The Complete Interactive Vermeer Catalogue

Critical assessment

Out of the iconography of Vanity Vermeer has fashioned an image of great purity and innocence, and he tenderly cherishes it as such. The moment of happiness of the painting is characterized by an almost complete absence of ego. The woman appears not so much to be admiring the pearls in the mirror as selflessly, even reverently, offering them up to the light: it is as if we were present at a marriage.

Edward A. Snow, A Study of Vermeer, 1979

The signature

Inscribed on tabletop: (IVM in ligature).

(Click here to access a complete study of Vermeer's signatures.)

Dates

1662–1665
Albert Blankert, Vermeer: 1632–1675, 1975

c. 1664–1665
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., The Public and the Private in the Age of Vermeer, London, 2000

c. 1663–1664
Walter Liedtke, Vermeer: The Complete Paintings, New York, 2008

c. 1662–1665
Wayne Franits, Vermeer, 2015

(Click here to access a complete study of the dates of Vermeer's paintings).

Technical report

The support is a fine, plain-weave, linen with a thread count of 21.6 x 15 per cm² The original tacking edges are still present. The top tacking edge is wider than the others and appears to have been folded double. Marks from the original strainer bars are evident along the top and right edges. The support has been lined and placed on a stretcher larger than the original strainer.

Over an off-white ground, black underpainting indicates the shadows of the woman's back. An ocher layer on top of the ground may cover the entire painting. It is not covered by any other paint layers in parts of the figure and the stained glass window The woman's yellow jacket is underpainted with white, followed by lead-tin yellow in the light parts and two layers of a black and yellow ocher mixture in the shadows. The flesh tints are composed of various mixtures of white, ocher and black, well blended into one another. The pearl necklace was painted wet-in-wet white over a gray/ocher layer.

* Johannes Vermeer(exh. cat., National Gallery of Art and Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis - Washington and The Hague, 1995, edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.)

The painting in its frame

(Click here to access all of Vermeer's paintings in their frames).

Provenance

Exhibitions

The painting in scale

(Click here to access all of Vermeer's paintings in scale).

Ideals of beauty & cosmetics

Although Vermeer could have chosen his themes independently, it is hardly out of the question that he had a sort of loose collaboration with his patron Pieter van Ruijven and his wife Maria de Knuijt, both belonging to Delft's wealthy patrician class. In fact, John Michael Montias believes that the Van Ruijvens and Vermeer maintained a relationship that went beyond that of a simple painter and client.

Van Ruijven, like Vermeer, was ambitious. In 1669, he paid sixteen thousand guilders—a staggering sum—to acquire land near Schiedam, which conferred upon him the title of Lord of Spalant. This acquisition can be considered a 17th-century example of social mobility. The Van Ruijvens may have facilitated Vermeer's experimental working methods by providing him with a sort of stipend. A precedent existed for such financial arrangements in the competitive Dutch art market. Van Ruijven almost certainly knew of this practice from Pieter Spierincx, a distant cousin, who had secured the right of first refusal on the works of art by Gerrit Dou, the most sought-after painter of the time.

Van Ruijven's wife, Maria de Knuijt, had contributed a significantly larger share of money to the marriage than he had, and her taste must have influenced their acquisitions. Moreover, recent archival discoveries show that she lived only a few doors down from where Vermeer grew up on Voldersgracht and was also mentioned as an art connoisseur in her own right. Indeed, the domestic scenes in Vermeer's compositions might have been designed to appeal to a woman's gaze as much as to a man's. According to art historian Lisa Vergara, as a supporter of the Orthodox wing of the Reformed Church, de Knuijt might have particularly appreciated the chaste dignity that characterizes Vermeer's portrayals of femininity.

With such a backdrop, Vermeer, the Van Ruijvens might have discussed art not only in general terms but also in relation to Vermeer's compositions and subject matter, many of which they would have acquired for their own home.

