Jan Vermeer

Maid with milk jug (1658–1660)
The picture is one of Vermeer's best-known works.

Jan Vermeer van Delft , also called Johannes Vermeer (baptized 31 October 1632 in Delft ; buried 15. December 1675 in Delft, contemporary Joannis ver sea , Joannis van der Meer ) is one of the most famous Dutch painter of the Baroque . He worked in the era of the Dutch Golden Age , in which the country experienced a political, economic and cultural heyday.

The volume of Jan Vermeer 's oeuvre is very small, with 37 pictures known today, although other titles have come down to us from old auction records. Vermeer's first works were history paintings, but he is known for his genre scenes , which make up a large part of his work. The best-known works due to today's reception are the View of Delft and The Girl with the Pearl Earring . Due to the small number of known pictures, pictures by other artists were wrongly ascribed to him in the 19th century , a time of increased interest in research on Jan Vermeer and his work. Today, however, his range of works is generally recognized by research.

Life

Little is known about the life of Jan Vermeer van Delft. He was baptized on October 31, 1632 in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft and was the second child and only son of his parents. His father Reynier Jansz originally came from Antwerp , moved to Amsterdam in 1611 and worked there as a silk weaver . In 1615 he married Digna Baltens and went to Delft under the name Vos , where he ran an inn. He also worked as a weaver and officially joined the St. Luke Guild in Delft as an art dealer. There Vermeer met painters such as Pieter Steenwyck , Balthasar van der Ast and Pieter Groenewegen.

training

There is no reliable information about Jan Vermeer's training as a painter. As a free master, he became a member of the St. Luke's Guild on December 29, 1653. This admission must have been preceded by a six-year apprenticeship with a painter recognized by the guild. It is believed that Vermeer could have been a student of Leonaert Bramer. Although this hypothesis was met with little agreement due to the large differences in style, a connection to Vermeer's with him has been documented. The contact to Gerard ter Borch is also documented. It was also assumed that Vermeer was a pupil of Carel Fabritius , who had been trained by Rembrandt . This hypothesis has been a citizen since William ThoréIt was widely recognized in the 19th century and is still widespread today, but is now doubted by art scholars. Instead, Pieter de Hooch , who lived in Delft between 1652 and 1661, was assigned a formative role in Jan Vermeer's painting, as de Hooch's style was identified in Vermeer's genre painting and recognized as refined.

Family life and work

Jan Vermeer married Catharina Bolnes on April 20, 1653 in Schipluiden , a village near Delft. The marriage initially met with resistance from Catharina's mother, Maria Thins. One reason for this may have been Vermeer's Calvinism , while Catharina Bolnes was Catholic . Only after the intercession of the Catholic Leonaert Bramer did Maria Thins give up her reservations about getting married. Whether Vermeer converted to the Catholic Church is controversial.

In 1660 Vermeer and his wife moved into his mother-in-law's household on the Oude Langendijk. With Catharina Bolnes he had fifteen children, four of whom died at an early age. Jan Vermeer seems to have made a lot of money at that time because he could feed his children without any problems. Since he only painted an average of two pictures a year, he must have had other sources of income. It is known that he supported his mother in running the "Mechelen" tavern on Delft's Great Market, which she inherited after her husband's death and which in all probability also ran his art trade in Vermeer, a widespread sideline activity of 17th century Dutch painters . In 1662 and 1663, and in 1670 and 1671, Vermeer was Dean of the St. Luke Guild. Since in the 17thHad to be the guild that made the rules, the position of dean was an influential one and proves that Jan Vermeer was a respected figure in Delft.

Jan Vermeer was able to achieve good prices for his pictures during his lifetime. Vermeer painted only a few of his pictures for the free art market. Most of his pictures went to patrons such as the baker Hendrick van Buyten. It is not known whether Vermeer was commissioned to paint the pictures or whether the patrons only had a right of first refusal on his works. In addition to his artistic activity, Jan Vermeer also worked as an art expert. For example, he checked the authenticity of a collection of Venetian and Roman paintings that the art dealer Gerard Uylenburgh wanted to sell to the Elector of Brandenburg Friedrich Wilhelm for a sum of 30,000 guilders. Vermeer traveled to The Hague in 1672, where he examined the pictures together with another artist, Hans Jordaens . He denied their authenticity in front of a notary and stated that they were worth a tenth of the asking price at most.

Last years and death

Jan Vermeer's grave slab in Delft

In the last years of his life, Vermeer's economic situation worsened, so that he had to take out loans. As a result of the French-Dutch war that broke out in 1672 and lasted until 1679 , he was unable to sell any further paintings. In addition, Catharina Bolnes stated in a request for partial debt relief dated April 30, 1676 that her husband had to sell pictures with which he traded below their value during the war. In 1675 Vermeer fell ill and died within a few days. On December 15, 1675 he was buried in the family vault in the Oude Kerk in Delft. His wife had to waive her inheritance right to pay off the debt and transferred it to the creditors.

plant

As far as we know today, Jan Vermeer's complete oeuvre comprises 37 paintings, all of which are difficult to date. In the case of the pictures Young Woman at the Virginal , Girl with Flute , Diana with Her Companions, and The Holy Praxedis , however, there are doubts as to Vermeer's authorship. The relatively small number of autograph works that have survived prompted researchers time and again to attribute further works to him, which today are mostly recognized as incorrect. In addition, there are a few other pictures that are only known through old auction catalogs or prints, so that the question of their authenticity must remain open according to the current state of knowledge.

Some of the earliest pictures by Jan Vermeer can be assigned to the genre of history painting . In the 17th century, before portrait, landscape, still life and animal painting, this took the highest position in painting. At the time of Vermeer, history painting included the representation of events from antiquity , myths and legends of saints as well as church history and biblical onesMotifs. In the second half of the 50s of the 17th century, Jan Vermeer switched from history pictures to cityscapes and genre scenes. The reason for this change is unknown. It is believed, however, that Vermeer could not use history painting to reproduce the lighting conditions and perspective to the same extent as was possible in the other genres of painting. Also the influence of Pieter de Hooch and Jan Steenwho both lived in Delft at the time of the style change, could have caused this. Both worked with figurative and architectural elements of everyday life in their pictures. Furthermore, de Hooch, Steen and Vermeer may have been influenced by the atmosphere in Delft at that time in such a way that they brought content and stylistic innovations to their art. Changes in the style of Steens and de Hooch after their arrival in Delft support this thesis.

