Johannes Vermeer

The Dutch baroque painter

Johannes Vermeer was born and lived in Delft. Working an art merchant, he viewed himself primarily as a painter, working only on commission and producing no more than two or three paintings per year. This barely allowed him to support his family, his wife and their eleven children. Considered the "master of Dutch light", Vermeer worked with blues and yellows like no other painter. His most famous work, the Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665) is sometimes referred to as the "Mona Lisa of the North". Johannes Vermeer only produced 45 paintings during his lifetime, 35 of which survive to this day. Along with Rembrandt and Frans Hals, Vermeer is ranked as a master of the Dutch Golden Age.

The Lacemaker

In the history of art, the motif of the lacemaker at work is traditionally a sign of domestic virtue, tinted with religious morality. Here, it presents a woman of home and high social standards, not a professional lacemaker. On her right, a book, probably prayers or a Bible. To her left, a sewn cushion from which coloured threads emerge, rendered with force and precision. Absorbed by her work, the young woman seems unaware that she is being captured by the Dutch painter, who wanted to depict the working of the lace as accurately as possible. Unusually for this master of genre painting, the light emanates from the right, and many elements of the subject are painted abstractly (hands, curls of hair, eyes and nose).

Did you know ?

The famous painting of "The Milkmaid" was painted by Johannes Vermeer.