Artistic collaboration

Young Woman Standing before a Mirror (detail)
Frans van Mieris
1670
42.9 x 31.6 cm.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

A woman at her toilette was a popular theme among Dutch genre painters in the 1650s and 1660s. A likely iconographic prototype for Vermeer's work is Young Woman before a Mirror (c. 1662) by Frans van Mieris. However, Vermeer seems to have purged his composition of explicit sensuality and the extravagant color scheme present in Van Mieris' version.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. pointed out that in the present work the artist "minimized the apparent physical activity of the figure, portraying her at the moment she has the ribbons pulled tautly. Her thoughts may be inward, but they are expressed through her gaze, which reaches across the white wall of the room to the mirror next to the window. The whole space between her and the side wall of the room thus becomes activated with her presence. It is a subtle yet daring composition, one that succeeds because of Vermeer's acute sensitivity to the placement of objects and to the importance of spaces between these objects."

Gregor Weber has recently suggested that the meditative attitude of the young girl—and the figure of Woman Holding a Balance—may have its origin in Catholic devotional literature, presented in a way that is completely new. A few years later, around 1670-1674, when Vermeer painted the Allegory of the Faith, he once again addressed these aspects of religious, spiritual reflection. This additional dimension in the works of art, which was certainly related to Vermeer's conversion to the Catholic faith, thus speaks to the inner values of the human being. In relation to the Vanitas themm Weber also points out, "In a work by the Calvinist poet Jacob Cats, a wise old man assumes the role of the admonisher who has entered the chamber of a young woman and finds her at her dressing table with mirror, pearl necklaces, powder puffs, and perfumes. He tells her that 'beauty' should be more than just external: 'Neen, neen, mijn weerde ziel, wy moeten verder poogen; / Wy moeten hooger sien als op den lust der oogen;/ Wy moeten schoone zijn, en dat aen alle kant,/ Jae tot de gronden selfs, gelijk een diamant' (No, no, dear soul, we must aspire for more, we must set our sights higher than the pleasures of the eyes. We must be purer, and that from every side, down to the essence even, like a diamond).

Theme & composition

The essential composition we now see was not Vermeer's original concept. Neutron autoradiography has revealed that the artist made critical changes in the composition. By extending the shape of the great folds of the slate-blue tablecloth in the still life, he eliminated a number of black and white floor tiles and more of the table's intricate structure. As a result, the viewer's attention is now drawn to the upper part of the composition. Another important modification was the exclusion of a musical instrument, most likely a cittern, which lay propped up diagonally on the foreground chair.

However, the most startling alteration was the exclusion of a large wall map that surrounded the standing girl. This map absorbed her presence and obfuscated the line of her gaze toward the mirror. The map was very likely the same one that appears in The Art of Painting.

According to Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., the "map, representing the physical world, and the musical instrument, referring to sensual love, would have given a context for interpreting the mirror and the pearls negatively rather than positively. Indeed, the sensual, earthy connotations are similar to those associated with Vrouw Wereld. The Vrouw Wereld (the Lady World) was a well-known allegorical figure dating back to medieval times who personifies worldly pleasures and transience." By removing the map and musical instrument, Wheelock proposes that Vermeer transformed the image into a poetic statement, evoking the ideals of purity and truth.

From technical evidence, Vermeer seems to have restretched the original canvas over a smaller frame, reducing its dimensions to tighten the composition. Subsequent restorers, noting that the painted composition extended over the edges of the stretcher, enlarged the format to what they believed were its original dimensions.

A precursor

A Young Woman at her Toilette
Gerrit ter Borch
c. 1650–1651
Oil on panel, 7.5 x 34.5 cm.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Although Vermeer could have drawn on a number of Dutch paintings of women absorbed in their own beauty, none are as intimate as Gerrit ter Borch's A Young Woman at her Toilette. In Vermeer's work, the young lady puts her final touches on her morning toilette, fastening her pearl necklace, while Ter Borch's figure ties her chemise. Both gaze into a mirror, unaware of their surroundings, making the spectator feel as if he were an intruder.

