and was intended to act as a warning to the people in the painting.

VERMEER, JohannesA Lady and Two Gentlemen (detail)c. 1659Oil on canvasHerzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig


The table features an exquisitely painted still life of a silver plate, fruit, and white pitcher.

VERMEER, JohannesA Lady and Two Gentlemen (detail)c. 1659Oil on canvasHerzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig

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VERMEER, JohannesA Lady and Two Gentlemen

A young woman wearing an elegant red dress is seated in the foreground turned toward the left and looking half-smilingly at the viewer. It is one of the rare instances when Vermeer animates one of his figures with a semblance of expression. She seems to be courted by a fine gentleman, bent over and encouraging the young lady to take a sip from the

wine glass that she holds in her hand. Farther back, another. gentleman sits behind a table featuring an exquisitely painted still life of a silver plate, fruit, and white pitcher. The second male figure sits in a pose reminiscent of the Girl Asleep, apparently befuddled by too much wine. A Man's Portrait in the background may be one of the family portraits

mentioned in the inventory of Vermeer's widow in 1676, which was part of his stock as a dealer. As to the coat of arms prominently displayed in the window, it belonged to a former neighbours family that used to live in a house next to the Vermeers.

The painting has been overcleaned, the last time in 1900, and the sitting man in the background was overpainted during the eighteenth century, as comes out of the descriptions placed the composition resembles others frequently used by him. Patterns, windows, and walls reappear with minor changes. In this respect, Vermeer did not show much

originality. His mastery resides in the delicacy of the execution, the use of light, and the grouping of his figures. of 1744 and 1776. The room where the artist

VERMEER, JohannesThe Milkmaid

Although the genre of "kitchen pieces" belongs to a long tradition in the Netherlands, with Joachim Beuckelaer and Pieter Aertsen in the sixteenth century being its initiators, it lost favour in the subsequent century, with the exception of Delft, where it endured. Vermeer's realization, however, has nothing in common with his archaic forerunners. His vision is

concentrated on a single sturdy figure, which he executes in a robust technique, in keeping with the image that he wants to project. The palette features a subdued colour scheme: white, yellow, and blue. But the colours are far from frank or strident, and are rather toned down, in keeping with the worn work clothes of his model.

The still life in the foreground conveys domestic simplicity, and the light falling in from the left illuminates a bare white kitchen wall, against which the silhouette of the maid stands out. One gains from this deceptively simple scene an impression of inner strength, exclusive concentration on the task at hand, and complete absorption in it.

VERMEER, JohannesGirl with a Pearl Earring

This charming portrait of a girl is unfortunately in a very poor state of conservation and suffered from numerous extensive restorations. It is furthermore marred by an ugly pattern of cracks. Nevertheless, it became famous after its rediscovery and was dubbed the "Gioconda of the North" by many enthusiastic critics. Fortunately, enough of the original is left to permit the

savouring of a truly outstanding and partly exotic work.

The girl is dressed in an unadorned, brownish-yellow jacket, and the shining white collar contrasts clearly against it. The blue turban represents a further contrast, while a lemon-yellow, veil-like cloth falls from its peak to her shoulders. Vermeer used plain, pure colours in this painting, limiting the range of tones. As a result, the number of sections of colour are small, and these

are given depth and shadow by the use of varnish of the same colour.

VERMEER, JohannesGirl with a Pearl Earring

The girl's headdress has an exotic effect. Turbans were a popular fashionable accessory in Europe as early as the 15th century, as is shown by Jan van Eyck's probable self portrait, now in the National Gallery in London. During the wars against the Turks, the remote way of life and foreign dress of the "enemy of Christendom" proved to be very fascinating. A particularly noticeable feature of Vermeer's painting is the large, tear-shaped pearl hanging from the girl's ear; part of it has a golden sheen, and it stands out from the part of the neck which is in

shadow.

The pearl in Vermeer's painting is a symbol of chastity. The oriental aspect, which is mentioned in the above extract, is further emphasised by the turban. The reference to Isaac and Rebecca suggests that this picture could have been painted on the occasion of this young woman's marriage. So to that extent it is a portrait.

One must admire the artist's technique, which features application of the pigments in juxtaposition and melting, avoiding precise lines, and therefore blurring the contours of different colours so as to obtain effects that foreshadow those of the impressionists. The dark backgrounds that Vermeer chose in these two portraits enhance the plasticity of the models.

VERMEER, Johannes

Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He evidently was not

wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings.

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.

Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes. "Almost all his paintings 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."

He was recognized during his lifetime in Delft and The Hague, but 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 (Grand Theatre of Dutch Painters and Women Artists), and was thus omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries. In the 19th century, Vermeer was rediscovered by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger, who published an essay attributing 66 pictures to him,

although only 34 paintings are universally attributed to him today. Since that time, Vermeer's reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

VERMEER, Johannes, Featured Paintings in Detail (1)

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