History pictures

Christ with Mary and Martha (around 1654/55)

Diana with her companions (around 1655/56)

Compared to Vermeer's later works, his three early history pictures had Christ with Maria and Martha measuring 160 cm × 142 cm, Diana with her companions measuring 98.5 cm × 105 cm and The Holy Praxedis measuring 101.6 cm × 82.6 cm a large format. An example of the size of the later works is The Girl with the Pearl Earring , which measures only 45 cm × 40 cm.

In the picture Christ with Mary and Martha , created around 1654/1655, Jan Vermeer takes up a passage from the Gospel of Luke : Jesus Christ comes to Mary and Martha. While Martha prepares the meal, Mary listens to Jesus. Martha asks him why he is not asking Mary to help her and receives the answer: “Marta, Marta, you are worried and troubled a lot. But only one thing is necessary. Mary chose the good part that will not be taken from her ”( Lk 10.38-42  EU ). This pericope had been a subject often treated in painting since the 16th century, because it was based on that of the reformersThe problem of the good work, which they saw as a superficial, external act, made clear. Compared to later works by Vermeer, the composition is simple and based on the pyramid scheme. Martha stands behind Jesus, who is sitting on a chair with a bread basket in hand, and his head is covered with a faint halois surrounded. In the foreground Maria is sitting on a stool with her head propped up. This gesture of Mary is supposed to illustrate thoughtfulness. As a sign of humility, she does not wear shoes. The outstretched arm of Jesus pointing at her is supposed to mean to Martha that her sister has chosen the better job. Vermeer used strong color contrasts between the white of the tablecloth and the red of Mary's top and the blue of the robe of Jesus. Vermeer used smalt for the blue robe of Christ instead of the usual ultramarine .

Vermeer's second historical picture, Diana with her companions , was made around 1655/1656. Diana, also called Artemis , is the virgin goddess of the hunt from Greek mythology. In the picture she is sitting on a stone and surrounded by four nymphsdepicted surrounded. Diana was shown with a short robe or as a bathing woman. Vermeer portrays her dressed, a concession to the zeitgeist, who found nudity offensive. A half-clothed nymph turns away from the viewer behind Diana and turns her back on him. The picture has little action, two nymphs sit on the stone with Diana, one stands in the background and looks at how the fourth washes a foot of Diana. This ritual act relates to the motif of the washing of the feet at the Last Supper . It dawns why the women's faces are in shadow. The darkness and the diadem with the crescent moon are an allusion to the frequent identification of Diana with the moon goddess Selene . The pictureDiana and her companions were said to have deficiencies, especially in the representation of their postures. Therefore, style-critical doubts were repeatedly voiced that it was a work of Vermeer's at all. To this day, these doubts can neither be confirmed nor refuted.

Cityscapes

View of Delft (around 1660/61)

Vermeer painted two pictures related to his hometown: the street in Delft and the view of Delft . Cityscapes were mostly painted as a result of public or private commissions, only rarely for the free market. Therefore, they also achieved higher prices than landscape paintings that were not made to order .

The picture View of Delft was probably made around 1660/1661. Jan Vermeer probably designed it from a higher floor of a house with the help of a camera obscura . The fact of the elevated point of view is particularly clear from the top view of the figures on the lower left of the picture. The picture shows a view of the city with the river Schie in the foreground. Jan Vermeer, like in his other pictures, arranged the architectural elements parallel to the edge of the picture, in contrast to other painters who wanted to make the inner life of a city accessible with streets leading down into the depths. In addition, Vermeer laid out a triangular strip of shore in the foreground. This item, made by Pieter Brueghelwas introduced, was often used, for example in the picture Blick auf Zierikzee by Esaias van de Velde . Vermeer mainly used brown and ocher tones for the coloring of his Delft view . He put dots of color on the shadowy buildings in the foreground and on the ship's hulls to show the structure of the joints and the incrustations. The light breaking through the clouds mainly illuminates the buildings in the background and the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk . Jan Vermeer probably wanted to make a political statement with the brightly lit church tower. The tomb of William I of Orange, who died in an assassination attempt in Delft in 1584, was located in the Nieuwe Kerkwho was considered a hero of the resistance against Spain.

Moralizing images

At the matchmaker's (1656)

Sleeping girl (around 1657)

In the case of the matchmaker from 1656, Jan Vermeer's earliest painting is to be assigned to genre painting . It is likely that Vermeer was inspired by the painting of the same name by the painter Dirck van Baburen , which was in the possession of his mother-in-law Maria Thins. This image continues to appear in some of Vermeer's works as an allusion to the topic under discussion. With the matchmakercan be assigned to the category of "Bordeeltje", the brothel picture, which is a sub-category of the genre picture. The picture shows four people, two women and two men. For a concrete description of the figures, it is not clear whether it is actually a scene in a brothel or a domestic scene. In the first case, the woman on the right edge of the picture would be a prostitute and the man standing behind her would be a suitor. The woman in black would be the matchmaker who would have organized the business. However, if it is a domestic scene, the image would represent the emergence of an extramarital relationship. In this case the matchmaker would be a woman from the neighborhood who would have organized this relationship. The man with the water glass on the left edge of the picture could be Vermeer himself. It would be his only self-portrait. Only the upper bodies of the people pictured are visible, as there is a table in the foreground. This composition of the picture creates a distance to the figures in the viewer. Since genre images were also supposed to convey values, they often contained warnings. Through the wine motif, represented in the carafe and the wine glass in the hand of the prostitute, whose cheeks are reddened from drinking alcohol, the aim is to convey that people should remain clear-headed despite the sensual seductions. The central aspect of the picture, the purchasability of love, is only shown indirectly, as the prostitute opens her hand to accept a coin from the client. This compares Vermeer with other artists who used more drastic allusions - such asFrans van Mieris , who depicted dogs copulating in the background of the picture The Soldier and the Girl - relatively reserved.

