Johannes Vermeer 43311 225219543 2008-07-12T15:02:56Z 71.140.146.120 {{Infobox Artist | name = Jan Vermeer van Delft | image = Johannes_Vermeer_%281632-1675%29_-_The_Girl_With_The_Pearl_Earring_%281665%29.jpg | imagesize = | caption = ''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]'', known as the "Mona Lisa of the North" | birthname = | birthdate = baptized [[October 31]], [[1632]] | location = [[Delft]], [[Netherlands]] | deathdate = [[December 15]], [[1675]] | deathplace = [[Delft]], [[Netherlands]] | nationality = [[Dutch (ethnic group)|Dutch]] | field = [[Painting]] | training = | movement = [[Baroque painting|Baroque]] | works = [[Girl with a Pearl Earring]], [[A Lady Writing a Letter]] and [[The Geographer]] | patrons = | awards = }} {{redirect|Vermeer}} '''Johannes Vermeer''' or '''Jan Vermeer''' (baptized [[October 31]] [[1632]], died [[December 15]] [[1675]]) was a [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[Baroque painting|Baroque]] painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of ordinary life. His entire life was spent in the town of [[Delft]]. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial painter in his lifetime. He seems never to have been particularly wealthy, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death. Virtually forgotten for nearly two hundred years, Vermeer was rediscovered in 1866 when the art critic [[Thoré Bürger]] published an essay attributing 66 pictures to him (only 35 paintings are firmly attributed to him today). Since that time Vermeer's reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the [[Dutch Golden Age]], and is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of [[light]] in his work. ==Life== Relatively little is known about Vermeer's life. He seems to have been exclusively devoted to his art. The only sources of information are some registers, a few official documents and comments by other artists; it was for this reason that Thoré Bürger named him "The Sphinx of Delft".<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5037/is_200104/ai_n18271955 ''Vermeer: A View of Delft''] The Economist. Retrieved January 9, 2008.</ref> Ver­meer became the subject of a biography by [[John Michael Montias]]: ''Vermeer and his milieu: a web of social history'' (Princeton, 1989), where the social history covers up for the elusiveness of the central character. ===Youth=== [[Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 021.jpg|thumb|300px|''Milkmaid'' (1658-1660)]] Johannes Vermeer was born in the city of [[Delft]] in the [[Netherlands]] and after a few days he was [[baptised]] in the [[Reformed Church]] on [[October 31]], 1632. His father, Reynier Janszoon, was a middle-class [[silk]] or caffa worker.<ref>His name actually was Reynier Vos (Fox), but he used the name Vermeer as an [[alias]] from 1640 on.</ref> In 1615 he married Digna Baltens, a woman from [[Antwerp]]. In 1620 Gertruy was born. In 1625 Reynier Jansz. was involved in a fight with a soldier, who died from his wounds five months later. Around 1631 Reynier Jansz. leased an inn called ''the Flying Fox'' and started to deal in paintings; as a sideline, he continued to work as a weaver. In 1641, when the lease ran out, Reynier Jansz. bought a larger inn at the market square, named after the Belgian town "[[Mechelen]]". Vermeer's only sister Gertruy worked at the inn helping her parents, serving drinks and making beds; in 1647 she married a framemaker. When Reynier Jansz. died in 1652, Johannes Vermeer replaced his father as a merchant of paintings. ===Marriage and family=== Despite the fact that he came from a [[Protestant]] family, Vermeer married a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] girl named Catherina Bolnes, in a nearby village called [[Schipluiden]]. For Vermeer it was a good match: his mother-in-law, [[Maria Thins]] was significantly wealthier and probably she insisted Vermeer converted to Catholicism before their marriage in April 1653.<ref>Catholicism was not a forbidden religion, but tolerated in the [[Dutch Republic]], due to the [[Dutch Revolt]]. Services were held hidden and their members were restrained in their careers, unable to get a high ranking job in cities' administration or the national government. After [[1648]] some people seemed to have been tired of the religious differences and returned to the Catholic church.