Vermeer by Lawrence Gowing (Art Ebook)

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Lawrence Gowin
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Boston Public Library
VERMEER
VERMEER
by
LAWRENCE GOWING
University of California Press
Berkeley
Los Angeles
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
Published by arrangement with Giles de
Copyright
1952, 1970, 1997
Lawrence Gowing
this
work
is
la
Mare
by Jenny Gowing
hereby identified
in accordance
Publishers Ltd.
as
author of
with Section 77 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Gowing, Lawrence.
Vermeer
by Lawrence Gowing.
256
p. 22. 3
cm.
Originally published London: Faber and Faber, 1952.

-
Includes bibliographical references and Index.
ISBN 0-520-21276-2
Vermeer, Johannes, 1632-1675.
1.
Biography.
1.
(alk.
2.
paper)
Painters-Netherlands-
Vermeer, Johannes, 1632-1675.
ND653.V5G6
1997
759-949 2 -dc2i
97-20774
[B]
CIP
Printed in
Hong Kong
by Colorcraft Limited
987654321
BR BR
ND653
.V5
G6
1997
11. Title.
PREFACE
There
on
are writings
art
which
remain
are destined to
even when the
valid,
evidence on which they were originally based has meanwhile been revised or
One
expanded.
of Walter Pater's
thinks
have
own
in their
art
which
right
contributed to our perception of these masters. Lawrence Gowing's
vitally
monograph on Vermeer of 1952 belongs

response stems from his
his personal
committed
on Giorgione, or Jakob
essay
Burckhardt's Recollections of Rubens, works of
to the contest
experience
as a
doubt the intensity of
painter
with appearances. Thus Vermeer's
and objective record of
to earlier observers like the cool
denly revealed to us in
own
No
to this class.
all its
who was
art that
deeply
had looked
visual truth
was sud-
emotional complexity. This multi-layered reading
of the oeuvre surely remains unaffected by the progressive expansion of our
knowledge
There
that has
are
occurred in the intervening years.
two such events
in
what the
would
Italians
of Vermeer, which must here be mentioned. The
first is
call
the fortuna
critica
the publication in 1989
of the book by Montias, whose archival studies have completely transformed our
knowledge of the
artist's
milieu.
We
are lucky to
assessment of this remarkable contribution in

Literary Supplement,
live to
which has been included
have Gowing's reaction and
review he wrote for the Times
in this
experience Vermeer's ultimate apotheosis in the 1995-6 exhibitions of
Washington and The Hague, which not only

also left a
permanent record
in the
attracted
works
in
Washington,
puzzled Lawrence Gowing,
Girl with a
who
enormous crowds but
form of a scholarly catalogue,
problems of attributions inevitably were once more

ic
volume. Sadly, he did not
had
aired.
Red Hat and
difficulties in
in
which the
The two problematGirl with a Flute, also
making up
his
mind. Like the
authors of the catalogue, he finally accepted the authenticity of the
first,
but
questioned the second.

Art lovers
may
also
remember,
gratefully, that in the last years

[
of
his life,
Gowing added
films
on
artists
to his
accomplishments the production of
close to his heart. His
programme on Vermeer
mercially available as a video, but for
media, the old Latin tag
scripta
a series
manent
all
the stimulation
still
London, December 1996
is
now
we owe
also
com-
to these
new
applies.
E.
vi]
of television
H. Gombrich
CONTENTS
PREFACE BY PROFESSOR SIR ERNST GOMBRICH
page
COUNTERFEITER OF GRACE:
REVIEW BY LAWRENCE GOWING OF
VERMEER AND HIS MILIEU: A WEB OF SOCIAL HISTORY
BY JOHN MICHAEL MONTIAS
RELEVANT LITERATURE PUBLISHED SINCE
1970
14
JOHANNES VERMEER OF DELFT
17
NOTES
68
II
THE PICTURES, A
LIST
AND A COMMENTARY
75
INDEX
159
PLATES
after
[vii]
page
160
NOTE TO THIRD EDITION
PUBLISHER'S
(1997)
We
are delighted to
the
first
that
time in
be reissuing Lawrence Gowing's Vermeer
this third,
updated edition. Jenny Gowing,
Lawrence Gowing told her he considered
it
to
be
his
his
all
is
paperback for
widow,
has said
most important work.
more remarkable when one takes

work overall.
Lawrence Gowing's view of the state of Vermeer studies
That judgment
as a
into account the
the
multiplicity and outstanding quality of his
death in 1991
is
conveyed
in a substantial piece
Supplement about Vermeer and His Milieu:

