Johannes Vermeer
Born – Delft, Netherlands 1632
Died – Delft, Netherlands 1675
Jan Vermeer is regarded as one of the greatest seventeenth-century Dutch artists – second only in importance to Rembrandt. Little is known of his early life; it seems unlikely that he left his native city of Delft. His early work typically focused on domestic interiors featuring women engaged in a number of everyday tasks, such as writing letters, pouring milk and playing music. An unusual aspect of his compositions is the degree to which the protagonists in his scenes are self-absorbed. Vermeer married into a wealthy Catholic family and had eleven children. He worked in a large room in the house, and produced a small number of exquisitely rendered paintings. He resisted selling them whenever he could, which suggests he had, for a time at least, a private income; however, when he died suddenly, aged 43, he was in great debt. In The Painter in his Studio, the brocade curtain is pulled back to reveal a painter in his studio – this may even be a self portrait. In records a timeless but intimate moment, the objects, furnishings and people are rendered with clarity and sensitivity, all enveloped in the clarity of cool, pearlized light.
- View of Delft
- Woman Reading A Letter
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About johannes vermeer
Johannes Vermeer
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.
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Vermeer: The Complete Works
Arthur K. Wheelock
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Johannes Vermeer (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
Mike Venezia
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