The Milkmaid by Jan Johannes Vermeer

The Milkmaid, sometimes also »The Kitchen Maid« is a painting by the Dutch painter and artist Johannes (Jan) Vermeer. The painting was executed as oil on canvas, having the dimensions 45,5x 41 cm, i.e. 17⅞ in × 16⅛ in and as with most of Vermeer’s paintings – we do not know exactly when the Milkmaid has been executed. However, most estimates date it back to the range of 1658 to 1660.

The Milkmaid has been one of the most appreciated paintings in Vermeer’s legacy. This holds true even for the 17th century: In an auction hold after the early death of Vermeer, the painting was sold for 175 Gulden, quite a sum at those days of economic downturn, when many other Vermeer’s had to be sold under value. Just for a comparison: The Girl with the Pearl Earring was auctioned for 2 Gulden and thirty cents in 1881.

Description

The Dutch for the painting is De Melkmeid or Het Melkmeisj, both terms mean exactly Mildmaid (women melking the cows on a farm), yet we see rather a domestic kitchen maid, i.e. servant in charge with kitchen work. She is pouring milk in a special bowl known also as »Dutch oven« on a table. The low social status can not be concluded only from the women’s simple clothingand her cap.

X-ray examinations of the Milkmaid also revealed that Vermeer initially intended to draw a map on the wall in the background. But he obviously preferred to keep the wall as simple and spartan as the rest of the kitchen, being marked even with some holes, which again underline the poor conditions the woman is working in.

Yet, the colors of the clothing are strong and bright, which are so typical for Johannes Vermeer. They feature a contrasting yellow and blue; as well as a strong red. Thus, the attention of the viewer is immediately attracted by the working maid, who stands in a soft light entering the window. In combination with her very concentration, rather resembling a kind of contemplation, this gives the painting a somewhat mystic, maybe tender atmosphere, which is ultimately reconfirmed by the slight smile of the maid. Maybe a discreet allusion to the reputation of milk and kitchen maids at those times: being rather prone for tender and erotic activities.

Exposition

Today, more precisely since 1908, you can admire The Milkmaid at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which holds also three other Vermeer paintings: Namely: The little Street, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter and The Love Letter.

The Lacemaker by Jan Johannes Vermeer. Click to enlarge

The Lacemaker is a painting by Johannes Vermeer and was executed as oil on canvas between 1669 and 1670. The dimensions are not more than 24.5 cm x 21 cm, i.e. 9.6 in x 8.3 in, what makes it actually the smallest among Vermeer’s paintings.

Description

The Lacemaker is a good example for the great amount of details Vermeer’s paintings are known for and the meticulous studies the artist used to conduct in order to get a precise representation of the pictured activities: Lacemaking was a popular activity in the Netherlands back in those times. It required quite some concentration, though, captured in the maid’s expression that seems to be completely absorbed by her work. The pale, empty wall in the background and her yellow shawl, which contrasts with her blue dress and the pillows in the foreground naturally, drives the attention of the viewer to her fingers and illustrates the high level of concentration needed for lace making.

The Lacemaker is one of the paintings which gave way to the notion that Vermeer made use of the camera obscura: The pillow’s proportions are accurate – when it comes to be compared with a photography taken from this very point of view. Yet, such accuracy was rather unusual for painters of those times, as well as the blurry foreground of the painting, which it typical for photographed pictures.

Exposition

The Lacemaker was acquired by the Louvre in Paris, which holds also The Astronomer, painted by Vermeer.

Jan Johannes Vermeer: The Girl with the Pearl Earring - 1665. Click to enlarge.

The painting Girl with a Pearl Earring is without doubt the most famous work of the Dutch baroque artist Johannes Vermeer. The original Dutch title is Het Meisje met de Parel, what means basically the same as the English title, but skips the Earring. The painting was executed as oil on canvans, measures 44.5 cm × 39 cm, i.e. 17.5 in × 15 in, and is estimated at around 1665.

Other names have been assigned to the painting as well: “Mona Lisa of the North” or “Dutch Mona Lisa” are just two examples. It was auctioned in 1885 in The Hague where it received not more than two Gulden and thirty cent. Whether it was the bad condition which required renovation or just uncertain authorship is unclear. The popularity of nowadays is certainly a merit of the same named novel and film.