Montias, which
we have
included.
To bring
he wrote for the Times Literary
the
Web of Social History by J.M.

book up to date, changes in the
ownership of pictures since 1970 have been incorporated and

of relevant
shortly before his
literature published since that date has
a brief
bibliography
been added. The
illustrations
have been freshly reproduced direct from photographs.
We
are extremely grateful to Professor Sir Ernst
preface to introduce the
book
to a
new
Gombrich
for contributing a
generation of readers.
AUTHOR'S NOTE TO SECOND EDITION

(1970)
In this
new
artist that
noted and
taken to
no attempt has been made to alter or enlarge the view of the

book recorded. Changes in the ownership of Vermeer's pictures are
number of mistakes have been corrected. The opportunity has been
edition
the
a
illustrate
perhaps the
and
latest that
list
study and continual help
dedicated to him.
many
The
work which appears to be from his hand,

(Plate 80). The essay that prompted the present
were due to Benedict Nicolson, and this book is
a further
we know
writer
owes much beyond thanks
friends, in particular to
Gombrich, and Adrian Stokes
John Pope-Hennessy,
and
in England,
in
to the
Sir
generous help of
Kenneth Clark, E.H.
Holland to H. Gerson,
Gudlaugsson and, most tolerant of listeners, Professor Van Regteren Altena.
viii
S.
G.
PLATES
PAINTINGS BY VERMEER
COLOUR
(between pages 24 and 23)
A.
A Maidservant Pouring Milk
B.
The Concert
C.
A Woman
D.
Head of a Girl
The Lacemaker
E.
F.
G.
H.
in
Blue Reading a Letter
A Girl with a Flute

A Lady Writing a Letter
A Lady with a Guitar
with her Maid
MONOCHROME
Head of a Girl
page
(Radiograph of central part)

at the
end of the book
1.
Christ
in
the House of Martha and
Mary
2.
Christ
in
the House of Martha and
Mary
(Detail)
Christ
in
the House of Martha and Mary
(Detail)
4.
The Procuress
5.
The Procures
6.
Girl Asleep
7.
Girl Asleep
8.
Diana and her Companions
9.
Diana and her Companions
(Detail)
(Detail)
(Detail)
10.
A Lady Reading
at the
Window
11.
A Lady Reading
at the
Window
(Detail)
158
i2.
Soldier and Laughing Girl
13.
Soldier and Laughing Girl
14.
A Street
in
Delft
in
Delft
5.
Street
(Detail)
(Detail)
16.
17.
18.
Girl Drinking with a Gentleman
19.
(Detail)
20.
(Detail)
21.
Girl Interrupted at Music
22.
The Concert
23.
The Concert
24.
The Music Lesson
25.
The Music Lesson
(Detail)
26.
The Music Lesson
(Detail)
27.
The Music Lesson
(Detail)
28.
The Music Lesson
(Detail)
29.
The Music Lesson
(Detail)
30.
View of Delft
3 1
View of Delft
(Detail)
32.
View of Delft
(Detail)
33.
A Couple with
34.
A Couple
35.
36.
A Couple
37.
The Music Lesson
38.
A Young Woman
(Detail)
(Detail)
Wine Glass
with a Wine Glass
(Detail)
Couple with a Wine Glass
(Detail)
with a Wine Glass
(Detail)
(Detail)
with a Water Jug