</ref> Some scholars doubt Vermeer became catholic, but one of his paintings, ''The Allegory of Catholic Faith'', made between 1670 and [[1672]], reflects belief in the [[Eucharist]]. It was probably made expressly for a Catholic patron or for a ''[[schuilkerk]]'', a hidden church.<ref>W. Liedtke (2007) Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 893.</ref> At some point the couple moved in with Catherina's mother, who lived in a rather spacious house at Oude Langendijk, close to a [[Jesuit]] church. Vermeer lived there for the rest of his life, producing paintings in the front room on the second floor. His wife gave birth to fourteen children: three sons and seven daughters; four were buried at an early stage and their names and genders are not known.<ref>As the parish registers of the Dutch Catholic church do not exist anymore, it is not known if they were baptized there. The names of ten children are known from wills written by relatives: Maria, Elisabeth, Cornelia, Aleydis, Beatrix, Johannes, Gertruyd, Franciscus, Catharina, and Ignatius. J.M. Montias, p. 370-371.</ref> The youngest child, [[Ignatius]], was named after the founder of the Jesuit order. ===Career=== [[Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 006.jpg|thumb|300px|''The Girl with a Wine Glass'', 1660]] It is not certain where Vermeer was apprenticed as a painter, nor with whom. It is generally believed that he studied in his home town and it is suggested that his teacher was either [[Carel Fabritius]] or more likely [[Leonaert Bramer]].<ref>[http://www.nga.gov/feature/vermeer/bio.shtm Vermeer biography], [[National Gallery of Art]] Retrieved July 13, 2007.</ref> It is possible he taught himself or he had information from one of his father's connections.<ref>W. Liedtke, p. 866.</ref> On December 29, 1653, Vermeer became a member of the [[Guild of Saint Luke#Dutch Republic|Guild of Saint Luke]], a trade association for painters. The guild's records make clear Vermeer did not pay the usual admission fee, a hint that his financial circumstances were difficult. In 1657 he might have got a patron in the local art collector [[Pieter van Ruijven]], who lent him some money. In 1662 Vermeer was elected head of the guild and was reelected in 1663, 1670, and 1671, evidence that he was considered an established craftsman among his peers. Vermeer worked slowly, probably producing three paintings a year, and on order. When [[Balthasar de Monconys]] visited him in 1663 to see some of his work, the diplomat and the two French clergymen who accompanied him were sent to a baker, probably [[Hendrick van Buyten]], who owned one painting he was very proud of. In [[1672]] a severe economic downturn (the "[[Rampjaar|Year of Disaster]]") struck the Netherlands. Not only did a [[Early Modern France|French army]] under [[Louis XIV]] invade the [[Dutch Republic]] from the south (known as the [[Franco-Dutch War]]), but also an English fleet, in the [[Third Anglo-Dutch War]] and two allied German bishops attacked the country from the east, trying to destroy its [[hegemony]]. Many people panicked, and shops and schools were closed. Some years passed before circumstances improved. The collapse of the art market damaged Vermeer's business as both a painter and an art dealer, as his wife stated later. With a large family to support, Vermeer again was forced to borrow money. In December 1675 Vermeer fell into a [[Phrenitis|frenzy]] and died within a day and a half. In a written document Catharina Bolnes attributed her husband's death to the stress of financial pressures. She, having to raise '''eleven children''', (underlined in the original) asked the High Court to allow her a break in paying the creditors.<ref>J.M. Montias, p. 344-345.</ref> The Dutch microscopist [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek]], who sometimes worked for the city council, was appointed [[trustee]]. The house, with eight rooms on the first floor, was filled with paintings, drawings, clothes, chairs and beds. (Vermeer did own three paintings by Fabritius.) In his [[atelier]] there were among ''rummage not worthy being itimized'', two chairs, two painter's easels, three palettes, ten canvases, a desk, an oak pull table and a small wooden cupboard with drawers.<ref>J.M. Montias, p. 339-344.</ref> Nineteen of Vermeer's paintings were bequeathed to his wife and her mother. Catherina sold two more paintings to the baker in order to pay off the debts. In Delft, Vermeer had been a respected artist, but he was almost unknown outside his home town, and the fact that a local patron, van Ruijven, purchased much of his output reduced the possibility of his fame spreading.