Description

The Girl with Pearl Earring stands in front of a dark, yet due to its complexity not black, background. No context is given and the colors used for the maid will give her maximal exposure: A soft light shines on her face, while the turban on her head is painted in a bright and strong blue and yellow. Her lips are held in a deep red, what balances the focus of the viewer. The true focal point however is – and here we might argue a bit – either the reflecting pearl earring or the fact, that her eyes seem to interact with the viewer. Otherwise, she seems to be a little bit lost in her thoughts, a very typical atmosphere in Vermeer’s paintings. The interaction with the viewer however, is less typical and for sure a crucial element which determines enchanting attractiveness of this painting.

We do not know who the girl is, neither if the work was commissioned or if we see a paid model. The turban was by the way a popular accessory during the 17th century as oriental culture enjoyed a risen interest after the wars with the Ottoman wars in Europe.

Exposition

The Girl with Pearl Earring was acquired by the Mauritshuis, The Hague where it is shown with two other paintings by Vermeer. These are: Diana and Her Companions and the View of Delft.

Jan Johannes Vermeer: The Art of Painting. Click to enlarge.

The Art of Painting is a famous painting by Johannes Vermeer and known also as The Allegory of Painting or, less common, the Painter in his Studio. Vermeer executed it as oil on canvas with the dimensions 130 cm × 110 cm, i.e. 51 in × 43 in and is, thus, the largest painting by Johannes Vermeer. As no date is given, we have to estimate: 1664, 1668 or 1673 are most commonly mentioned, but also 1661 has been suggested. As many parts of his life, the exact date is likely to remain a secret in Vermeer’s biography.

Description

The original Dutch title is De Schilderconst, thus, The Art of Painting, but Allegory of Painting is often preferred over the literal translation as we see much more than an accurate picturing of a painter in a studio, painting a female model holding a trumpet and a book in her hands. The gently shining sunlight highlights her face and determines the focus of the painting. The painter though, turns the back to the viewer, sits in the middle of the room, but not in the middle of the painting. The latter is occupied by the space lying between the model and the artist, yet filled with the interaction of both: the posing model and the concentrated seeming artist studying his muse.

The scene is settled in a room filled with items of symbolical value, such as the over-sized mask on the table on the side of the model whereas on the painter’s side a wide opened book has been placed. The black and white tiled floor proofs Vermeer’s high degree of mastery over perspective.

It has often been argued that the painter in The Art of Painting is actually a self-portrait showing Vermeer himself working in his Atelier. Certain is, that Vermeer admired this painting and executed it without being commissioned, neither did he make any attempts to sell it. His wife Catharina reconfirmed the special value this painting had to Vermeer as she tried to keep it after the sudden death of the artist.

However, the Allegory of Painting had a moving history, too: Despite her efforts Catharina Vermeer had to sell the painting in order to satisfy the creditors. It’s location until the 18th century is uncertain, but then was acquired and inherited to the van Swieten family, who happened to be also patron to artists such as Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven.

In 1813 it was bought by Count Czernin and later on exhibited in the Czernin Museum in Vienna. Only in 1860 Vermeer was discovered as the true creator of the painting. During WW II it was aqcuired by the Nazis for 1.65 Million Reichmark and survived the Allies bombing raids hidden in a salt mine. After the war the painting was restituted to the Austrian state. As the Czernins have been considered to sell the painting voluntarily the state still is the owner of the Allegory of Painting. Yet, the Czernin family challenges this notion of a voluntary sale since 1946 and still demands its restitution.

Exposition

The Art of painting is exhibited at Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. No other paintings of Vermeer are exposed there.

Allegory of the (Catholic) Faith by Jan Johannes Vermeer. Click to enlarge.

The Allegory of Faith, sometimes also entitled Allegory of the Catholic Faith is a larger painting by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, having the dimensions 114.3 cm × 88.9 cm; i.e. 45.0 in × 35.0 in. As most of Vermeer’s paintings it is not dated and estimates vary between 1670 and 1672. Just as The Art of Painting, The Allegory of the (Catholic) Faith is as much an allegory as history painting, featuring a complex arrangement of numerous items. The symbolism is mainly based on Cesare Ripa’s »Iconographia«, a book which had been the main source for symbolical representations of meaning all during the Baroque era.