The picture Sleeping Girl , painted around 1657, is another work of Vermeer's with a moralizing message. The young woman pictured is sitting at a table that is covered with an oriental rug. This forms a triangle at the front end of the table and was arranged by Vermeer together with a wine carafe and a fruit plate. The woman sleeps and supports her head with her arm, which symbolically underlines the idleness. The clothing shows that it is not a maid , but a wife who takes care of the household. Jan Vermeer initially used several narrative elements in the picture to let the woman interact within the picture. So showed oneX-ray examination that there was a dog in the door and a man in the left background, which were later painted over. This made the composition more open to interpretation. The motif of enjoying wine is taken up again in this picture by the carafe and also determined the title of the picture as A drunken, sleeping girl at a table at the sale on May 16, 1696: As a result of the sleep caused by the wine consumption, the woman neglects her duties in the Household.

Depictions of women

Letter Reader at the Open Window (around 1657)

The Girl with the Pearl Earring (around 1665)

Most of the portrayals of women in Vermeer's paintings suggest a story, with attributes such as musical instruments or household items influencing the idea of ​​the plot. Only three pictures differ from it in a greater degree and can be called portraits .

The picture Letter reader at the open window , which was painted around 1657 and thus in Vermeer's early phase, shows a woman with a letter that mainly determines the plot of the picture. Vermeer also takes up the element of the letter in other pictures. In this picture Jan Vermeer shows a woman positioned in the middle of the picture with a letter in her hand in front of an open window. In the foreground is a table, in front of which there is a curtain on the right edge of the picture. The woman is shown in profile, but the viewer can see the suggestion of her face as a reflection in the window. That the letter is probably a love letter becomes clear from details such as the hint of the Fallthrough the fruit bowl filled with peaches and apples. The curtain that can be seen in the foreground can reinforce this statement when it is pushed aside as a sign of revelation. However, it may also be just one element of the composition that Vermeer used several times. To the right of the letter reader, a naked cupid was discovered in an X-ray in 1979 , who was overtaken by several layers. It's about the same size as the girl. It is unclear whether Vermeer painted it over himself; however, the overpainting probably dates from around 1700.

In most of Jan Vermeer depictions of women, moral statements play an important role. This theme is also taken up in the pictures with women playing music. An example of this is the work Standing Virginalspielerin , created between 1673 and 1675 . The name of the instrument virginal is an allusion to the virginity of the girl depicted. Above all, it should be understood against the background that in the 17th century in the Netherlands, strict attention was paid to ensuring that women did not have sexual intercourse until they were married. The picture with the representation of Cupido in the background forms a contrast to this understanding of morality.

The most popular painting by Jan Vermeer is the portrait of The Girl with the Pearl Earring , created around 1665. This fame is mainly due to the modern reception and the fact that this work was the hook of a successful Vermeer exhibition in the Mauritshuis in The Hague in 1995 and 1996. The girl depicted is shown up close and without narrative attributes, which clearly sets this portrait apart from the other works by Vermeer. It is not known who the depicted is. It could be a model, or maybe the picture was a commissioned work. The background of the picture is neutral and very dark, but not black due to its many colors. The dark background enhances the girl's brightness, especially that of her skin. It tilts its head, which creates the appearance of lost thought in the viewer. The girl interacts with the viewer, by looking directly at him and keeping his mouth slightly open, which in Dutch painting often suggests an address to the viewer. Vermeer painted the girl's clothes with almost pure colors, the number of colors in the picture is limited. The girl's jacket is brownish-yellow and thus forms a contrast to the blueTurban and white collar. The turban with the yellow falling shawl is a symbol of the interest in oriental culture at that time in the wake of the Turkish wars . Turbans were therefore a popular and widespread accessory in Europe in the 17th century . In addition, the pearl on the girl's ear stands out, which protrudes from the shadow area of ​​the neck.

Representation of the sciences

The geographer (around 1668/69)

In the painting The Geographer , which was created in 1668 and 1669, and the parallel picture The Astronomer from 1668, Jan Vermeer dealt with science . He also alluded to cartography in some pictures by showing maps in the background . Cartography was a young scientific discipline and was still developing. In the 17th century cards were a luxury item , but in addition to being a symbol of wealth, they also represented education in Vermeer's pictures. In addition, cards symbolized the position of the Netherlands as a trading power that operated long-distance trade. In addition, the Netherlands belonged due toher colonial empire in the 17th century to the most important colonial powers . An example of how the card was used in Vermeer is The Soldier and the Laughing Girl .

The picture The Geographer shows the scientist in the center of the picture as the central motif. The geographer wears his long hair bundled behind his ears and is dressed in a long robe . On the table in the foreground there is a map and a blanket pushed together so that it can be spread out. There is a globe on the cupboard in the background . The geographer uses a compass to check distances on the map, but looks out of the window at the moment captured in the image. Light falls on his face, which alludes to enlightenment. In combination with the robe, the geographer looks like a mysterious character. This effect is to be understood as a representation of the general perception of scientists at the time of Vermeer's.

With the portrayal of a geographer and an astronomer , Jan Vermeer took up an important paradigm shift . Until the 17th century it was frowned upon to deal with the extent, shape and history of the earth as well as with the starstoo busy. This was understood as a contravention of God's plan of salvation and regarded as presumptuous. Nonetheless, the sciences dealing with the earth and the stars continued to develop on a large scale from the late 15th century. Since the non-European discoveries in America, Asia and Africa, merchants, seafarers and aristocrats needed more and more geographical knowledge, which was processed in books, maps and globes.

Allegories

The art of painting (around 1665/66 or 1673 ? )

Detail of the image with the muse Klio

In addition to his naturalistic pictures, which mostly dealt with topics from everyday life, Jan Vermeer also painted two allegories in which he personified abstract topics and took a personal position on them through symbols and references. These two pictures are titled Allegory of Faith , created between 1671 and 1674, and Die Malkunst (Allegory of Painting) . Vermeer relied on Cesare Ripa's treatise on iconography .

The allegory of painting is 130 cm × 110 cm, making it one of Vermeer's largest paintings. The picture has been viewed by many art historians as Vermeer's painterly legacy. Hans Sedlmayr, for example, used the title The Glory of Painting . This title can be traced back to the name of the picture when the debt was repaid after Vermeer's death, when it was called "A piece of painting [...] on which the art of painting is represented" .

