Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring and More

Johannes Vermeer was a popular Dutch artist. He was not popular in his own time and until the late 1800s. The main reason for this is that he only created a few pieces of artwork for a few Delft clientele. Collector Pieter van Ruijven purchased up to half of Vermeer’s work. Unlike Vermeer, other Dutch artists created hundreds of pieces for a far bigger market. Vermeer’s teacher is unknown, and he appears to have had no students, contributing to his loneliness. The Delft Artists’ Guild recognized him and he swapped ideas with local (especially Pieter de Hooch in the 1650s) and regional painters (for example, Frans van Mieris in Leiden).

Dealing With Art

Around 1630, Vermeer’s father became an art dealer and innkeeper. This may have assisted Vermeer’s exceptional capacity to assimilate past and current painters’ formal conventions. After his father passed away in 1652, Vermeer had to train himself rather than study with other contemporary artists. He married a wealthy Catholic divorcee’s daughter and moved into their Delft mansion in 1653. He ended his life at the age of 43, leaving a wife and eleven children, but the weak Dutch economy of the early 1670s made his last years miserable.

A Unique Talent

Rembrandt’s disciple Carel Fabritius impacted Vermeer’s later perspective talents. Vermeer was interested in light’s behavior, especially sudden recessions, and focus shifts. They may have been influenced by the camera obscura (which projected real images), but their significance to the artist has been drastically exaggerated. His compositions are typically unique, with intricate formal and color relationships. He also painted with technical talent and precision. He often depicts the audience as a hypnotized voyeur.

Pearl Earrings

Paintings like Young Woman with a Water Pitcher (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) and The Milkmaid (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) show Vermeer’s mature style (89.15.21). Lesser-known outliers include The Little Street (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) and View of Delft (Mauritshuis, The Hague) (32.100.18). The renowned Girl with a Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis) was one of a few bust-length studies intended as portraits.