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Vermeer and the Delft School
Caparison (Shabrack, Shoulder Cloth, and Neckcloth), 1621
Workshop of Aert Spiering
Wool and silk on a woolen warp
Kungliga Livrustkammaren (Royal Armory), Stockholm
Description
Deer in the Wood, 1647
Paulus Potter
Enkhuizen 1625–1654 Amsterdam
Black chalk; 9 7/16 x 12 1/2 in. (24 x 31.8 cm)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Figures with Horses by a Stable, 1647
Oil on wood; 17 3/4 x 14 3/4 in. (45 x 37.5 cm)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, The William L. Elkins Collection
Self-Portrait, probably 1648–50
Carel Fabritius
Midden-Beemster 1622–1654 Delft
Oil on wood; 25 5/8 x 19 5/8 in. (65 x 49 cm)
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Vase of Flowers by a Window, probably ca. 1650–57
Balthasar van der Ast
Middelburg 1593/94–1657 Delft
Oil on wood; 26 3/8 x 38 5/8 in. (67 x 98 cm)
Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie Dessau
DescriptionArt of Painting, the celebrated work by Vermeer: a showpiece in which painterly patterns emulate nature's own.
The Curious Ones, ca. 1655–60
Leonaert Bramer
Delft 1596–1674 Delft
Brush and gray and black ink, gray and brown washes on light brown paper (five pieces of paper joined); 15 3/8 x 22 1/16 in. (39.1 x 56 cm)
Kunstmuseum im Ehrenhof, Sammlung der Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf
A View in Delft, 1652
Oil on canvas; 6 1/16 x 12 7/16 in. (15.4 x 31.6 cm)
The National Gallery, London, presented by the National Art Collections Fund, 1922
A Sermon in the Oude Kerk, Delft, ca. 1651–52
Emanuel de Witte
Alkmaar ca. 1616–1691/92 Amsterdam
Oil on wood; 28 7/8 x 23 1/2 in. (73.2 x 59.5 cm)
The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, ca. 1655
Johannes Vermeer
Delft 1632–1675 Delft
Oil on canvas; 63 x 55 7/8 in. (160 x 142 cm)
The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
The Procuress, 1656
Oil on canvas; 56 1/8 x 51 1/8 in. (142.6 x 129.9 cm)
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
DescriptionThe Astronomer of 1668 (Musée du Louvre, Paris), and The Geographer of 1669 (Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main). The Procuress, which has not been seen outside Germany for about two hundred years, is a crucial work for understanding Vermeer's development and relationship with the Delft school. The decade of the 1650s was a transitional period for artists in the city who were responding as never before to styles and subjects developed for the most part elsewhere in Holland.
A Maid Asleep, ca. 1656–57
Oil on canvas; 34 1/2 x 30 1/8 in. (87.6 x 76.5 cm)
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.611)
DescriptionA Maid Asleep is the earliest painting by Vermeer known to have been in the collection of Pieter van Ruijven, a wealthy resident of Delft who acquired most or all of the paintings that were auctioned in Amsterdam in 1696. Perhaps he encouraged Vermeer's wholehearted turn to themes of modern manners in the mid-1650s. The artist borrowed ideas from several leading specialists—especially Nicolaes Maes in this case—yet sources cannot explain all the complexities of the design or such passages of observation as the flashing highlights on the door frames and the gleaming walls and floor.
The Little Street (Het Straatje), ca. 1658–60
Oil on canvas; 21 1/8 x 17 1/8 in. (53.5 x 43.5 cm)
DescriptionThe Little Street: "The whole is touched with that truth and spirit which belong only to this master." Murray's claim is supported by the picture's extraordinary passages of description and of observation in the case of details the painter actually saw (he probably combined and modified motifs from different houses in Delft). At the same time, no work by Vermeer reveals quite so clearly as this one his interest in the work of Pieter de Hooch. As in that artist's courtyard scenes and certain pictures of the 1650s by Fabritius, Potter, Pynacker, Van der Poel, and Vosmaer, Vermeer carefully combined naturalistic incidents—the effects of age, weather, constant use, and so on—with a Dutch classical design. It is not at all illogical to discern in Vermeer's approach a devotion to direct experience and lessons learned from contemporary artists. These complementary aspects of The Little Street and the slightly later View of Delft (Mauritshuis, The Hague) must have been appreciated by the Delft collector Pieter van Ruijven, who owned both pictures in the 1660s as well as architectural views of Emanuel de Witte and other local painters.