The picture shows a studio that may have been inspired by Vermeer's own, as an oak table like the one shown appeared in his inventory list. On this table there is a book, a symbol of wisdom and contemplation, as well as a notebook, which is to be understood as a symbol of artistic inspiration . As the central person in this picture, the painter sits in the middle of the picture in front of an almost empty canvas. He turns his back on the viewer so that he preserves his anonymity. In the background is a young woman who is the painter's model . She wears a blue silk robe and a yellow skirt. She holds a book in her left hand and a trumpet in her right hand . She wears a wreath on her headmade of bay leaves , all representing eternal glory.

The blank canvas has been a symbol of the artistic idea since the Renaissance , which then takes shape in the painting process. The fact that the painter was working on a picture while a mask was lying on the table was interpreted as the result of the competition between the arts, the “ Paragone ”. Thus painting would have triumphed over sculpture. According to the current state of research, it is assumed that the young woman is not simply a model - or Fama  - but represents the muse Klio . In Greek mythology, this is the muse of historiography and hero poetry. So the subject of the picture is not painting , but history! This is also symbolized by the map by Nicolaes Visscher on the wall in the background, which shows the seventeen provinces before the armistice with Spain in 1609. The map from 1636 is lined with cityscapes on both edges, and Klio faces The Hague with the view of the royal court. This can be seen as a homage to Wilhelm III. to be interpreted by Orange . The picture could have been made in the early days of the Franco-Dutch War , which lasted from 1672 to 1678 , at a time of internal turmoil in the Netherlands, when there was hope for the Orangerested. In addition, a positive attitude towards the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation is evident, for example through the chandelier with the Habsburg double-headed eagle . The picture is therefore not a praise for painting, but rather a statement by Vermeer's on the current political situation in the Netherlands.

drawings

There are no drawings that can be clearly attributed to Jan Vermeer. Their absence has led many authors to assume that Vermeer did not need study drawings for his work. This contrasts with the controversial drawing Maid with Foot Warmer , which proponents ascribe to Vermeer and dated to 1655. It is 25.5 cm × 16.5 cm in size, made with chalk on blue paper and is now in the graphic collection in the Weimar Castle Museum . Proponents attribute the assignment of the drawing to Vermeer mainly to stylistic similarities and the similarity of the monogram on the foot warmer with the signatures on the paintings Letter Reader at the Open Window andBack view of Delft . For example, doubters cite the blue drawing paper as a justification for their position, since they assume that this paper was only produced in later centuries. This is contradicted by a representation by Karel van Mander , who lived before Vermeer and was the author of the Schilderbook . Van Mander led a student of the portraitist Michiel Miereveld from Delft: "He is eager to examine the most mature beauty of the art of painting, practices various self-invented manners in coloring, in between also draws on blue paper ..." That means that it was long before Jan Vermeer Delft Territory gave blue drawing paper.

Painting materials

The choice of paints used was an important aspect of Vermeer's elaborate painting technique. He is best known for his generous use of the expensive natural ultramarine (" Maid with a Milk Jug " and " Letter Reader in Blue "). The pigments lead tin yellow (“ letter writer in yellow ”), madder (“ Christ with Mary and Martha ”) and cinnabar were also characteristic of him . For his cityscapes and backgrounds, Vermeer also used earth colors , bone black and the cheaper blue pigment azurite .

Artistic innovation

Jan Vermeer was a pioneer of new design principles in painting of his time. He used a balanced division of the surfaces, with which he also represented complex facts and structures simply and with a few elements. The geometry played an important role in the composition. Vermeer dealt with the light in his pictures in such a way that almost the impression of open-air painting was achieved. Furthermore, he did not use gray tones to represent shadows .

The Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh writes to the French painter Émile Bernard :

“It's true that in the few paintings he has painted you can find the whole gamut; but the lemon yellow, the pale blue and light gray is as characteristic for him as for Velázquez the harmonization of black, white, gray and pink. "

It is said again and again that Jan Vermeer used a camera obscura when painting his pictures . For example, Norbert Schneider writes:

“We now know that Vermeer made use of the camera obscura in most of his pictures, in a way that does not hide the conditions of this medium, but actually makes it visible, such as the edge blurring and points of light, the famous 'pointillé' 'can be seen. In this way, the pictures acquire an 'abstract' quality because they do not pretend to reproduce reality as it is, but as one sees it, […] One can say that the 'camera obscura is closed a source of style. "

Not all experts share this opinion. The topic has been examined in a large number of studies. But even among those scholars who are certain that Vermeer did indeed use a camera obscura, there is still great debate going on about the extent to which he did so. The discussions began when the American US Lithograph , Joseph Pennell 1891 at the Vermeer picture Officer and Laughing Girl first time to the photographic perspectives pointed. In 1934 Paul made Claudelonce again art history draws attention to the photographic qualities of Vermeer's art. Charles Seymour and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. claim, with reference to the halo light effects that can be recognized , that Vermeer used a camera obscura for his view of Delft , The Art of Painting , the Girl with the Red Hat and The Lace Maker. Jørgen Wadum, on the other hand, places more value on Vermeer's development and his qualities as a painter of perspectives : thirteen paintings have a small hole that was poked into the linen with a needle .

importance

Respect and awareness

Jan Vermeer and his work remained unknown to most during his lifetime, as his paintings were hardly noticed by a small circle of connoisseurs and lovers. This was due to his small oeuvre and the fact that paintings by him are rarely at auctionswere traded. Although the quality of Vermeer's works was noticed, his oeuvre as a whole received hardly any attention. Jan Vermeer was not completely forgotten in the 17th and 18th centuries, but was rarely mentioned in literature. His work was mostly praised. At the beginning of the 19th century, interest in Jan Vermeer grew again, even if little biographical information about him was known. Vermeer's pictures were particularly advertised in auction catalogs and achieved high prices. In addition, Vermeer's work was taken up by artists, such as Wybrand Hendriks , who copied the view of Delft and painted genre scenes in the style of Vermeer. In 1821 Christian Josi published an essay entitledDiscours sur l'état ancien et modern des arts dans les Pays-Bas , in which he tried to collect all information about Vermeer and praised his work.

