Johannes Vermeer
Who
Painter of Delft with about 35 surviving works, almost all quiet interiors lit from a window on the left. Died in debt at 43, leaving a widow and eleven children.
Why they matter
Nobody has handled light on a surface better. The paintings are small, few, and almost all on public view, which makes him the easiest great painter to see in full: the Rijksmuseum's 2023 exhibition gathered 28 of them.
What to buy
Prints: The Milkmaid and Girl with a Pearl Earring are reproduced everywhere; the Rijksmuseum shop prints from its own scans and the Rijksmuseum's site lets anyone download its Vermeers at full resolution for free. Books: the Rijksmuseum 2023 catalogue is the current standard. Originals: there are none to buy and never will be.
Notes
Forgotten for nearly two centuries until the French critic Theophile Thore-Burger published a study in 1866 that re-established him. Han van Meegeren's forgeries of the 1930s-40s fooled experts precisely because so little was known about the real output.
Key works
- Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665) - Mauritshuis, The Hague
- The Milkmaid (c. 1657-1658) - Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
- View of Delft (c. 1660-1661) - Mauritshuis, The Hague
- The Art of Painting (c. 1666-1668) - Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
In museum collections
- The Milkmaid (1660)
Rijksmuseum ↗ · Find a print ↗ - The Astronomer (1664)
Louvre ↗ · Find a print ↗ - The Art of Painting (1667)
Kunsthistorisches Museum ↗ · Find a print ↗ - The Little Street (1658)
Rijksmuseum ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Woman Holding a Balance (1665)
National Gallery of Art ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (1664)
Rijksmuseum ↗ · Find a print ↗ - The Lacemaker (1669)
Louvre ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (1650)
Art UK ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Woman with a Water Jug (1660)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - A Girl Asleep (1657)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal (1670)
Art UK ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Allegory of the Catholic Faith (1670)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗
See the work
Prints
Books
See also
Browse all 2,101 artists · Open in the directory · Where the work hangs: 26 museums on a map