Prior to Ter Borch's work, the theme of women adorning themselves in front of mirrors had been conceived as warnings against vanity. Ter Borch, perhaps reflecting a positive shift in Dutch attitudes toward women and the private lives of individuals, transformed the subject by focusing on the simplicity and sincerity of female conduct. Ter Borch's half-sister Gesina was the model for the central figure.

Ter Borch made an enormous contribution to the development of interior painting in the Netherlands, and his work was avidly collected and emulated by many artists. He is, perhaps, the only Dutch genre artist who was able to rival Vermeer in the depth and sympathetic treatment of ordinary women. Nonetheless, although Ter Borch may have been more capable of capturing the nuances of female physiognomy than Vermeer, his scenes lack the sense of design and, above all, the sense of three-dimensional space that extends the figure's interior life in Vermeer's paintings.

The VOC & influence of Chinese imports on European life & art

The Port of Middelburg (detail)
Adriaen van de Venne
1615
Oil on panel, 63.2 x 131.6 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

* The VOC (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie), also known as the Dutch East India Company, was the world's largest trading company in the 17th century. It all started with spices from Asia—pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and many more. Their aromas and flavors completely transformed ordinary European bread, cakes and stews. These flavorings came from halfway around the world on hundreds of ships carrying thousands of Dutch mariners over millions of miles of dangerous ocean routes. In Asia, these 17th-century adventurers struck trade agreements with local rulers and became familiar with the people and customs of China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Many stayed on. Some became spectacularly wealthy. Yet, the human cost of the first global capitalist enterprise was sometimes high.

Those who sailed back to Amsterdam found ready markets for the Asian luxuries packed in their ships. The desire for these amazing objects—to see them, feel them, own them—spread throughout Europe. Gossamer-thin Indian cotton made Dutch wool look drab. A Chinese porcelain cup felt weightless compared to a European stoneware mug. Displaying and wearing treasures made by Asian artists became the rage. As Dutch trade grew, so did Amsterdam. It flourished as the largest, most dynamic city in 17th-century Europe, a center for the arts and sciences. VOC journeys to Asia were long, complicated and risky—but often highly lucrative. Through these voyages, the Dutch developed a vast network in Asia, establishing more than 600 trading centers, from Persia to Japan. Some were simple shacks on a beach; others were fortified cities. They set up their Asian capital at Batavia (now Jakarta). Dutch merchants bought cotton textiles in India and bartered them for other goods elsewhere in Asia. Most VOC profits came from this inter-Asian trade. The Dutch also brought Asian luxuries—lacquer, porcelains, silks and cottons—back to Europe to sell there.

It is known that among the vast quantities of exotic Chinese imports, oriental drawings also found their way to Europe during the time of Vermeer, but they appear to have had negligible influence on Dutch painting. Imitations of Chinese mannerisms seem to have been limited to Delft ceramic painters who copied and elaborated upon imported porcelain for local markets. Nonetheless, early Vermeer writers, who were closer to the 18th-century style known as chinoiserie, speculated that the ineffable atmosphere of Vermeer's paintings may have been influenced by oriental art.

In À la recherche du temps perdu, Marcel Proust evoked the Orient to describe the beauty of Vermeer's painting in his famous passage about a tiny section of Vermeer's View of Delft. He wrote about the last day in the life of a fictitious French writer and art lover, Bergotte: "The circumstances of his death were as follows. A fairly mild attack of uremia had led to his being ordered to rest. But, an art critic having written somewhere that in Vermeer's View of Delft (lent by the Gallery at The Hague for an exhibition of Dutch painting), a picture which he adored and imagined that he knew by heart, a little patch of yellow wall (which he could not remember) was so well painted that it was, if one looked at it by itself, like some priceless specimen of Chinese art, of a beauty that was sufficient in itself."

The meanings of mirrors

A Girl with a Mirror
Paulus Moreelse
1627
Oil on canvas
The Fitzgerald Museum, Cambridge

The oracle of Apollo at Delphi urged the ancient Greeks to "know thyself," and mirrors have often been used as symbols of wisdom and self-knowledge. However, the mirror can just as easily imply vanity or an excessive amount of self-regard. The danger of over-admiring one's mirror image is encapsulated in the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus, the beautiful boy who fell in love with his reflection in a pool.

