JAN VERMEER (1632-1675)

One of the Dutch masters of painting, Jan Vermeer is best known for his painting of light on people and objects. His work is filled with careful observation and great realistic detail, giving a strong sense of the environment surrounding his work.

One of the unique characteristics of Vermeer's work is that it is almost strictly painting of interiors. The only paintings of landscapes are seen from the vantage point of someone looking out of a window. Even his self-portrait, that of a painter at work called Allegory of Painting, is that of a painter at work by a window with the sunlight streaming in. Whether this is indicative of Vermeer being unable to leave his home or not is unknown.; in fact, little is known about his life.

Vermeer's paintings, partly due to the nature of his society, are strictly of the Dutch aristocracy and middle class. His interest was in everyday leisurely life in ornate surroundings. He was virtually unknown or ignored outside of Delft, where he lived. The respect of his contemporaries is clear from his positon as chair of the Guild of St. Luke's, an organization that formalized the artist's validity in working, teaching and selling paintings. In spite of his local stature and reputation, Vermeer was never wealthy. It is thought that he sometimes would barter paintings rather than sell them, in order to pay his debts. In fact, when he died a poor man, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was appointed to settle his estate and answer to Vermeer's creditors.

The lack of documentation about Vermeer's life has led to much discussion about his work. Few of the paintings are dated and the complexity of his work varies a great deal. It is therefore difficult to determine in what order they were painted. Through the years, various art historians have disagreed about this, as well as which paintings were truly done by Vermeer. This culminated in a forger showing a series of paintings that experts claimed were the early work of Vermeer.

Vermeer did not follow the usual methods of painting in that he was not heavily influenced by his colleagues. His work remained his own. He was probably influenced, especially in his sense of light, by Pieter de Hooch (who was in turn to be influenced by Vermeer) and Caravaggio, by whom he conceivably was trained in his early years (no documentation of this).