[2]
..
39-
A Young Woman with
40.
A Lady
41
Head of
42.
43.
A Young Lady with
44.
A Lady Weighing Gold
45.
(Detail)
46.
(Detail)
47.
A Woman
in
48.
A Woman
in
49.
Head of a Girl
50.
An
Artist in his Studio
An
(Detail)
52.
An
(Detail)
53.
The Lacemaker
54.
A Lady
Receiving a Letter from her Maid
55.
A Lady
Receiving a Letter from her Maid
56.
Girl with a Flute
57.
Girl with a
58.
The Astronomer
59.
The Geographer
60.
An
61.
The Geographer
62.
The Love Letter
63.
The Love Letter
64.
A Lady Writing
a Letter with her
65.
A Lady Writing
a Letter with her Maid
Water Jug
(Detail)
with a Lute
a
Young Woman
Lady Writing a Letter

a Necklace
(Detail)
(Detail)
Red Hat
(Detail)
(Detail)
(Detail)
[3
Maid
(Detail)
66.
A Lady Writing
a Letter with her
67.
A Lady Writing
a Letter with
68.
A Lady with
69.
A Lady
70.
Maid
(Detail)
her Maid
(Detail)
A Lady Writing
a Letter with her Maid
(Detail)
71.
Allegory of the
New Testament
72.
Allegory of the
New
Testament
(Detail)
73.
Allegory of the
New
Testament
(Detail)
74.
A Lady
Standing at the Virginals
75.
A Lady
Seated at the Virginals
76.
A Lady
77.
78.
A Lady
79.
A Lady
80.
A Lady
a Guitar
with a Guitar
(Detail)
Lady Seated at the Virginals
(Detail)
(Detail)
(Detail)
(Detail)
[4]
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

OF WORKS BY OTHER ARTISTS
Moretto Da
Brescia: Christ
House of Simon
in the
Erasmus Quellinus The Younger:
Christ in the
the Pharisee
page 79
House of
Martha and Mary
80
Jan Steen:
Christ in the
Urs Graf:
Venal Love
House of Martha and Mary
85
Jan Van Bronckhorst: The

Pieter
De Hooch:
Rembrandt: A
81
86
Procuress
The Empty Glass
87
Window
Girl Asleep at a
89
Nicolaes Maes: The Housekeeper
90
Nicolaes Maes: The
91
Idle Servant
Jacob Van Loo: Diana
93
JACOB Van Loo: Young Couple
in a
Chamber
94
Delft School: The Minuet
95
Carel
98
Fabritius: The Goldfinch
Gerard Dou:
98
Self-portrait
Gerrit Houckgeest:
Interior of the
Gerard Ter Borch: A
Old Church
99
at Delft
Girl Reading
99
Anthonie Palamedesz: A Merry Company
104
Dirk Hals: Backgammon
105
Players
Pieter
De HOOCH: Backgammon
Pieter
De HOOCH:
Gerard Dou:
The Card
Players
106
107
Players
The Cook
[5]
10
Jacob Duck:
Merry Company
Judith Leyster: The

PlETER
Rejected Offer
De Hooch: A
Gabriel Metsu: An
page
114
Drinking Party
Offer of
113
Wine
14
115
Gerard Ter Borch:
The Admonition
120
Gerard Ter Borch:
The
121
Theodor Van Baburen:
Toilet
The
Follower of Mattheus Stomer: Roman

Gabriel Metsu: The
Rembrandt:
Tfie
Faust.
Nicolaes Maes:
Charity
Luteplayer
Job Berckheyde: The

Nicolaes Maes:
122
Procuress
133
Painter's Studio
140
Lacemaker
144
Reversed
149
Scholar in his Study
Jan Miense Molenaer:
Lady
123
at the Virginals
[6]
50
156
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO THIRD EDITION

Thanks
in
arc
due
to the following
their possession:
Museum
museums and
(1997)
collectors for kind permission to reproduce
of Fine Arts, Boston, and
M. Theresa
B.
works
Hopkins Fun
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum,
London (copyright British Museum); Baron Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania; Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, London (English Heritage
Photographic Library); Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Musee du Louvre, Paris ( Photo
- R. G. Ojeda); Konincklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis and Stichting Vnenden
van Het Mauritshuis, The Hague (Photographic Mauritshuis, The Hague, inv. nrs. 670, 564);
National Gallery, London (reproduction by courtesy of the Trustees, National Gallery, London;:
The Trustees of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Widener Collection. S 1997
Courtesy
RMN
Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington); National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
(reproduction of A Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid by Vermeer by courtesy of the National
Gallery of Ireland); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; and for the generous assistance of the staff and
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Department of Prints and

