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Vermeer and the Delft School
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Description
This panel from the well-known collection of Sir William van Horne is one of the finest works of De Witte's Delft period. He often depicted congregations gathered around a pulpit, which was usually moved to the side of the nave in Dutch Reformed churches. The foreground is reserved for, in effect, a genre scene of people of different ages and dispositions. The young man dressed in red, perhaps a companion of the man with a greyhound, appears to be distracted from the sermon by the lady on the right. Her hood and muff suggest wealth, refinement, and a chill in the air.
Only De Witte among architectural painters in Delft would have approached the pulpit so that it is silhouetted against the bare walls of the nave and northern aisle. He was far less interested in the physical form of churches than in the space they contain and light they admit, both of which ascend to heaven. De Witte's evocation of things unseen (including the preacher's words) did not dissuade him from indulging in the tour de force of the picture curtain. The rich fabric, the rod, and the rod's shadow enhance the impression of depth and deny it at the same time. This artistic conceit, which De Witte shared with several Delft painters, was somewhat out of character, judging by the visionary scenes he painted during the next four decades in Amsterdam.
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Description