In the ancient world, mirrors were made of highly polished metal, usually copper. The Romans are generally credited with developing glass mirrors, but these were not widely used until around 1500 when convex mirrors were produced in Germany. Venetian glassmakers developed the kind of flat, silvered mirrors we know today. In those times, no other civilization produced glass mirrors. Renaissance painters are known to have extensively utilized mirrors to examine reality more objectively. The availability of high-quality glass and silvering techniques made the Netherlands a significant hub for the production of mirrors in the 17th century.

In ancient art, the mirror is often associated with the realm of women and does not necessarily carry any symbolic value, although it was an attribute of the Roman goddess Venus.

In Christian art, the mirror came to symbolize the eternal purity of the Virgin Mary. In the visual arts, the mirror can have other positive meanings as well. The allegorical figures of Prudence and Truth were often depicted carrying mirrors.

From the Renaissance onward, Vanity and Deception were the connotations the mirror carried most often, rather than Truth and Prudence. A work by Vermeer's contemporary, Paulus Moreelse, typifies this distrust as an allegory of Lasciviousness or Vanity: just as the mirror is dishonest, a carrier of pure illusion, so is this girl's beauty an illusion, as transitory and shallow as her reflection in the glass.

Some painters skillfully made use of the mirror to show us something we would otherwise not be able to see; perhaps the reflection of an object or person outside the scope of the painting. Vermeer displayed both the girl's hidden face and the artist's easel set at a distance from the scene, which unfolds in The Music Lesson. In Woman with a Pearl Necklace and Woman Holding a Balance, the viewer can see nothing but a sliver of light, presumably reflected from the illuminated figure.

Mirrors have been potent props in allegories and are often identified as attributes of various gods and saints, virtues, senses and vices. When Vermeer used mirrors as props in his own works, he was no doubt fully aware that one of the principal functions of art, as defined by contemporary art theorists, was to faithfully mirror nature.

Vermeer's persona

No historical evidence has survived that directly concerns Vermeer's persona, or how he may have interacted with his clients or fellow artists. Certainly, the outward appearance of his painting would suggest a balanced and contemplative gentleman, even though there were many cases in which the world depicted by an artist had little or nothing to do with his known character or personal circumstances. Circumstantial evidence would seem to suggest that Vermeer's personality did not stray too far from what we might deduce from his art: he was even-tempered, confident, controlled and likely graced with above-average social skills. It is presumed that the only surviving effigy of Vermeer is the background figure in his early bordello scene, The Procuress.

Vermeer was repeatedly elected headman of the Guild of St. Luke (the association which furthered the interests of Delft's artists and artisans). No doubt, this job demanded diplomatic qualities as well as the esteem and trust of the guild's heterogeneous members. Art historians have repeatedly underlined that Vermeer was able not only to live and prosper but also to positively relate with his domineering Catholic mother-in-law during the years of his artistic activity. No evidence suggests he ever fell out with her. Furthermore, the artist was able to secure and maintain a vital relationship with a rich Delft patron, Pieter van Ruijven and his wife Maria D de Knuijt, who together had purchased more than half of his entire artistic output. Van Ruijven's wife granted Vermeer a copious sum of money in her last testament, an unusual, if not unique, occurrence. In any case, it is doubtful that Vermeer fit the bill of the eccentric artist, then as now, in vogue among the public.

Painter Defacting on Palette and Brushes
Aert van Waes
1645
Etching, 16.2 x 21.4 cm.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Not all artists aspired to the same level of social acceptance as Vermeer. In fact, as the art historian Ingrid A. Cartwright informs us, the popular motif of Dutch "bohemian-type artists" toiling away in disheveled studios proves that many painters had dropped their noble robes of the pictor doctus and had embraced behaviors that art theorists and the culture at large disparaged. Writers from the second half of the 15th century onward made frequent mentions of artists' eccentricities, foibles and oddities, which were equated with nonconformity, individuality and creative superiority. Biographers reported artists' personal oddities while humanizing their otherwise mystifying profession, allowing viewers to picture the personalities residing behind the brushstrokes.