<ref>Van Ruijven's son in law Jacob Dissius owned 21 paintings by Vermeer, listed in his heritage in 1695, which were sold in the year after in Amsterdam.</ref> Vermeer never had any pupils and his relatively short life, the demands of separate careers, and his extraordinary precision as a painter all help to explain his limited output. ==Technique== [[Image:Vermeer-view-of-delft.jpg|thumb|300px||''View of Delft'', 1660-61]] Vermeer produced transparent colours by applying paint to the canvas in loosely granular layers, a technique called ''[[pointillé]]'' (not to be confused with [[pointillism]]). No drawings have been positively attributed to Vermeer, and his paintings offer few clues to preparatory methods. [[David Hockney]], among other historians and advocates of the [[Hockney-Falco thesis]], has speculated that Vermeer used a [[camera obscura]] to achieve precise positioning in his compositions, and this view seems to be supported by certain light and [[perspective]] effects which would result from the use of such lenses and not the naked eye alone. The extent of Vermeer's dependence upon the camera obscura is disputed by historians. There is no other seventeenth century artist who early in his career employed, in the most lavish way, the exorbitantly expensive pigment [[lapis lazuli]], natural [[ultramarine]]. Not only used in elements that are intended to be shown as appearance: the earth colours [[umber]] and [[ochre]] should be understood as warm light from the strongly-lit interior, reflecting its multiple colours back on to the wall. This working method most probably was inspired by Vermeer’s understanding of [[Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo’s]] observations that the surface of every object partakes of the colour of the adjacent object.<ref name="wadum95">B. Broos, A. Blankert, J. Wadum, A.K. Wheelock Jr. (1995) ''Johannes Vermeer'', Waanders Publishers, Zwolle</ref> This means that no object is ever seen entirely in its natural colour. A comparable but even more remarkable yet effectual use of natural ultramarine is in ''The Girl with a Wineglass'' (Braunschweig). The shadows of the red satin dress are [[underpainting|underpainted]] in natural ultramarine, and due to this underlying blue paint layer, the red lake and [[vermilion]] mixture applied over it acquires a slightly purple, cool and crisp appearance that is most powerful. Even after Vermeer’s supposed financial breakdown following the so-called rampjaar (year of disaster) in 1672, he continued to employ natural ultramarine generously, such as in "Lady Seated at a Virginal." This could suggest that Vermeer was supplied with materials by a collector, and would coincide with John Michael Montias’ theory of Pieter Claesz van Ruijven being Vermeer’s patron. ==Themes== [[Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 023.jpg|300px|thumb|''Officer and a Laughing Girl'', 1657-59]] Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes. His works are largely [[Genre works|genre pieces]] and portraits, with the exception of two cityscapes. His subjects offer a cross-section of seventeenth century Dutch society, ranging from the portrayal of a simple milkmaid at work, to the luxury and splendour of rich notables and merchantmen in their roomy houses. Religious and scientific connotations can be found in his works. ==Influence of other painters== * [[Carel Fabritius]] (1622–1654) who spent his final years in Delft. Vermeer's ideas about perspective, and his tendency to paint everyday themes were possibly influenced by Fabritius. * Italian painter [[Michelangelo Merisi|Caravaggio]] (1573–1610), indirectly through Dutch followers. * [[Leonaert Bramer]], another painter from Delft, and witness to his marriage. * Vermeer's mother-in-law, Maria Thins, owned [[Dirck van Baburen]]'s ''Procuress'' (or a copy of it), which appears in the background of two of Vermeer's paintings. The same subject was also painted by Vermeer in one of the artist's early works. ==Works== [[Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 025.jpg|thumb|300px|''The Little Street'', 1657/58]] Only three paintings are dated: ''The Procuress'' (1656, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie), ''The Astronomer'' (1668, Paris, Louvre), and ''The Geographer'' (1669, Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut). Two pictures are generally accepted