After Vermeer's painting View of Delft had received particular praise in literature, King William I of the Netherlands decided to buy this work through the Mauritshuis. The British art collector John Smith became aware of Jan Vermeer's work in the Royal Gallery there . Smith mentioned Vermeer in his directory of paintings from France, Flanders and the Netherlands, which was in eight volumes. Smith explained the low level of awareness of Vermeer's with his small complete works. In view of this, John Smith wondered about Vermeer's skill, which led him to consider him an impersonator and a student of other painters.

From the middle of the 19th century, Vermeer's painting became more widely received. The French publicist and politician William Thoré-Bürger got to know Dutch painting from the 17th century on his travels through Holland and Belgium, including some of Vermeer's works. Thoré-Bürger recognized that the realism in the representation of everyday life corresponded to the ideas of the aesthetics of his time. He helped Vermeer break through with three very positive magazine articles. In these essays, William Thoré-Bürger cataloged Vermeer's works and characterized his painting. With Thoré-Bürger's work, Jan Vermeer entered art literature on a larger scale for the first time. The impressionistsBy observing the light came to similar conclusions as Vermeer, whose pictures reproduced the light conditions in their natural way. Jan Vermeer and his work received ever greater appreciation.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Vermeer's paintings, such as the girl in the red hat , were rediscovered in private collections. These works had been attributed to other artists such as Gabriel Metsu and Pieter de Hooch . However, Thoré-Bürger and other art critics and art historians also wrongly assigned works to Jan Vermeer, such as those by Jacobus Vrel and Jan Vermeer van Haarlem . In the 20th century, Vermeer research was primarily concerned with the precise determination of the complete works.

Today Jan Vermeer is one of the most popular Dutch painters. In 1995/96, 460,000 visitors visited the Johannes Vermeer exhibition in The Hague in just 14 weeks , in which 22 of his works were on view. It was unusual that all tickets were already sold in advance. The same Washington, DC exhibit attracted 327,551 visitors.

Art market development

Jan Vermeer was supported by patrons who purchased most of his works. A significant collection of his works was in the possession of the printer's owner Jacob Dissius and his wife Magdalena van Ruijven, who, according to an inventory list drawn up in 1682, owned 19 Vermeer's paintings. Some of the pictures came from the possession of her father Pieter Claesz. van Ruijven. Others may also have been acquired by Magdalena van Ruijven, Jacob Dissius or his father, Abraham Jacobsz Dissius, when 26 works from Vermeer's estate were sold in the hall of the Guild of St. Luke on May 15, 1677. Both families have probably acquired important pieces from Vermeer's complete works.

In commercial terms, Vermeer's works had a prominent position. On May 16, 1696, 134 pictures were auctioned off by Gerard Houet , 21 of which are said to have been Vermeer's paintings. The asking prices for these pictures were between 17 and 200 guilders. The fact that his paintings fetched such high prices is a sign that Vermeer was a sought-after artist. In the same auction, for example, a head portrait of Rembrandt was sold for a little over seven guilders and a decapitation of John the Baptist attributed to Carel Fabritius for 20 guilders, which underlines the importance of Vermeer's.

As Vermeer's name and popularity increased at the beginning of the 19th century, so did the prices. Thus, the geographer bought and sold in 1798 for seven Louis in 1803 for 36 again. A year later, at the request of the king, the state acquired the view of Delft for the then extremely high sum of 2900 guilders and sent it to the Mauritshuis. At the end of the 19th century, more and more Vermeer's works were being traded at ever higher prices. American millionaires like John Pierpont Morgan , Henry Clay Frick , Henry Marquand and Isabella Stewart Gardnerbought the Vermeers and were wooed by the museums to lend them and also to transfer them to them. An example of the price trend is the allegory of faith . In 1899 Abraham Bredius acquired this painting for around 700 guilders and subsequently loaned it to the Mauritshuis and the Boymans van Beuningen Museum. Eventually Bredius sold the picture for $ 300,000 to the American Michael Friedsam , who left it to the Metropolitan Museum. For 625,000 guilders, Henri WA Deterding acquired the painting Street in Delft in 1921 from the Collectie Six named after the art collector Jan Sixand gave it to the Dutch state. Upon request, the picture will be shown in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The price development and the high demand made Vermeer attractive to counterfeiters.

In 1940 Adolf Hitler acquired Die Malkunst (Allegory of Painting) for 1,650,000 Reichsmarks from the Austrians Eugen and Jaromir Czernin. The taxes of around 500,000 Reichsmarks were also taken over by Hitler. In the run-up, there have been several offers to buy, including more than six million dollars from US Secretary of State Andrew Mellon , but the export license was not granted. The picture was intended for the planned art museum in Linz and was initially in Munich after it was acquired by Hitler. Towards the end of the Second World War , it was hidden in the Altaussee salt mine and recovered by members of the US Army after the end of the war. These handed over the art of painting the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

In 2004, Steve Wynn bought the painting Junge Frau am Virginal for 30 million dollars . It was the first time a Vermeer has been up for auction since 1921.

Fakes

Since Vermeer's authorship is only certain for 37 pictures today, there were repeated rumors about the existence of further pictures, the location of which is just not known. This circumstance led to the fact that counterfeiters produced allegedly previously undiscovered pictures of Vermeer's and brought them onto the art market. The demand for Vermeer's works was so great that it could not be covered by his small complete works. The Dutchman Han van Meegeren produced such perfect forgeries that even the Vermeer expert Abraham Bredius issued expert reports on the authenticity of these images. This confirmed, among other things, the authenticity of the Emmausfahl by van Meegeren, which theAcquired the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam in 1938. In addition, the German Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring also bought a fake from Han van Meegeren, as did the Dutch state . He bought the picture Washing the Feet in 1943, which is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam . In addition to Bredius, Wilhelm von Bode and the director of the Mauritshuis , Wilhelm Martin, also issued expert reports for false Vermeers. These pictures now belong to the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