More likely, Vermeer aspired to bequeath an image of himself as the supremely accomplished artist, a genius guided by divine grace, as conceived in the Italian Renaissance. The aspiration to guarantee himself a place in history is nowhere better exemplified in visual terms than in his ambitious Art of Painting, a painted hymn to his profession and extraordinary talent.

Painting edges

The problem of rendering the quality of edges is a crucial aspect of pictorial representation. As the American painter and author of the first Vermeer monograph published in America, Philip Hale, wrote, primitive painters almost universally made, as amateurs still make, their edges too sharp. As a consequence, whatever the merit of their work may be, they tend to appear hard and dry. Leonardo da Vinci was perhaps the first painter to study edges systematically and employ both hard and soft ones. Many of his followers, and even more so the school of Correggio, tended to paint their edges almost uniformly soft.

The best 17th-century Dutch painters studied their edges attentively, and so one thinks less of the hardness or softness of their work than is the case when viewing Great Masters of other nations. Their good paintings simply look right in this respect. Vermeer was notably successful in creating something so like the aspect of nature that the spectator takes the edges for granted. It is likely that Vermeer studied closely the works of Gerrit ter Borch, who perhaps, more than any other painter in history, understood the necessity of varying contour to accurately evoke a natural sense of form, space and light in painting.

In the present work by Vermeer, there is a notable variety of contours. The back edge of the girl's yellow jacket is surprisingly blurred. The naked eye would not have seen it that way. But the painting conveys the idea of incomparable softness of the fabric and roundness of the form. Had Vermeer opted for a sharp contour, the figure of the girl would have appeared flattened and closer, almost attached, to the background wall.

The difficulty in understanding how to portray edges is caused by the fact that we do not normally see blurred edges in nature since our eyes are constantly focusing and refocusing to guarantee the sharpest and most comprehensible image possible. This is especially true with objects as close to the viewer as those in the paintings of Vermeer. The painter must subvert, as it were, what he normally sees in favor of what he knows will be more effective in painting.

Plain white-washed walls

Interior with a Woman Combing a Little Girl's Hair
Jacobus Vrel
c. 1654/1662
Oil on oak, 55.9 x 40.6 cm.
Detroit Instituteof Art, Detroit

Although Vermeer's plain white-washed walls are often taken for granted as historical chronicles, they constitute a tour de force of painting technique and are crucial in creating the atmosphere of his interiors. Generally, Vermeer's treatment of the white-washed-wall motif is linked to Carel Fabritius and, of course, Pieter de Hooch.

However, there exists another painter who delighted in painting simple walls: Jacobus Vrel, a charmingly idiosyncratic minor master whose place in art history was slightly more than negligible, but has been recently reconsidered upward. Some critics have called him "Vermeer's forunner."

The works of Vrel have traditionally been confused with those of Vermeer and De Hooch. Some of his canvases bear signatures that have been altered to read "Vermeer" or "De Hooch." Vrel's technique is unusual for the Dutch school in that he rejected finicky detail in favor of a broad depiction, remarkable for its controlled simplicity.

One might easily suppose that the provincial autodidact Vrel must have taken the lead from Vermeer or De Hooch. However, his only dated painting, from 1654, suggests that rather than following, he anticipated the two Delft artists' interest in domestic themes and light effects. His Interior with a Woman at a Window, dated 1654, proves it was made four years before any known Delft-style interiors or courtyards by De Hooch. Art historians generally date Vermeer's first interiors from about 1657. Equally perplexing is the fact that Vrel depicted a series of simple town views that cannot fail to suggest the unpretentiousness of Vermeer's Little Street.

Ideals of beauty in 17th-century Netherlands

Young Woman at her Toilet
Caspar Netscher
c. 1665
Oil on panel, 42.5 x 33 cm.
Private collection

The woman donning a pearl necklace in Vermeer's picture is presumably putting the final touches on her morning toilette. On the table lies a powder brush and a fine comb. An unidentifiable box behind these objects may be associated with her morning activities, perhaps serving as a container for her necklace or cosmetics.

