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Vermeer and the Delft School
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Description
This surprising late work is Vermeer's only "history picture" to follow his youthful works of about 1654–55. It has been supposed that the picture was intended for a Jesuit "hidden church" in Delft, given details of iconography and the fact that Vermeer's mother-in-law (in whose house he lived) was sympathetic to that religious order. The subject and symbolism, however, seem too exceptional for a communal place of worship. It is more likely that a private Catholic patron commissioned the work, perhaps after noting Vermeer's treatment of an allegorical theme in The Art of Painting.
There is little evidence of naturalistic description in the painting apart from that found in isolated objects, in particular the terrestrial globe (symbol of the authority of the Catholic faith) and the glass sphere (symbol of heaven or God the Father). The contemporary observer was expected to proceed from one motif to another, contemplating the meaning of each one and its relation to the whole. In the foreground the "cornerstone" of the Church (Christ) crushes a serpent (the Devil), which, along with the apple, refers to original sin. Christ's redeeming sacrifice is represented by a large painting known from versions by Jacob Jordaens, one of which Vermeer evidently owned.
Other artists of the time adjusted their styles to suit allegorical subjects: for example, Gabriël Metsu in his Triumph of Justice of the late 1650s (Mauritshuis, The Hague). Dutch painting in general was moving toward a more classical approach. In adopting this idealizing manner Vermeer was responding to current fashion and at the same time returning to his roots in Delft.
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Description