Johannes Vermeer
17th-Century Dutch Painter Who Created Girl With a Pearl Earring
His artwork - forgotten for 200 years until discussed by art critic Thoré-Bürger in 1866 - has earned him respect as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.
Who was named the bird of paradise in the farmyard of Dutch painting (Anonymous c. 1886)?
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes (Jan) Vermeer (1632-1675), the 17th-century Dutch genre painter who lived and worked in Delft and who painted "Girl With a Pearl Earring," created some of the most exquisite paintings in Western art.
Because his works were bought mainly by a wealthy buyer in Delft, he was virtually unknown outside of the Netherlands. Jan Vermeer produced only 35 or 36 paintings in his lifetime, but today is one of the most respected artists of the European tradition. Most of Vermeer’s paintings are serene, light-filled interiors with just one or two figures. His paintings show people going about their daily routines in settings infused with light in both cool blue shades and warm yellow shades. His work displays a keen sense of realism and, because of its dewy, light-filled, and sensuous quality, a simultaneous feeling of mystery.
Genre Painting
Genre paintings illustrate Dutch proverbs and sayings, or convey a moralistic message, the meaning of which is not always easy to decipher today. Many genre paintings depict everyday scenes from daily life – thus the origin of the term "genre" – like brawls in taverns, men at work, women busy at domestic chores, soldiers playing cards, and scenes inside brothels. Additionally, landscapes, portraits, and still-lifes, which had existed for centuries, were re-examined in a fresh light and brought to new levels of naturalness.
Dutch Golden Age
Dutch painting of the Golden Age (during the 17th century) has always been extremely popular because it openly captures common and everyday human experiences. It can be understood by everyone.
So why did the Golden Age happen for the Dutch? People living in Dutch towns had more than sufficient income to provide for their fundamental needs and spent their extra money on furnishings like artwork for their homes. This led to a huge demand for small, affordable paintings.
For the first time in the history of Western art, painters created their work for a commercial market instead of catering to the tastes of the rich (such as the nobility) or the powerful (such as the Church). Paintings celebrated or at least recorded the details of everyday life and were enhanced by an intense consideration of the warm and cool qualities of light.
Dutch people have always been particularly attached to their households. Dutch painters immortalized interior scenes and the occurrences of everyday life in their art. Both humble households of the poor and the most elegant dwellings of the rich were displayed and memorialized by Dutch painters in the Dutch Golden Age.
Théophile Thoré
Art critic Théophile Thoré (who used the pseudonym Willem Bürger) began purchasing Vermeer paintings around 1860. Thoré devoted 20 years of travel and research to his study of Vermeer. He began his study of Vermeer with an account of his first encounter with the painting “View of Delft,” describing it as,
“… a superb and most unusual landscape [that] captures the attention of every visitor and powerfully impresses artists and connoisseurs. It is the view of a town, with a quay, old gatehouse, buildings in a great variety of styles of architecture, garden walls, trees, and, in the foreground, a canal and a strip of land with several figures. The brilliance of the light, the intensity of the color, the solidity of the paint in certain parts [produce] an effect that is both very real and nevertheless original….”
To Thoré, Vermeer’s work embodied the purest expression of what he believed to be the ultimate purpose of art: to record and honor the activities of the daily life of everyday people. Thoré also highly admired Vermeer’s use of sparkling and pearly luminosity to display his subjects and interior scenes.
The impact of Thoré’s research and interest was enormous. Vermeer rapidly gained a reputation as one of the greatest Dutch artists of the 17th century. Wealthy American businessmen and socialites acquired the few remaining Vermeer paintings still available on the art market.
Today
Vermeer's painting "The Girl With a Pearl Earring" was featured in Tracy Chevalier's recent novel by the same name, a noteworthy addition to the growing genre of art history literature. The painting has also been memorialized in a movie (2003) nominated for three Oscars and featuring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. Currently the original painting hangs in The Mauritshuis in The Hague in Amsterdam.
Sources:
Bailey, Colin J. The Art Quiz Book: 2000+ Questions on Painters and Paintings. Station Press: Scotland, 1995.
Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press, 2006.