In the 17th century, both men and women cared about their appearance. In an age when men believed that a woman's "first merit is that of beauty" (and many women no doubt thought the same), women of the upper classes took great care to present their bodies and faces in the most attractive manner. The ideal woman should have a fair complexion, a round or oval face and a well-proportioned nose. Large, moist, dark eyes, a high forehead and a small double chin were also appreciated. The mouth should be small but with full lips. Blond hair was also considered beautiful, so some women, plucked their eyebrows, dyed their hair or shaved an inch or two from their foreheads (a high forehead was cinsidered a sign of intelligence).

To conform to the current ideal of beauty—which not every woman was naturally blessed with—women utilized cosmetics and various practices that today would be considered repulsive or even dangerous. Various books and pamphlets circulated with recipes and advice on how to improve one's appearance. In one such book, already published in 1608, a chapter was entitled Delights for Ladies to Adorn Their Persons, Tables, Closets, and Distillatories: With Beauties, Banquets, Perfumes and Waters.

Face
Anonymous, after Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1600–1676)
Engraving, 140 x 96 mm.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

To redden lips and cheeks, vermilion, an orange-red pigment derived from mercury, was employed—no doubt with unhealthy effects. Fortunately, some women used harmless substances to color their cheeks, such as red ocher or a tincture of boiled crabs.

In the later 16th century, white lead was revived as a way of attaining a pale complexion, which was a sign of well-being and wealth (poor women had to work outdoors and thus were suntanned). The dangers of lead carbonate were unknown, but it was believed to be effective in treating certain skin pathologies. The use of lead carbonate produced quite the opposite effects, including hair loss, inflamed eyes, damaged teeth and even blackened skin. Lead poisoning could also lead to death. It was also believed that lighter skin could be achieved by bathing the skin in one's own urine. To soften the skin, a French chemist recommended women wash "with rosewater mixed with wine, else make a decoction of the rinds of lemon."

Vermeer's nuanced depiction of women's morning rituals opens a window into the complexities of 17th-century beauty standards and practices. Although we often romanticize the past, understanding the risks associated with beauty practices of the era adds depth to our appreciation of these classic works of art. While cosmetics were dangerous and potentially lethal, the desire to conform to societal standards compelled women to take these risks. How many of Vermeer's subjects, one wonders, may have suffered the ill effects of such beauty rituals?

Judging by the face of Vermeer's young lady, it would seem that if she did use cosmetics, she used them sparingly.

Was the porcelain jar based on an original Japanese design or a specific Dutch request?

Recently, Christina An and Menno Fitski published an in-depth study of the porcelain jar we see in the present picture, some of which is as follows.

The Netherlands began its official porcelain trade with Japan around 1655, according to records from the VOC (Dutch East India Company). These records highlight that Japanese porcelain was exceptionally profitable in Holland. In 1661, the VOC sent a specific request to Japan for various porcelain items, including "large bowls and pots." To streamline the process, Delftware models were dispatched to Japan in the same year to clarify the exact requirements. By November 1662, Dutch shipments from Japan included porcelain items crafted based on these Delftware models. Consequently, Japanese porcelain inspired by Delftware models began appearing in the Netherlands as early as 1663.

Despite these shared characteristics, two critical factors argue against the possibility that Vermeer's jar was modeled after a Delftware example. First, the Japanese porcelain jars of the period significantly outperformed their Delftware counterparts in terms of glossiness. Vermeer represented this in his painting through pronounced highlights, likely capturing the effect of light from a second, unseen window. Second, the Japanese porcelain jar closely aligns with Vermeer's painted version in both the height of its neck and, most notably, the unique shape of its lid. In contrast, a painting by Cornelis De Man features a Delftware jar with a completely different lid silhouette.

Listen to period music

Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for flute and strings op. 10 no. 4 RV 435, Largo [1.84 MB]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vivaldi-8-Flute-Concertos/dp/B001LMF1ZK/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk?ie=UTF8&qid=1258623220&sr=1-3