as earlier than ''The Procuress''; both are history paintings, painted in a warm palette and in a relatively large format for Vermeer — ''Christ in the House of Mary and Martha'' (Edinburgh, National Gallery) and ''Diana and her Companions'' (The Hague, Mauritshuis). After ''The Procuress'' almost all of Vermeer's paintings are of contemporary subjects in a smaller format, with a cooler palette dominated by blues, yellows and greys. It is to this period that practically all of his surviving works belong. They are usually domestic interiors with one or two figures lit by a window on the left. They are characterized by a serene sense of compositional balance and spatial order, unified by a pearly light. Mundane domestic or recreational activities become thereby imbued with a poetic timelessness (e.g. ''Woman Reading a Letter at an Open Window'', Dresden, Gemäldegalerie). To this period also have been allocated Vermeer's two [[townscape]]s, ''View of Delft'' (The Hague, Mauritshuis) and ''A Street in Delft'' (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). A few of his paintings show a certain hardening of manner and these are generally thought to represent his late works. From this period come ''The Allegory of Faith'' (c 1670, New York, Metropolitan Museum) and ''The Letter'' (c 1670, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). The often-discussed sparkling pearly highlights in Vermeer's paintings have been linked to his possible use of a [[camera obscura]], the primitive lens of which would produce [[halation]] and, even more noticeably, exaggerated perspective. Such effects can be seen in ''Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman'' (London, [[Royal Collection]]). Vermeer's interest in optics is also attested in this work by the accurately observed mirror reflection above the lady at the virginals. Today, 35 paintings are clearly attributed to Vermeer, although in 1866, Thoré Burger attributed a list of 66 pictures to him. The known paintings are: # ''[[Christ in the House of Martha and Mary]]'' (1654-1655) <small>- Oil on canvas, 160 x 142 cm, [[National Gallery of Scotland]], [[Edinburgh]]</small> # ''[[Diana and Her Companions]]'' (1655-1656) <small>- Oil on canvas, 98,5 x 105 cm, [[Mauritshuis]], [[The Hague]] </small> # ''[[The Procuress]]'' (1656) <small>- Oil on canvas, 143 x 130 cm, [[Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister]], [[Dresden]]</small> # ''[[Girl reading a Letter at an Open Window]]'' (1657) <small>- Oil on canvas, 83 x 64,5 cm, [[Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister]], [[Dresden]]</small> # [[A Girl Asleep (Vermeer)|''A Girl Asleep'']] (1657) <small>- [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City|New York]]</small> # [[The Little Street (Vermeer)|''The Little Street'']] (1657/58) <small>- [[Rijksmuseum]], [[Amsterdam]]</small> # ''[[Officer with a Laughing Girl]]'' (c. 1657) <small>- Oil on canvas, 50,5 x 46 cm, [[Frick Collection]], [[New York City|New York]]</small> # [[The Milkmaid (Vermeer)|''The Milkmaid'']] (c. 1658) <small>- Oil on canvas, 45,5 x 41 cm, [[Rijksmuseum]], [[Amsterdam]]</small> # ''[[A Lady Drinking and a Gentleman]]'' (1658-1660) <small>- Oil on canvas, 39,4 x 44,5 cm,[[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin|Gemäldegalerie]], [[Berlin]]</small> # ''[[The Girl with the Wineglass]]'' (c. 1659) <small>- Oil on canvas, [[Herzog Anton-Ulrich-Museum]], [[Braunschweig]]</small> # [[View of Delft (Vermeer)|''View of Delft'']] (1659-1660) <small>- Oil on canvas, 98,5 x 117,5 cm, [[Mauritshuis]], [[The Hague]]</small> # ''[[Girl Interrupted at her Music]]'' (1660-1661) <small>- Oil on canvas, 39,4 x 44,5 cm, [[Frick Collection]], [[New York City|New York]]</small> # ''[[Woman in Blue Reading a Letter]]'' (1663-1664) <small>- Oil on canvas, 46,6 x 39,1 cm, [[Rijksmuseum]], [[Amsterdam]]</small> # ''[[The Music Lesson]]'' or ''A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman'' (1662/5) <small>- Oil on canvas, 73,3 x 64,5 cm, [[Queen's Gallery]], [[London]]</small> # ''[[Woman with a Lute near a Window]]'' (c. 1663) <small>- Oil on canvas, 51,4 x 45,7 cm, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City|New York]]</small> # ''[[Woman with a Pearl Necklace]]'' (1662-1664) <small>- Oil on canvas, 55 x 45 cm, [[Gemäldegalerie (Berlin)|Gemäldegalerie]], [[Berlin]]</small> # ''[[Woman with a Water Jug (Vermeer)|Woman with a Water Jug]]'' (1660-1662) <small>- Oil on canvas, 