Portrait of a Family in a Courtyard in Delft, ca. 1658–60
Pieter de Hooch
Rotterdam 1629–1684 Amsterdam
Oil on canvas; 44 3/8 x 38 1/4 in. (112.5 x 97 cm)
Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna
The Courtyard of a House in Delft, 1658
Oil on canvas; 28 15/16 x 23 5/8 in. (73.5 x 60 cm)
The National Gallery, London
A Woman Drinking with Two Men, and a Serving Woman, ca. 1658
Oil on canvas; 29 x 25 3/8 in. (73.7 x 64.4 cm)
This much admired picture has been considered a breakthrough for De Hooch and Vermeer because of its use of perspective to describe naturalistic space. What the floor tiles, fancy fireplace, and scale of the room actually reveal is De Hooch's attempt to elevate the tone of his "merry companies" (compare the other works by the artist on this wall) by borrowing design ideas from Van Bassen and other painters of palatial architecture in Delft and The Hague. Applying this patrician veneer cost De Hooch more trouble—to judge from this composition's several corrections—than did the consistent flow of light across the space.
Plaque with a Portrait of Robertus Junius, 1660
Delft Factory
Tin-glazed earthenware; 6 7/8 x 5 1/2 in. (17.4 x 13.8 cm)
Museum van Het Boek/Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, The Hague
Plaque with a Landscape, ca. 1660–75
Tin-glazed earthenware; 10 3/4 x 9 5/8 in. (26 x 24.2 cm)
DescriptionYoung Woman Standing at a Virginal of about 1670–72.
Woman with a Balance, ca. 1663–64
Oil on canvas; 15 7/8 x 14 in. (40.3 x 35.6 cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Widener Collection
DescriptionWoman with a Balance is one of Vermeer's most sophisticated paintings. Its main theme is temperance: the woman holds up the empty scales to see if their balance is true. Contemporary viewers would have noted the mirror, jewelry, and Last Judgment, which, together with the young lady's allure, would have encouraged a comparison between worldly temptation and spiritual life. Scholars have proposed more elaborate readings, usually involving questions of religious doctrine or the anachronistic opinion that the woman must be pregnant (an interpretation of her fashionable costume first offered in the 1970s). From A Maid Asleep onward, thoughts of pleasure and restraint were raised by the artist and left to linger, without tipping the balance either way.
The Art of Painting, ca. 1666–68
Oil on canvas; 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 in. (120 x 100 cm)
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
DescriptionThe Art of Painting is the largest picture painted by Vermeer after The Procuress of 1656. Vermeer kept the canvas between its execution and his early death in 1675. It seems likely that he intended the work as an extraordinary demonstration piece—a visual discourse on the virtues of his profession and a concrete example of what painting could achieve. In the 1660s connoisseurs ranging from the local patron Pieter Teding van Berkhout to the grand duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de' Medici, visited the studios of some of Holland's most accomplished painters, including that of Vermeer. The practice was expected of cultivated gentlemen, who were aware of such princely predecessors as Alexander the Great, Emperor Charles V, and Philip IV of Spain.
Teding van Berkhout may have had The Art of Painting in mind when he recalled in his diary on June 21, 1669, visiting "a famous painter named Vermeer who showed me some examples of his art, the most extraordinary and the most curious aspect of which consists in the perspective." A more seasoned connoisseur might have mentioned the composition's refinements of pattern, shape, color, and texture and the painter's treatment of light on a variety of surfaces, including tapestry, engraving, and sculpture.
Allegory of the Faith, ca. 1670–72
Oil on canvas; 45 x 35 in. (114.3 x 88.9 cm)
The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931 (32.100.18)
DescriptionThe 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.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.
Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, ca. 1670–72
Oil on canvas; 20 3/8 x 17 7/8 in. (51.8 x 45.2 cm)
DescriptionYoung Woman Standing at a Virginal, 1670–72; The National Gallery, London) were painted as a pair. Here, a demure young woman sits in a shadowy space, while the other painting depicts a woman of more reserved demeanor in a sunlit interior. The paintings on the walls and on the lids of the virginals in both paintings reinforce the impression that the two women would have represented alternatives in the eyes of the contemporary male viewer. The idle viol in the left foreground hints at an invitation to male companionship and the version of Dirck van Baburen's Procuress (1622; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) behind suggests the ease with which it could be attained.
Vermeer underscores meaning with distinctions in style. The dark interior of Woman Seated is bold and the color lively throughout, with showy patterns on the tapestry, virginal, and picture frame and in the highlights on the dress. The open angle of the walls and soft shadows draw in the viewer. In contrast, the brightly lit Young Woman Standing at a Virginal relies on upright geometry, restrained palette, and precise shadows complemented by the woman's expression and pose to convey its more restrained appeal.