In the meantime, research methods can be used to clearly determine whether works ascribed to Jan Vermeer could have been painted at all during his lifetime. Counterfeits with lead pigments made from today's lead or lead compounds have a different isotopic composition and can be detected using the lead-210 method . Lead-210 is a lead isotope of the uranium-238 decay series that is formed from radium-226 and that continues to decay with a half-life of 22 years. This short half-life can be used to identify recent counterfeits. In addition, the lead used in the Netherlands during Vermeer's lifetime came from deposits in the European low mountain rangeswon. However, lead ores have been imported from America and Australia since the 19th century, so that modern lead white differs from older lead white in the content of trace elements and in the isotopic composition of lead. This was also characterized by a high silver and antimony content , while modern white lead no longer contains these elements , as these are separated from the lead during smelting .

reception

painting

Jan Vermeer was received painterly by Salvador Dalí . As a child, Dalí was fascinated by a reproduction of Vermeer's The Lace Maker that was in his father's study. In 1934 he painted some pictures related to works by Jan Vermeer such as The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used As a Table , which shows Vermeer as a dark, kneeling figure that spreads one leg so that it forms a tabletop. There is a bottle and a small glass on this table. In the painting Paysage avec elements enigmatiques from the same year Jan Vermeer is shown seated in front of the easel. In 1936 Apparition de la ville de Delft was created , which is part of the backgroundShows view of Delft . Salvador Dalí asked the Louvre to be able to make a copy of the lace maker and was given permission. In 1955 he created the copy and the painting Peintre paranoïaque-critique de la Dentellière de Vermeer (German: Paranoia-critical painting of the lace maker by Vermeer ), in which he exploded the painting in the form of rhinoceros horns. This shape was created in Dali's childhood because he had to think of it when looking at the reproduction of the painting.

Salvador Dalí admired Vermeer and compared the lace maker to the Sistine Chapel . He said literally: “Michelangelo with the Last Judgment is no more magnificent than Vermeer van Delft with his lace maker in the Louvre, a handspan in a square. If you take the three-dimensional dimensions into account, you can say that Vermeer's lace maker opposite the Sistine Chapel is great. "

Among the contemporary artists, it is Gerhard Richter , whose admiration for Vermeer is mentioned again and again and is expressed in his “fuzzy” photo adaptations.

literature

The reception of the picture View of Delft by the French writer Marcel Proust is very well known . Proust traveled to the Netherlands in October 1902 and saw, among other pictures, Vermeer's view of Delft , which he liked best. When a collection of works by Dutch masters was shown in the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris in the spring of 1921 , Marcel Proust visited this exhibition even though he was suffering from asthma and had withdrawn, as the works View of Delft , Maid with Milk Jug and Das Girl with a pearl earringissued by Vermeer. On the stairs to the exhibition he suffered a fit of weakness which he attributed to a potato dish he had previously eaten. Marcel Proust took up the Delft view as well as the fit of weakness in his monumental work A la recherche du temps perdu (created between 1913 and 1927, German: In search of lost time), in the fifth part, La Prisonnière (1923, The prisoner) with his fictional character Bergotte . Bergotte is criticized for a “yellow piece of wall” in the view of Delftattentive. This section of the wall is still a mystery today because it cannot be found on the painting. The location is indicated in the French original with “Le petit pan de mur jaune avec un auvent” and “du tout petit pan de mur jaune” (German roughly: “a small area of ​​yellow brickwork with a canopy”). Since this passage does not exist in the picture, it is now assumed that Proust either invented this part of the wall for his novel or, possibly due to his illness, fell victim to a memory error while writing this passage.

More recently, Jan Vermeer gained greater popularity with the 1999 novel The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier , which was filmed in 2003 by Peter Webber . He deals with the question of who the woman in the picture The Girl with the Pearl Earring is and develops a fictional story about the maid Griet, who is the model for the picture. Also fictional is the story that Susan Vreeland tells in the book The Girl in Hyacinth Blue. The painting, which she invented, Vermeer's Girl with a Sewing Basketthat shows his daughter is traced back through history and thus linked to the description of the various owners. Vermeer himself is only dealt with directly at the end of the book, otherwise his picture is the only connecting element of the various episodes.

With The Pentomino Oracle , a children's book also takes up Jan Vermeer. The book by the author Blue Ballet refers mainly to the pictures The Geographer and The Letter Writer in yellow . The latter is stolen to alert people that some images have been mistakenly attributed to Vermeer. Luigi Guarnieri also wrote the novel The Double Life of Vermeer in 2005 , which tells the story of the art forger Han van Meegeren, who became famous for forging alleged Vermeer paintings.

Movie

The Oscar- winning short film Light in the Window was directed by Jean Oser in 1952 and deals with the life and work of Vermeer.

In 1985, Peter Greenaway tried to recreate the works of Jan Vermeer in his film One Z and Two Zeros . In the movie All the Vermeer in New York by Jon Jost from 1990 Jan Vermeer is mentioned in passing, as a French actress before the Vermeer paintings in the Metropolitan Museum meets with a broker.

In 2003 the book The Girl with the Pearl Earring was made into a film by the British film director Peter Webber . Scarlett Johansson played the main role of the maid , Vermeer was played by Colin Firth . The girl with the pearl earring received multiple awards and was nominated for three Academy Awards.

In addition to his pictorial reception, Salvador Dalí also took up Jan Vermeer on film. In 1954, he and Robert Descharnes began shooting a film called L'Histoire prodigieuse de la Dentelliere et du Rhinoceros , also L'aventure prodigieuse de la Dentelliere et du Rhinoceros . This film, which thematically had to do with the lace maker and the rhinoceros, was not completed. In the surrealist film An Andalusian Dog from 1929, in which Dali was also involved, the image of the lace maker appears briefly as an illustration in a book.

In 2015 the documentary Vermeer - Die Revanche was directed by Jean-Pierre Cottet and Guillaume Cottet . It is a résumé based on Vermeer's pictures (France 2015, 95 min.).

List of the images known today and attributed to Vermeer

The chronological classification of Vermeer paintings is a fundamental problem for the history of art because the painter himself only dated three of his paintings: The matchmaker , the astronomer and the geographer . The dates of all the other pictures can only be assumed, as the few details available do not provide sufficient clues for a chronological classification.