45,7 x 40,6 cm, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City|New York]]</small> # ''[[A Woman Holding a Balance]]'' (1662-1663) <small>- Oil on canvas, 42,5 x 38 cm, [[National Gallery of Art]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]</small> # ''[[A Lady Writing a Letter]]'' (1665-1666) <small>- Oil on canvas, 45 x 40 cm, [[National Gallery of Art]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]</small> # ''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]'' (a.k.a. ''Girl In A Turban'', ''Head Of Girl In A Turban'', ''The Young Girl With Turban'') (c. 1665) <small>- Oil on canvas, 46,5 x 40 cm, [[Mauritshuis]], [[The Hague]] </small> # ''[[The Concert (Vermeer)|The Concert]]'' (1665-1666) <small>- Oil on canvas, 69 x 63 cm, stolen in March 1990 from the [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]], [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]]<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/stolen/index.html Stolen], a documentary about the theft of ''The Concert'', from the [[PBS]] website</ref></small> # ''[[Portrait of a Young Woman]]'' (1666-1667) <small>- Oil on canvas, 44,5 x 40 cm, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City|New York]]</small> # [[The Art of Painting|''The Allegory of Painting'']] or ''The Art of Painting'' (1666/67) <small>- [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]], [[Vienna]]</small> # ''[[Mistress and Maid]]'' (1667/68) <small>- [[Frick Collection]], [[New York City|New York]]</small> # ''[[Girl with a Red Hat]]'' (1668) <small>- [[National Gallery of Art]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]</small> # ''[[The Astronomer (painting)|The Astronomer]]'' (1668) <small>- [[Louvre]], [[Paris]]</small> # ''[[The Geographer]]'' (1668/69) <small>- [[Städelsches Kunstinstitut]], [[Frankfurt am Main]]</small> # ''[[The Lacemaker]]'' (1669/70) <small>- [[Louvre]], [[Paris]]</small> # ''[[The Love Letter (painting)|The Love Letter]]'' (1669/70) <small>- [[Rijksmuseum]], [[Amsterdam]]</small> # ''[[Lady writing a Letter with her Maid]]'' (1670) <small>- Oil on canvas, 71,1 x 58,4 cm, [[National Gallery of Ireland]], [[Dublin]]</small> # ''[[The Allegory of Faith]]'' (1671/74) <small>- [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City|New York]]</small> # ''[[The Guitar Player]]'' (1672) <small>- [[Kenwood House|Iveagh Bequest Kenwood House]], [[London]]</small> # ''[[Lady Standing at a Virginal]]'' (1673/75) <small>- [[National Gallery, London|National Gallery]], [[London]]</small> # ''[[Lady Seated at a Virginal]]'' (1673/75) <small>- [[National Gallery, London|National Gallery]], [[London]]</small> ==Gallery== <gallery caption="Paintings by Vermeer, ordered chronologically"> Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 004.jpg|''Christ in the House of Martha and Mary'' (1654-1655) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 002.jpg|''The Procuress'' (1656) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 022.jpg|''Young woman sleeping'' ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York]]) (1656-1657) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 023.jpg|''Officer and a Laughing Girl'' ([[Frick Collection]], [[New York]]) (1657-1659) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 003.jpg|''Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window'' (1657-1659) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 025.jpg|''The Little Street'' (1657/58) Image:Jan_Vermeer_van_Delft_021.jpg|''The Milkmaid'' ([[Rijksmuseum]], [[Amsterdam]]) (c. 1658) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 018.jpg|''[[The Wine Glass]]'' (1658-1661) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 006.jpg|''The Girl with a Wine Glass'' (1659-1660) Image:Vermeer-view-of-delft.jpg|''View of Delft'' ([[Mauritshuis]], [[The Hague]]) (1660-1661) Image:Vermeer Girl Interrupted at Her Music.jpg|''Girl Interrupted at her Music'' (1660-1661) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 014.jpg|''The Music Lesson'' (1662) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 019.jpg|''Young Woman with a Water Pitcher'' (1662-1663) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 016.jpg|''The Lacemaker'' ([[Louvre]], [[Paris]]) (1664) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 008.jpg|''Woman with a Pearl Necklace'' (1664) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 012.jpg|''Woman in Blue Reading a