Institute, and Witt Library, London; Institut
Neerlandais, Paris; Departement des Peintures, and Departement des Arts Graphiques, Musee du
Louvre, Paris; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Rembrandt Research Project, Amsterdam;
Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague; Royal Academy of Arts,
London; University of California at Santa Barbara, California; Warburg Institute, and Photo
Collection, London. To the following organizations and individuals grateful thanks are
expressed: the staff of Messrs. Christie's in Amsterdam, London, New York and Paris; Times
Literary Supplement; English Heritage Photographic Library, London; Prudence Cuming
Associates Ltd, London; Mme Catherine Belanger; Barbara Bernard; Holly Eley; Jennifer
Fletcher; Dr. Enriqueta Harris; David Lewis; Alexandra Lunghu; Mary McFeely; Dr. Elizabeth
McGrath; Mme Sanda Marta; Karen Otis; Martin Royalton-Kisch; Sybilla Russell; Dr. Wilfried
Seipel; Frances Smythe; Adele Stevens; Dr. Paul Taylor; Barbara Thompson; Mme Van der Pol;
Eve Poland; Professor Christopher White; Christopher Wright; and in particular to Mr. Kotting
of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, to Dr. Ann Jensen Adams
libraries
of the following
institutions:
Drawings, British Museum, London; Courtauld
of the University of California
Gombrich,
OM, CBE,
at
Santa Barbara, California; and especially to Professor Sir Ernst
for unstinting
and generous help and encouragement throughout.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO SECOND EDITION

The Music Lesson
is
reproduced by gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen. Thanks are
due to the museums and collectors

others to the
(1970)
who
have allowed their pictures to be
Chairman of the National Gallery of
Brunswick and Valenciennes
who
gave special
Art,
illustrated,
among
Washington, and to the authorities
facilities in
time of emergency under
at
difficult
conditions, and to the following: A.C.L., Brussels; Alinari, Florence; Archives Photographiqucv
Bruckmann, Munich; Dingian, The Hague; G. Schwarz, Berlin; R. F. Fleming, W. F.

and Rotary Photographic, London, and in particular to the Rijksbureau voor
Kunsthistorische Documentatie at The Hague. Apologies must be tendered to those owners of
pictures with whom it has unfortunately proved impossible to communicate.
Pans;
Mansell
7]
COUNTERFEITER OF GRACE
REVIEW BY LAWRENCE GOWING OF
VERMEER AND HIS MILIEU: A WEB OF SOCIAL HISTORY
BY JOHN MICHAEL MONTIAS
The
prospects of shedding documentary light on the
studied
as
Vermeer
on the
are not
a painter as
the 1870s onwards
he believed that
initially
information about Vermeer must already have been extracted;
Artists
'there
were no better
and Artisans
in their tracks.
We
in Delft.
Nearly forty years ago
and
archivists than the Dutch',
The returns for all the research had

Documents seemed to record little except
in
fact
the
previous
his
too concluded that
saw no necessity
how wrong we
could have no idea
all
impression
this
persuaded him to limit himself to the socio-economic purview of
book,
widely
John Michael Montias, an art-loving
Yale University, recounts that
at
of
From
surface encouraging.
the archives were sifted unremittingly.
economist
life
to follow
were.
been
uninformative.
fairly
the studied reticence of the painter.
Archives around the beginning of the seventeenth century are in any event
borrow
deceptive. Apart from the habit of going before an attorney to lend or

quite trifling sums, law-abiding people
between
more
birth
like
and
burial.
left
only occasional traces of their existence
Surnames were
still
nicknames attaching by facetious
Pincher, Reynier, for example,
meaning Fox,
in place, say,
in flux, quite unreliably adhesive,
habit.
As Martin regularly becomes
commonly became Reynard and then
of Van der Minne.
It
was easy enough
to lose track
the record of the fact that this particular Reynier, in youth apprenticed as a
in figured silk, later kept an inn
which he
called
Vos,
of
worker
The Flying Fox before removing
to another called Mechelen. At Delft he enrolled in the Guild
as
an
art dealer,
apparently because the family possessed saleable pictures, and adopted for no
recorded reason the
common
surname of Vermeer.
Having caught the scent of
his quarry, the
biographer can return to records
whose relevance he could never have guessed and begin