No.	picture	Title (year of creation)	Size, material	Exhibition / collection / owner
1		Christ with Mary and Martha (1654/1655)	160 cm × 142 cm oil on canvas	Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh
2		Saint Praxedis (attributed to) (1655)	101.6 cm × 82.6 cm oil on canvas	Private collection
3		Diana with her companions (1655/1656)	98.5 cm × 105 cm oil on canvas	Mauritshuis in The Hague
4th		At the matchmaker's (1656)	143 cm × 130 cm oil on canvas	Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden
5		Sleeping Girl (1657)	87.6 cm × 76.5 cm oil on canvas	Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
6th		Letter reader at the open window (1657)	83 cm × 64.5 cm oil on canvas	Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden
7th		Street in Delft (1657/1658)	54.3 cm × 44 cm oil on canvas	Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
8th		The soldier and the laughing girl (1658)	49.2 cm × 44.4 cm oil on canvas	Frick Collection in New York
9		Lord and Lady at Wine (1658–1660)	66.3 cm × 76.5 cm oil on canvas	Gemäldegalerie in Berlin
10		Servant with milk jug (1658–1660)	45.4 cm × 41 cm oil on canvas	Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
11		The girl with the wine glass (the lady with two gentlemen) (1659/1660)	78 cm × 67.5 cm oil on canvas	Duke Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig
12		View of Delft (1660/1661)	98.5 cm × 117.5 cm oil on canvas	Mauritshuis in The Hague
13		The interrupted music lesson (1660/1661)	38.7 cm × 43.9 cm oil on canvas	Frick Collection in New York
14th		Letter Reader in Blue (1662–1664)	46.5 cm × 39 cm oil on canvas	Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
15th		The Music Lesson (Lord and Lady at the Virginal) (1662–1665)	74.6 cm × 64.1 cm oil on canvas	Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace in London
16		Woman with Scales (The Pearl Weigher) (1662–1664)	42.5 cm × 38 cm oil on canvas	National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
17th		Lute player at the window (1664)	51.4 cm × 45.7 cm oil on canvas	Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
18th		Young lady with a pearl necklace (1664)	55 cm × 45 cm oil on canvas	Gemäldegalerie in Berlin
19th		Young woman with a water jug ​​by the window (1664/1665)	45.7 cm × 40.6 cm oil on canvas	Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
20th		The Girl with the Pearl Earring (1665)	45 cm × 40 cm oil on canvas	Mauritshuis in The Hague
21st		The concert (1665/1666)	69 cm × 63 cm oil on canvas	Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (stolen since 1990)
22nd		Letter writer in yellow (1665–1670)	45 cm × 39.9 cm oil on canvas	National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
23		Girl's head / Portrait of a young girl (1666/1667)	44.5 cm × 40 cm oil on canvas	Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
24		Girl with a flute (attributed to) (1665/1670)	20 cm × 17.8 cm oil on wood	National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
25th		Girl with a Red Hat (1666/1667)	23.2 cm × 18.1 cm oil on panel	National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
26th		Lady with a maid and letter (1667/1668)	89.5 cm × 78.1 cm oil on canvas	Frick Collection in New York
27		The astronomer (1668)	50.8 cm × 46.3 cm oil on canvas	Louvre in Paris
28		The geographer (1668/1669)	53 cm × 46.6 cm oil on canvas	Städel in Frankfurt am Main
29		The love letter (1669/1670)	44 cm × 38.5 cm oil on canvas	Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
30th		The lace maker (1669/1670)	24.5 cm × 21 cm oil on canvas, mounted on wood	Louvre in Paris
31		Letter writer and maid (1670)	71 cm × 59 cm oil on canvas	National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin
32		Young Woman at the Virginal (1670)	25.5 cm × 20 cm oil on canvas	Private collection
33		Allegory of Faith (1671–1674)	114.3 cm × 88.9 cm oil on canvas	Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
34		The guitar player (1672)	53 cm × 46.3 cm oil on canvas	Kenwood House in London
35		The art of painting around 1666/1668	130 cm × 110 cm oil on canvas	Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
36		Standing virginal player (1673–1675)	51.7 cm × 45.2 cm oil on canvas	The National Gallery in London
37		Seated virginal player (1673–1675)	51.5 cm × 45.5 cm oil on canvas	The National Gallery in London

literature

• Ludwig Goldscheider (Ed.): Johannes Vermeer: ​​Paintings. Phaidon, Cologne 1958.
• Piero Bianconi, István Schlégl: The Complete Works of Vermeer. Kunstkreis, Lucerne 1967.
• Ernst Günther Grimme : Jan Vermeer van Delft. DuMont / Schauberg, Cologne 1974, ISBN 3-7701-0743-8 .
• Heinz Althöfer (Hrsg.): Forgery and research. Exhibition catalog . Museum Folkwang, Essen 1979, ISBN 3-7759-0201-5 .
• Ben Broos , Arthur K. Wheelock (Eds.): Vermeer. The complete work. Belser, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7630-2322-4 .
• Philip Steadman: Vermeer's camera. Uncovering the truth behind the masterpieces. University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-280302-6 .
• Anthony Bailey: Vermeer . Siedler, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-88680-745-2 .
• Thorsten Smidt: Johannes Vermeer, the geographer. The science of painting. State museums, Kassel 2003, ISBN 3-931787-23-0 .
• Sara Hornäk: Spinoza and Vermeer. Immanence in philosophy and painting. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-8260-2745-0 .
• Norbert Schneider: Vermeer. All paintings. Taschen, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8228-6377-7 .
• Ariana Rüßeler: The discovery of a camera obscura in Jan Vermeer van Delft's painting “The Art of Painting”. In: Journal for Art History . Vol. 69, No. 4 (2006), pp. 541-547.
• Nils Büttner: Vermeer. CH Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-59792-3 .
• Hajo Düchting: Jan Vermeer and his time. Belser, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-7630-2583-1 .
• Karl Schütz: Jan Vermeer. The complete work. Taschen, Cologne 2015, ISBN 978-3-8365-3640-0 .