Letter'' ([[Rijksmuseum]], [[Amsterdam]]) (after 1664) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 015.jpg|''Woman Holding a Balance'' (1665)<ref> [http://www.nga.gov/feature/vermeer/index.htm In-depth discussion of "Woman Holding a Balance"] from the [[National Gallery of Art]] website</ref> Image:Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) - The Girl With The Pearl Earring (1665).jpg|''The Girl with the Pearl Earring'' ([[Mauritshuis]], [[The Hague]]) (1665) Image:Vermeer The concert.JPG|''The Concert'' (1665-66) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 020.jpg|''Girl with a Flute'' (1665-1670) Image:Vermeer Allegory-of-the-Painting.jpg|''The Allegory of Painting'' (1666-1667) Image:Vermeer Lady Maidservant Holding Letter.jpg|''Lady with her Maidservant Holding a Letter'' (1667) Image:Vermeer-Portrait of a Young Woman .jpg|''Portrait of a Young Woman'' (1665-67) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 009.jpg|''The Geographer'' (1669) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 013.jpg|''The Guitar Player'' (1669-1672) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 010.jpg|''The Loveletter'' ([[Rijksmuseum]], [[Amsterdam]]) (1670) Image:DublinVermeer.jpg|''Lady writing a Letter with her Maid'' (1670) Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 024.jpg|''A Lady Standing at a Virginal'' (1670-1673) </gallery> ==Disputed works== * ''[[Saint Praxidis (painting)|Saint Praxidis]]'' (c. 1655) <small>- Oil on canvas, 102 x 83 cm, Private Collection</small> * ''[[Girl with a Flute]]'' (1665-1670) <small>- Oil on panel, 20 x 17,8 cm, [[National Gallery of Art]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]</small> * ''[[A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals]]'' (1670) <small>- [[Wynn Las Vegas]], [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]]</small> * ''[[Portrait of a Woman]]'' (1655-1660) <small>-</small> ==Forgeries== [[Han van Meegeren]] was a Dutch painter who worked in the classic tradition. Initially seeking to prove that critics had underestimated his abilities as a painter, he decided to paint a fake Vermeer. Later, he forged more Vermeers and works of other painters to make money. Van Meegeren fooled the art establishment, and was only taken seriously after demonstrating his skills in front of police witnesses. His aptitude at [[art forgery|forgery]] shocked the art world and complicated efforts to assess the authenticity of works attributed to Vermeer. After Van Meegeren's exposure in 1945 a wave of self-criticism surged through the world of art-museums and many so-called Old Masters disappeared from their walls. Examples are given in the Van Meegeren biography ''A New Vermeer'', see references below. ==Vermeer in other works== * Vermeer's ''View of Delft'' features in a pivotal sequence of [[Marcel Proust|Marcel Proust's]] ''[[In Search of Lost Time|The Captive]]''. * The [[Girl with a Pearl Earring (novel)|book ''Girl with a Pearl Earring'']] and the [[Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)|film of the same name]] are named after the painting; they present a fictional account of its creation by Vermeer and his relationship with the model. * The book ''[[Girl in Hyacinth Blue]]'' is about a fictional Vermeer painting of the same name, and the 2003 made-for-TV film ''[[Brush with Fate]]'' is based on the book. * The [[liqueur]] [[Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur]] was inspired by and named after Vermeer and its bottle is embossed with his signature and has a logo incorporating the [[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]. *[[Salvador Dalí]], with great admiration for Vermeer, painted his own version of ''The Lacemaker'' and pitted large copies of the original against a rhinoceros in some now-famous surrealist experiments. Dali also immortalized the [[Dutch Masters|Dutch Master]] in ''[[The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used As a Table]]'', 1934. *The 2003 children's novel ''[[Chasing Vermeer]]'' by [[Blue Balliett]] describes the theft of ''[[A Lady Writing]]'' and has the authenticity of Vermeer's paintings as a central theme. Also, in the sequel to the book, ''[[The Wright 3]]''. * Dutch composer [[Louis Andriessen]] based his opera, ''Writing to Vermeer'' (1997-98, libretto by Peter Greenaway), on the domestic life of Vermeer. * Greenaway's own film ''[[A Zed & Two Noughts]]'' (1985) contains a plot line about an orthopedic surgeon named Van Meegeren who