Art + Travel Europe Vermeer and Delft

By Museyon

Vermeer, who painted exquisite light-infused scenes of middle-class life in Delft, was a slow craftsman and produced few works in his lifetime. Many of his paintings were scooped up by wealthy Delft patron Pieter van Ruijven, which may be why his fame didn’t spread to other Dutch art centers. In fact, Vermeer was relatively unknown until 1866, when French critic Théophile Thoré saw his “View of Delft” in The Hague. This book features detailed walking tours of Delft, the Hague and Amsterdam where the artist lived, loved and labored. Readers will discover the sights and stories behind such an iconic work like "Girl with a Pearl Earring.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Museyon
• Release date: Jan 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781938450167

Book preview

THE NETHERLANDS

VERMEER and Delft

BY SANDRA SMALLENBURG

In Peter Webber’s film Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer is portrayed as quiet and introverted. He is a handsome, long-haired man who tries desperately to get his work done in his overpopulated household, inhabited by 11 children, his wife, and his mother-in-law. Apart from the occasional outburst of rage, Vermeer keeps to himself in his studio, where he watches the light change and finds inspiration in the good-looking maid Griet.

It’s a beautiful story, based on Tracy Chevalier’s best-selling novel from 2000, but it is all fiction. In fact, we don’t know what Vermeer looked like, and we think he must have been a silent man only because there’s so much silence in his paintings. We cannot be sure, and there’s no shred of evidence that Griet ever existed. Vermeer didn’t tell us about his inspiration or working methods. He didn’t leave any letters or diaries. The little information we do have comes from official documents such as testaments and inventory lists. Vermeer is one of the most famous painters in the history of art, and yet he remains a mystery. That’s why he has been given the moniker the Sphinx of Delft.

Johannes Vermeer was born in 1632 in a house at Voldersgracht 25 in Delft, a picturesque city with cobblestone streets and tranquil canals where even today you can still hear the hooves of horses carrying the tourist tram. His father, Reynier Jansz, owned a tavern called De Vliegende Vos (the Flying Fox), but he also made money from his weaving mill and art business, selling paintings from Delft artists like Balthasar van der Ast, Jan Baptista van Fornenburgh, Pieter Steenwijck, and Pieter Groenewegen. When Vermeer was nine, the family moved to a larger house on the other side of the street at the corner of the Oude Manhuissteeg and the busy Markt Square. This house, also a tavern, was