Johannes (Jan) Vermeer

1632-1675

European Artist

Vermeer was born in Delft, Holland. After serving a 6-year apprenticeship, he was admitted in 1653 to the guild of Saint Luke of Delft as a master painter. Vermeer was a Dutch painter who excelled in portraying comfortable interior scenes that are composed with mathematical clarity and suffused with cool, silvery light. Vermeer painted very little for the public art market; most of his approximately 40 paintings were produced for those patrons who particularly valued his work. In almost all his pictures Vermeer is experimenting with light, radiant light comes from somewhere beside or behind the canvas. Jewelry gleams prettily in the light; wet lips, bright eyes catch the light; reflections from window glass, kitchen utensils fall on surrounding objects, creating an atmosphere of peace and serenity. Vermeer preferred cool tones of blue, white and yellow. Besides painting Vermeer also worked as an art dealer.