Contents
Johannes Vermeer
Painting Girl with a Pearl Earring and quiet Dutch interiors shaped by extraordinary attention to light.
The Milkmaid · View of Delft
- Born
- 1632
- Birthplace
- Delft, Netherlands
- Died
- 1675
More people
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who spent his career in Delft. His small surviving body of work includes domestic scenes in which light, colour and carefully arranged space give ordinary moments unusual intensity.
Early life
Delft beginnings
Grew up in a family that ran an inn and dealt in paintings.
Uncertain training
His teacher is not securely identified; documentary evidence of his early artistic training is limited.
Career
- 1653
Guild membership
Entered Delft’s painters' guild and married Catharina Bolnes.
- 1650s–1660s
Domestic scenes
Developed his characteristic paintings of figures in carefully lit interiors.
- 1662–1671
Professional standing
Served several terms as a head of Delft’s Guild of Saint Luke.
- 1670s
Financial pressure
The art-market downturn after 1672 contributed to the family’s financial difficulties.
Selected work
The Milkmaid
A woman pours milk in a kitchen illuminated by a nearby window.
View of Delft
A cityscape built from shifting light, water and architecture.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
An imagined character study with a turned head and luminous earring.
The Art of Painting
A painter and model appear in an elaborate studio scene.
Beyond the studio
A large household
He and Catharina had a large family; she described severe financial distress after his death.
Recovered reputation
Nineteenth-century scholarship helped restore his reputation after a long period of relative obscurity.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Museum or specialist research ↗Photo: Johannes Vermeer; detail of The Procuress, sometimes identified as a self-portrait (not certain). Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
