Johannes Vermeer Biography

Instead of a Portrait: Autograph of Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer, sometimes Jan Vermeer van Delft, was an artist of the Dutch Golden Age, and as such, is one of the most famous Painters of the Netherlands, maybe second only to Rembrandt. Born in 1632 in Netherlands he did not live longer as until 1675, but nevertheless soon became a representative figure of the baroque style.

During his lifetime, Vermeer’s reputation was rather limited to his hometown Delft, but today he is internationally famous for the way he used colors and light in his works. A recent film might have contributed to further popularity. His entire authentic legacy does not count more than 37 paintings, though at certain times nearly double as many paintings were attributed to Jan Vermeer. Most of his paintings represent genre scenes or allegories, though he first started out with historical scenes.

Johannes Vermeer’s Life

Jan Vermeer Van Delft – often called by his contemporaries Joannis ver Meer or even Joannis van der Meer (henceforth Johannes to avoid further confusion) – is today commonly known as Johannes Vermeer and was baptized on 31st October 1632 in Delft. Just as we do not know his exact birthday, we do not happen to know very much about the life of this artist at all. He is one of the few painters that did not even bother to leave us a self-portrait.

Jan’s father, Reynier Jansz (or Reijnier Janszoon) was a silk weaver and part of the “Saint Luca from Delft” guild, but was later on also active as an art dealer and running an inn in the city. He married Digna Baltus and Reynier changed his name later to Vermeer. After the death of Reynier, Johannes continued the father’s activity as an art dealer.

The Early Career of Johannes Vermeer

Probably it were Johannes Vermeer’s parents who decided to make the little Vermeer becoming a painter. Overall, at those times painting was a decent job. Vermeer learns how to write and read at a school close to his house. The rest of his study years, including his apprenticeship as painter remain undisclosed to us. However, we know that he must have had a teacher and a formal education as artist, as he was formally admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke in 29th December 1653, when Johannes was 21 years old. Most scholars think Vermeer was apprenticed in his hometown Delft, but even Amsterdam has been suggested.

The suggestions on who could have been his mentor are even vaster: Carel Fabritius, a pupil of Rembrandt, was suggested as Johannes happened to own a number of paintings executed by Fabritius; Abraham Bloemaert was suggested as it might explain some Catholic themes in the work the otherwise proestant Vermeer. Then again, Johannes wife was a Catholic, too and we do not even know if Vermeer converted or not. Overall, we do not know for certain where the young Vermeer learnt his art.

The Family Life of Johannes Vermeer

After his father’s death, in 1652 the young Vermeer thought of getting married in 1653. He would chose the catholic girl Catharina Bolnes (or Catharina Bolenes), who was part of family with a better social position than him, but the confessional differences between the two families (Vermeer was a Calvinistic protestant) and the social differences between the two lover made Cathrina’s mother to oppose this marriage.

She finally agreed after the catholic painter Leonaert Bramer interfered in favor of Vermeer. The wedding took place on April 20th 1653 in a village next to Delft. Whether Johannes converted to Catholicism or not is still subject to debates. The fact that Vermeer’s mother in law seems to be buried as a protestant, yet his wife as a Catholic does not ease the situation.

Catherina and Johannes had 15 children, 4 of them died early, but we know the name of 10. Beside his work as a painter, it might be that Vermeer helped his mother with running the inn and made an additional income as art dealer. As he did not paint – on average – more than 2 or 3 paintings per year, he must have had some additional sources to make a living.

Four times (1662, 1663, 1670 and 1671) Vermeer was elected the dean of the Guild of Saint Luke; a fact that is a strong indicator for the good reputation he enjoyed during those times.

Johannes Vermeer, The Mature Painter and his Later Career

Vermeer was painting less compared to others. On average, he was painting about two, maybe three works per year. This says a lot. Probably he had not only additional sources of income, but could charge good prices for his paintings. Few paintings were executed for the free market. Commissioned paintings were quite frequent in his portfolio. Among the best known clients were Hendrick van Buyten, the baker and Jacob Dissius, the printer. The latter collected not less than 19 paintings made by the Dutch painter – This is slightly over half of the paintings which can certainly be attributed to Vermeer.

Vermeer was also working as an expert consultant when it came to verifying the authenticity of paintings, becoming this way the councilor of art collectors. He is continued his activity as art dealer and in 1670, after the death of his mother and his sister, he inherits the inn. But nevertheless he is badly affected by the decline of the economy downturn in those years, after the war against France. In his last years of life, his financial situation substantially worsened and Vermeer was obliged to take several loans, selling some paintings below their value. It is commonly argued that financial stress caused his soon death at the early age of just 43 years.

Death and the Last Years of Johannes Vermeer

As few as we know for sure about the life of Johannes Vermeer, as few we know about his sudden death in 1675. After falling ill he died in just a few days and was buried in the tomb of his family on the 15th December 1675 at Oude Kerk – a protestant Church, Delft.

He left his wife Catharina, who now had to raise 11 children and the debts accumulated in the last years due to the economic crisis. Catharina had to resign the inheritance of the remaining goods and art to pay the creditors.