is
a splendid
exponent of
hide what were in

the inquirer
may
decay, or discover
and underline
and every
his
all
this
truth
its
serendipitous hindsight and the past

secrets.
arrive to find that

it all
again. Professor
it
Even
so,
is
hard put to
having located the crucial record
has been sealed
on account of imminent
but deleted by an elder scholar privileged to take
hunches with blue
line, ancestral
and
pencil.
collateral, that
[8]
Montias
When
all
obstacles are
it
home
circumvented
was eventually obscurely relevant has
been retraced
it
remains to re-read eighteen archives in fifteen
as Montias credibly warns us, are quite tedious.
able strangeness
It
of the past for which one
was well known
that at
Gouda. The marriage was
now
It is
cities.
Some
leads,
disclose the inconceiv-
never quite prepared.
is
twenty-one Vermeer married
celebrated at a village
from
a Catholic girl
an hour's walk away, for the
was entrenched there and aroused no
excellent reason that Catholicism
comment.
But some
particular
apparent that through the painter's youth the whole family
lived in Delft at Papists' Corner, a virtual ghetto
where the concentration of
the
the odorous vicinity of the Small-Cattle Market and the Jesuit Church
faithful in
were unconcealed. At
household of
prominent
betrothal,
it
emerges, he went to live in the superior
mother-in-law, chief of the domineering
his
in the story.
She was
women who
odds with her husband, Reynier Bolnes,
at
are
well
as
with an unbalanced and pugnacious son. Montias has found more than one
as
blow-by-blow account of
pregnant
woman, one
read in these pages a

serenity that
One
had
marital fracas in the Bolnes household.
horrific
notices, repeatedly bore the brunt of
commentary on
a special
the gravid
women
it.
hard not to
It is
in the pictures
and on the
value to the painter.
of the problems of Vermeer biography has always been that there
is
no
record of the apprenticeship which was required for membership of his guild.
Disentangling the extended family that Vermeer married into, Montias has
discovered that the prospective mother-in-law, Maria Thins
lose
(he
was
any advantage
had
a cousin,
was to buy the house

also a
nephew of no
more
like a close friend
The
Procuress,
among
yellow that were
is
problem. Reynier
Vermeer furnished
as
owned
reminiscent of the convivial half-lengths in red and
Bloemaert's staple
at least
his interiors
products,
but annealed in
with such things and learned from their
of Amsterdam.
Loo and Quellinus
is
essentially eclectic start, there
Two
the Younger,
the
no longer
three Utrecht pictures before his son was born;
Montias points out, in Vermeer's
for the influence
who
his days),
Abraham Bloemaert, the leading

Bearing in mind Vermeer's first dated
domestic atmosphere of Delft, one can agree that Vermeer's training

a
to
personage than
less a
which
woman
and avuncular supporter
which the impoverished painter ended
in
master in the Catholic city of Utrecht.

picture,
not
of the
were
artists
whom
active there.
was
style.
also
But,
room
he imitated, Jacob Van
Vermeer's Diana and
his
Martha and Mary, though quite specific and consistent in their several varieties of
Northern Baroque, together represented

combination
likely
Montias
in
the luxurious eclecticism of the
phase of distinctively Amsterdam-type style-formation, so very

is
not wrong in
this
deduction
[9]
either.
Unlike most other delvers
most
telling
of Vermeer's
contents
the
more
possessions
Montias has an acute eye for the
in the archives,
He
because the most public of records, the pictures themselves.
closely
the
interiors,
and
intelligently than
have noticed that the crease in the
most
reads
decorations and the
the
furniture,
critics.
am ashamed
not to
map on the'wall in The Art of Painting bisects

