Reconstructions of Vermeer's Rooms

Detail of an axonometric view of Vermeer's *Concert*.

About Vermeer's Dwelling

At the time of Johannes Vermeer's passing, the artist and his wife, Catharina Bolnes, resided on the Oude Langendijk in Delft, near the main market square and the New Church. While seventeenth-century documents labeled this area as "Achter het Marktveld" (behind the market square), its predominantly Catholic residents led to its colloquial name, "Papenhoek" (Papists’ Corner), a term used somewhat derisively by Protestants of that era.^{Many homes in the Papenhoek were owned by affluent Catholics, who either provided them to Jesuits or rented them out to support their religious order. Despite the public practice of Catholicism being prohibited, Jesuits conducted Mass in a concealed church hidden behind two house facades, accommodating up to 700 attendees. The area also hosted a Catholic girls' boarding school. Fostered by the Jesuits, this strong Catholic presence deeply influenced the community, including Vermeer's family and, perhaps, his attitude toward his art. The secretive nature of their religious practices fostered unity and discretion among residents. In this tight-knit community, neighbors had mutual obligations, maintained social norms, and supported one another.}

In early 1676, the Netherlands experienced an unusually early spring, with summer-like weather from late February to mid-March. However, for Catharina, the season's brightness was overshadowed by personal tragedy. On 29 February, she met with a notary's clerk concerning her late husband who had passed away unexpectedly in December. Left widowed at forty-fout, Catharina had to manage the care of her ten children and a significant debt. Previously uninvolved in financial matters, she discovered the extent of their liabilities and meager assets. A detailed inventory of their possessions was conducted, distinguishing between her belongings and those half-owned by her mother, Maria Thins. This inventory, preserved in the Delft City Archives, offers insights into Vermeer's family life and surroundings during the seventeenth century. However, although the inventory's accuracy has been debated, it reflects the possessions at a specific moment in 1676 and not necessarily over the couple's entire married life since 1653. Factors such as Catharina's influence on the composition of the inventory, the exclusion of low-value items, and the potential relocation or removal of objects—whether they hold sentimental, high, or low value—prior to the inventory, all raise questions about its thoroughness and completeness.^{Pieter Roelofs, Closer to Vermeer: A Look Inside the Family Home of the Delftin VERMEER, ed. Pieter Roelofs & Gregor Weber, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2023, 42.}

The document has long intrigued historians, prompting queries about the house's layout, the family's daily life, and the environment in which Vermeer created his renowned paintings.^{Pieter Roelofs, Closer to Vermeer: A Look Inside the Family Home of the Delftin VERMEER, ed. Pieter Roelofs & Gregor Weber, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2023, 42-45.}But, despite the efforts of specialists and historians, the items listed in their original setting have been examined only individually, with their significance in terms of spatial placement and interrelation largely overlooked. However, Pieter Roelofs, the current Head of Fine and Decorative Arts at the Rijksmuseum, has undertaken a comprehensive analysis. His research offers fresh insights not just into the objects in the inventory but also into the personal, family and artistic life of Vermeer (Roelofs & Weber, VERMEER, Rijksmuseum, 2023, 42-99).^{Pieter Roelofs, "Closer to Vermeer: A Look Inside the Family Home of the Delftin VERMEER, ed. Pieter Roelofs & Gregor Weber, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2023, 42-99.}

In any case, we must understand that the inventory offers a perspective on the ownership and utilization of items as they were in February 1676, and does not necessarily represent their prolonged use since Johannes and Catharina's marriage in 1653. The itemized list we refer to today emerged from the collaboration between Catharina Bolnes and the notary’s clerk as they cataloged the household items. While the clerk likely had expertise in such documentation, the final inventory was significantly shaped by Catharina's preferences and decisions.^{Pieter Roelofs, Closer to Vermeer: A Look Inside the Family Home of the Delftin VERMEER, ed. Pieter Roelofs & Gregor Weber, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2023, 45.}

About the Drawings

London-based architect Philip Steadman's investigation into Vermeer's use of the camera obscura as a painting tool led him to create scale geometric drawings of spaces and objects present in eleven of Vermeer's domestic interiors (Philip Steadman, Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces (2002).^{Philip Steadman, Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).} This was achieved using a technique termed "reverse perspective."^{In the context of deriving the perspectival construction of a photograph or painting, "reverse perspective" refers to the process of working backward from a two-dimensional image to deduce or recreate the three-dimensional spatial conditions that gave rise to that image. This is similar to the task faced by forensic analysts when they try to reconstruct a crime scene from a set of photographs, or by architects and researchers, like in the case of studying Vermeer's paintings, to understand the spatial configuration of the depicted scene.} Typically, perspective construction involves translating a three-dimensional scene into a two-dimensional depiction. In reverse perspective, this process is inverted, allowing one to reconstruct a three-dimensional space from a meticulously rendered two-dimensional image, such as those in Vermeer's interiors.

The method is explained in detail in Chapter 5 of Steadman's study, "Reconstructing the Spaces in Vermeer's Paintings."

Below, an "axonometric" bird's eye view, a plan, and a side view are given for eleven of Vermeer's interiors created by Steadman. An axonometric is a specialized form of perspective in which the plan preserves its true scale and there is no diminution with distance.

Mr. Steadman has graciously allowed the Essential Vermeer website to publish these drawings accessible below in high-resolution.

Scale

The scale of Steadman's reconstructions can be gauged by the floor tiles. The small tiles in The Glass of Wine and The Girl with the Wine Glass are 14.6 cm. (≈5 3/4 in.) square. The larger tiles in all the other paintings are 29.3 cm. (≈11 1/2 in.) square. More details are given in Vermeer's Camera Appendix B, "Measurements of Vermeer's room and furniture." Here estimated sizes are also given for the various props and pieces of furniture.

In some cases, examples of these items survive in museum collections, and so actual measurements can be obtained from the originals. These known sizes make it possible to calculate the dimensions of the architectural features and their positions in the room, such as floor tiles, windows, and so on. Appendix B of the book discusses some uncertainties involved in some of the measurements and minor inconsistencies between different paintings.

The viewpoint of each drawing (the position at which Vermeer would have put his eye in order to see the scene as it appears in the painting), is labeled with a cross. Only those parts of the tiled floors that are visible in the paintings are shown in the plans. In some instances, the positions of objects or parts of objects which are not wholly visible but can be located with certainty, for example, the legs of chairs or the feet of tables, are shown in dotted lines. These drawings are also available on the Steadman's website, Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces, www.vermeerscamera.co.uk.

To access high-resolution images, click on the title of the painting or the images of the drawings.

The paintings are numbered in agreement with the Essential Vermeer Interactive Catalogue.