stages highly exact scenes from Vermeer paintings in order to paint copies of them. *"[[Brush with Fate]]" was a made-for-TV film debuted on February 2, 2003, on CBS. It followed the life of an imaginary painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer as it passes through the hands of various people. * The book and film ''[[Girl, Interrupted]]'' take their title from the painting ''Girl Interrupted at her Music''. *''Jan Vermeer'' is the title of a song on Bob Walkenhorst's solo album, ''The Beginner'' ([http://www.sundancewebservices.net/rm/beginner.html lyrics here], song #6). Walkenhorst is the guitarist and principal songwriter for ''The Rainmakers''. * ''All the Vermeers in New York'', a film by [[Jon Jost]] ==References and notes== [[Image:Johannes Vermeer - Zittende Klavecimbelspeelster (1673-1675).jpg|300px|thumb|'A Lady Seated at a Virginal'' ([[National Gallery, London]]) (1672) ''[[A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals]]'' (1670)]] {{reflist}} ==Sources== <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"> *'''Sheldon, Libby and Nicola Costaros''' (2005), ''Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Young woman seated at a virginal’'', THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, February 2006, Number 1235, Volume CXLVIII. *'''Schneider, Nobert''' (1993), ''Vermeer'', Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH, [[Köln]]. *'''Wadum, J.''', “Contours of Vermeer”, in ''Vermeer Studies. Studies in the History of Art'', 55. Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Symposium Papers XXXIII, eds. I. Gaskel and M. Jonker. Washington/New Haven (1998), pp. 201-223. *Vermeer, Johannes. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 13, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9075111]. *'''[[Frederik H. Kreuger]]''' (2007) ''A New Vermeer, Life and Work of Han van Meegeren'' (ISBN 978-90-5959-047-2). Pages 54, 218 and 220 give examples of Van Meegeren fakes (or possible Van Meegeren fakes) that were removed from their museum walls. Pages 220/221 give an example of a non-Van Meegeren fake attributed to him: *[http://www.quantes.nl/uit_detail_auteur.php?id_auteur=4] *'''Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr.''' (1981,1988) ''Jan Vermeer'' (ISBN 0-8109-1737-8). Contains history and color plates, or photographs, of nearly/all works along with commentary and history of them. Also includes background information on Vermeer and his time. </div> {{commonscat|Jan Vermeer van Delft}} ==External links== * [http://www.vermeerdelft.nl/195.pp Vermeercentrum], housed at the site of the former [[Guild of Saint Luke#Dutch Republic|St. Lucas Guild]] in Delft. (This reference states that the Vermeercentrum has been closed, in the mean time it has been reopened again: December 2007). * [http://www.essentialvermeer.com/index.html Essential Vermeer], in-depth coverage of Vermeer's life and works. * [http://www.virtualvermeer.com/index.html Virtual Vermeer], Biography, Paintings. * [http://bbcworld.com/pages/ProgrammeFeature.aspx?id=82&FeatureID=537 Website with unusual information, gathered by John Michael Montias, accompanying a BBC-documentary] * http://www.richeast.org/htwm/VERMEER/VERMEER.HTML {{DEFAULTSORT:Vermeer, Johannes}} [[Category:Dutch painters]] [[Category:Dutch Golden Age painters]] [[Category:1632 births]] [[Category:1675 deaths]] [[Category:Dutch Roman Catholics]] [[Category:People from Delft]] {{Link FA|de}} {{Link FA|he}} {{Link FA|nl}} {{Link FA|pl}} [[ar:يوهانس فيرمير]] [[br:Johannes Vermeer]] [[bg:Йоханес Вермеер]] [[ca:Johannes Vermeer de Delft]] [[cs:Jan Vermeer]] [[cy:Johannes Vermeer]] [[da:Johannes Vermeer]] [[de:Jan Vermeer]] [[et:Johannes Vermeer]] [[el:Γιοχάνες Βερμέερ]] [[es:Johannes Vermeer]] [[eo:Johannes Vermeer]] [[eu:Johannes Vermeer]] [[fa:یوهانس ورمر]] [[fr:Johannes Vermeer]] [[gl:Johannes Vermeer]] [[ko:요하네스 페르메이르]] [[hr:Johannes Vermeer]] [[io:Johannes Vermeer]] [[is:Johannes Vermeer]] [[it:Jan Vermeer]] [[he:יאן ורמר]] [[lb:Johannes Vermeer]] [[hu:Jan Vermeer van Delft]] [[nl:Johannes Vermeer]] [[ja:ヨハネス・フェルメール]] [[no:Johannes Vermeer]] [[pl:Jan Vermeer]] [[pt:Johannes Vermeer]] [[ro:Johannes Vermeer]] [[ru:Вермер, Ян]] [[simple:Johannes Vermeer]] [[sk:Jan Vermeer]] [[sl:Jan Vermeer van Delft]] [[sr:Јоханес Вермер]] [[fi:Johannes Vermeer]] [[sv:Jan Vermeer]] [[ta:ஜொஹான்னெஸ் வெர்மீர்]] [[th:โยฮันส์ เวร์เมร์]] [[uk:Ян Вермер]] [[vi:Johannes Vermeer]] [[tr:Johannes Vermeer]] [[zh:杨·维梅尔]]