Web links

Commons : Jan Vermeer  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Jan Vermeer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Jan Vermeer  in the German Digital Library
• Works by Jan Vermeer at Zeno.org .
• Meet Vermeer. Vermeer's complete works united: 36 paintings from 18 museums across 7 different countries. Google , accessed December 5, 2018 .  (Information:Andreas Wilkens: Google Arts & Culture: combines all works of Vermeer in a virtual museum. In: Heise Online . December 4, 2018, accessed on December 5, 2018 . )
• Essential Vermeer
• Vermeer Center Delft
• johannesvermeer.org - The works of Johannes Vermeer (English)
• Vermeer, Delft artist, Vermeer digital house
• Johannes Vermeer , ColourLex

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ben Broos, Arthur K. Wheelock: Vermeer. The complete work. Pp. 15, 16.
2. ^ Norbert Schneider: Vermeer all paintings . Taschen, Cologne 2004, p. 8.
3. ↑ ^{a b} DuMont: Vermeer . DuMont Literature and Art Publishing, Cologne 2003, p. 12.
4. ↑ Ben Broos, Arthur K. Wheelock (Ed.): Vermeer. The complete work . Belser, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 20, 21.
5. ^ Norbert Schneider: Vermeer all paintings . Taschen, Cologne 2004, p. 19.
6. ^ Norbert Schneider: Vermeer all paintings . Taschen, Cologne 2004, p. 23.
7. ↑ Man looks at an ancient painting and discovers a hidden naked person , in: Hamburger Morgenpost, May 11, 2019.
8. ^ Norbert Schneider: Vermeer all paintings . Taschen, Cologne 2004, p. 69.
9. ^ History of Geography on the website of the University of Duisburg, p. 1.
10. ^ H. Sedlmayr: The fame of the art of painting, Jan Vermeer "De Schilderconst". Festschrift for Hans Jantzen. Berlin 1951, pp. 169-177.
11. ^ Norbert Schneider: Vermeer all paintings . Taschen, Cologne 2004, p. 81.
12. ^ F. Halma Op het Groot Schilderboek van Gerard de Lairesse, Tot Verklaaringe the title prent.
13. ^ KG Hulten: To Vermeer's studio picture. In: Konsthistorisk Tidskrift. Volume 18, 1949, pp. 90-98.
14. ↑ B. Hedinger: Maps in Pictures: On the iconography of the wall map in Dutch interior paintings of the 17th century. 1986, p.
15. ^ AK Wheelock: The Art of Painting. 1995, p. 132.
16. ^ HU Asemissen: Jan Vermeer. The art of painting. Aspects of a job description. Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-596-23951-6 , pp. 25-34, 52-64.
17. ^ Gerhard W. Menzel: Vermeer. EA Seemann Buch- und Kunstverlag, Leipzig 1977, p. 37, plate 4.
18. ^ H. Kuhn: A Study of the Pigments and Grounds Used by Jan Vermeer. In: Reports and Studies in the History of Art. 1968, pp. 154-202.
19. ↑ Johannes Vermeer at ColourLex
20. ^ Vermeer and The Camera Obscura
21. ^ Norbert Schneider: Vermeer all paintings . Taschen, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-8228-6377-7 , p. 88.
22. ^ Walter Liedtke: Dutch paintings in the Metropolitan Museum. 2007, p. 867: "Vermeer must have taken an interest in some of the optical qualities that could be observed in the camera obscura, but its importance for his style has been greatly exaggerated by a few writers."
23. ^ I. Netta: The phenomenon of time with Jan Vermeer van Delft. Hildesheim 1996, ISBN 3-487-10160-2 , p. 95.
24. ^ H. Koningsberger, HW Janson, C. Seymour: De wereld van Vermeer, 1632–1675. Time Life, 1974, pp. 135-143.
25. ^ AK Wheelock: Leven en Werk van Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675). In: Johannes Vermeer. Exhibition Mauritshuis, The Hague / National Gallery of Art, Washington 1996, p. 26.
26. ↑ J. Wadum: Vermeer in perspectief. In: Johannes Vermeer. Exhibition Mauritshuis, The Hague / National Gallery of Art, Washington 1996, pp. 67–74.
27. ↑ DuMont: Vermeer . DuMont Literature and Art Publishing, Cologne 2003, p. 46.
28. ↑ ^{a b c} DuMont: Vermeer . DuMont Literature and Art Publishing, Cologne 2003, p. 47.
29. ↑ Anthony Bailey: Vermeer . Siedler Verlag, Berlin 2002, p. 236.
30. ↑ Ben Broos, Arthur K. Wheelock (Ed.): Vermeer. The complete work. Belser, Stuttgart 1995, p. 23.
31. ↑ Anthony Bailey: Vermeer . Siedler Verlag, Berlin 2002, p. 249.
32. ↑ Ben Broos, Arthur K. Wheelock (Ed.): Vermeer. The complete work. Belser, Stuttgart 1995, p. 107.
33. ^ Günther Haase: The Adolf Hitler Art Collection. Ed. q, Berlin 2002, pp. 112, 113.
34. ^ Birgit Schwarz: Hitler's Museum. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2004.
35. ↑ Forbes Article: Vermeer In Philly
36. ↑ Image: The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used As a Table
37. ↑ Image: Paysage avec elements enigmatiques
38. ↑ Picture: Apparition de la ville de Delft
39. ↑ Image: Copy of the lace maker
40. ^ Image: Peintre paranoïaque-critique de la Dentellière de Vermeer
41. ↑ Catalog of Daliausstellung Zurich, Hatje Verlag, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-7212-0222-8 , S. 340th
42. ^ Catalog of the Dali retrospective 1920–1980, Prestel, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7913-0494-1 , p. 342.
43. ^ T. Briegleb: In the studio with Gerhard Richter - The Invisible. ( Memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: art - Das Kunstmagazin . February 2012, pp. 18–37.
44. ↑ Dieter E. Zimmer: In search of the yellow section of the wall. P. 4. (PDF; 169 kB)
45. ↑ Dieter E. Zimmer: In search of the yellow section of the wall. P. 3. (PDF; 169 kB)
46. ↑ Vermeer - The Revenge. ( Memento of March 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Station information on biography and work documentation arte, 2017.
47. ↑ Irene Netta: The phenomenon of time with Jan Vermeer van Delft . Hildesheim 1996, ISBN 3-487-10160-2 , p. 96.
48. ↑ So ingeniously he directs the gaze. In: FAZ . November 13, 2015, p. 12.

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on May 7, 2007 in this version .