Description

The main subject of the painting is on the virtue of Faith towards Christ (as represented by the painting dominating the background). Faith is depicted as a women dressed in white – which is an allegory for purity and lightness – and blue, a symbol for heaven.

Probably, the pearl necklace underlines her virginity. The right hand on her chest points to the source of her virtue: her heart: The left hand in change, commonly thought of as the »impure« hand, is hold in a position of remarkable inactivity. Vermeer guides the eye of the viewer using gently flowing light – a favorite technique of him – like a spotlight from the face towards the feet of Faith, with whom she holds the world. An attribute of Faith Vermeer depicted in the most literal way possible here.

The apple on the ground is a symbol for sin and seems abandoned. Meanwhile, Christ in the form of a fallen cornerstone has just crushed the origin of sin depicted as snake.

But there are although some deviations when compared to the symbolism as laid down in Ripa’s iconography: The book and the chalice were supposed to be hold in the hands of Faith while neither the painting in the background, nor the cross have been mentioned at Ripa. With these rearrangements Vermeer creates a constellation resembling the Catholic Mass and Eucharist. The stressing of the word Catholic in the title of the painting might have its origin here.

But also Jesuit symbolism has been suggested, namely and most convincing when it comes to the glass orb at the ceiling of the room. The orb contains a little boy with wings, a symbol for the soul of man, holding a sphere in his hand. As we know from the book this picture is taken from (Willem Hesius, Emblemata sacra de fide, spe, charitate) it is Faith enabling the sphere to contain and mirror infinity.

It would lead to far, to associate the black-and white tiled floor with Masonic symbolism. We can reduce it’s role rather on the impressive creation of perspective using neutral colors, which do not distract the attention from the items which are supposed to be accentuated.

It has been stated, that the painting was commissioned. However, it has not been a very popular one for a long time. The complex symbolism made lovers of Vermeer’s realism feeling uncomfortable and after being in possession of several different art dealers and collectors the last one sold it to the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York as he thought it to be large but unpleasant”.

Exposition

The Allegory of Faith was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1931 where is exhibited with the four other Vermeer Paintings: A Girl Asleep, Woman with a Lute, Woman with a Water Jug, Portrait of a Young Woman. Moreover, it should be mentioned here, that the Frick Collection in New York exhibits three more paintings by Johannes Vermeer: Officer with A Laughing Girl, Mistress and Maid and Girl Interrupted at her Music. The painting A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals is likewise held in New York, yet it belongs to a private collection.

Johannes Vermeer - View of Delft

The View of Delft is one of the larger paintings (98.5 cm × 117.5 cm, i.e. 38.8 in × 46.3 in) by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer and one of two surviving paintings showing an exterior view or cityscape (the other being The Little Street). The painting with the Dutch title Geziht op Delft is estimated back to 1660 or 1661.

Description

The painting View of Delft shows not surprisingly a view of the city of Delft from the first floor of a house vis-à-vis the river Schie which lies in the foreground of the painting. About three quarters of the margin show the riverbank. Yet, the cityscape is neither a realistic one (the geometry of the houses is rather aligned to the margin of the painting, certain details have been left out, others are stylized) nor does it try to catch up typical elements of cityscapes, such as streets leading in the heart of the city and granting an insight into the life of its citizens. Vermeer’s view of Delft is rather a lifeless one, despite two small groups of people at the river bank.

As in his paintings with interior views Vermeer makes use of falling light to guide the eyes of the viewer. In the View of Delft the left part of the painting and the foreground are held in darker colors and lying in the shadows of big rain clouds. The background and especially the right part are hold in the light colors of sunny weather, where the falling light guides the viewer in particular to a yellow tower. Probably a statement by Vermeer referring to the cathedral as tomb of William I, called the Silent. The Prince of Orange was considered a hero due to his resistance against the Spanish.

Both steeple tops mark the very middle of the painting. Thus, the sky covers more than half of the canvas.

Exhibition

The painting is hold today in the Mauritshuis Museum together with Vermeer’s most famous painting: Girl with Pearl Earring, but also Diana and her Companions.