NARRATOR: Among the five paintings by Vermeer in The Met’s collection, curator Adam Eaker considers this one a bit of an outlier.

ADAM EAKER: I’m often told by people on tours, or when showing visitors around the Museum, that it's their least favorite Vermeer, or it's the one Vermeer that they don’t like. There is something challenging about this image.

NARRATOR: The scene holds a series of what can be read as coded messages: the perseverance of the Catholic Church at a time when Catholics were not allowed to conduct mass in public. In the seventeenth century, a literate viewer would have quickly understood the painting’s symbolism.

ADAM EAKER: The church itself is embodied by this woman who has her foot atop a globe. In the foreground, you see the cornerstone of the church crushing evil, represented by the serpent. And then you have this table that’s actually prepared for a mass, so you have a missal, a chalice, a crucifix. The apple lying on the ground in front of the figure of the church refers to the apple of knowledge that brought about the fall of man.

NARRATOR: This painting was personal for Vermeer. He converted to Catholicism in order to marry a woman from a prominent Catholic family. Historians think he created this painting for himself or possibly for a wealthy Catholic client. This peek behind a tapestry reveals something clandestine, perhaps a hidden church in a Dutch home.

ADAM EAKER: We really seem to be glimpsing a very strange kind of tableau within Vermeer’s own home. What I love about this painting is that Vermeer is taking a very abstract, international language of allegory, and grounding it in everyday life.