The prospective mother-in-law would
the country along just the significant line.
not give her
consent to the marriage until Vermeer had rejoined the old
final
Church. But she agreed not
the veteran history painter Leonaert
contact with Bramer's work;
of Vanity in Vienna
is
exactly the context in
Two
Vermeer himself figured
days later
helped to collect a debt.
known
few years
Montias
as witness.
they were
The
find in Ter
of finish
no point of
in his allegory
which we should read the foreground

as a
Borch the only
like that in
Which
parallel to the purity
other painter raised
The Music Lesson?
to each other, but
it is
It
document
this
of a profile
realistic
would be hard
observation
to believe that
mastery that became his
like the
remarkable that Vermeer documented contacts with so wide
sources, in Utrecht, in the international style, in Delft
range of
and with the leader of the
genre school; these sources confirm exactly the mixture
at
which we can guess
Perhaps most significant, the young Vermeer's very evident aim
to excel in large-scale narrative pictures

least to infer
like
remarkable to find them acquainted
Vermeer had achieved anything
his pictures.
which
witness in an 'act of surety'
other witness was Gerard Ter Borch. Ter Borch was
Letter Reader.
unknown
so long before
It is
Dresden
to a quality
from
sees
of instruments
still life
ever to have been in Delft until Montias 'came across

ago'.
that in the
own.
Bramer
think that the
The Music Lesson.
viol in
not
banns and the wedding took place with
to forbid the
on
an element of ambition in
happily accounted
for,
now
of models, which led
a variety
his character,
that the records
is
all
the
more
me
easily
encourage us to trace
at
and
to an
it
ambitious mother-in-law.
Montias's reading of the documents
records
traits
is
remarkable in confirming from the
that are evident in the pictures. Vermeer's faith
apparent in the subjects of his early pictures and twice

rity;
once,
in the
it
as
it
has been considered, to
Metropolitan
no drawback
I
do
Museum, which
for a subject to
its
is
more
evidently the
firmly, in a recently discovered painting
at least
in the art of his
work of a
of
wringing out her sponge in the blood of the martyrs.
more
r
twice
matu-
disadvantage, in the allegory of the faith
be conceived in the Jesuit
as the other very early pictures, only
is
io
so. All
1
painter
taste.
who
found
Montias believes,
a rare subject, St
Praxedes
peculiar in the
same way
It is
of them take their cue from the
example of some
is
known,
minor
but
earlier painter,
work by
Praxedes
St.
the Florentine
Baroque painter
Felice Fichcrelli, with only
round which the scheme revolves. The copy
unlike any of Vermeer's mature pictures that
very probable that the signature
such a picture came
an exact copy of a picture that
emphasize the pietism of the subject and intensify
alterations calculated to
the brilliant orange-pink colour
how
is
is
it
has
is
been widely doubted. But
both original and authentic;
it is
so
it is
hard to imagine
to be inscribed thus except autographically to record the
actual authorship.
None of the
early pictures
Vermeer. Their unlikeness
any mature or characteristic
like
constant characteristic. But not the only one.
is
much
of course
is
Vermeer returned often to variations on the same orange-pink colour scheme.

recurs
in
his
genre
first
pieces.
drawing remained consistently
His figure
unsophisticated until he was able to pose his genre models and paint
nature in the tonal system that he

as his in
They
the early works.
made
his
own. But the
mature pictures, but then with
women come
are discovered
evident in
for
St.
Vermeer
and the lack of fluency
Praxedes. Yet the picture
if it
had not borne
It is
only in
recognizable and dominant serenity, that
to stand upright in Vermeer's art.
service to the martyrs,
them from
subjects are recognizable
women who
nearly always involve
crouching, stooping or kneeling in positions that convey devotion.

his
It
would
his signature.
The
devotional pose, kneeling in
in the figure invention are
certainly never have
We
should consider
if
both very
been claimed
we know
any
pictures that are in this very case, pictures lacking a signature that are thus
deprived of the claim to be considered in relation to the beginnings of Vermeer.
One
such picture suggests
counterpart,
itself,
in
tender, in fact exquisite
its
affinity to St. Praxedes. It
Rotterdam
at
Vermeer's characteristic work

again.
But
days.
The
authorities
not
it is
naturally think
at all
it
unlike
of the two
in
It
1935.
was never,
St.
her natural
image of the Magdalen, dressed
pink, crouched at the foot of the Cross.
Oorsprong en Invloed
is
in orange-
figured in the exhibition
When
it
was seen
to be
Vermeer
unlike
think, considered in relation to
Praxedes, and a devout
young
saints together; their feasts are celebrated
picture hangs in Farnley Hall in Yorkshire
where
it
is
him
painter might
on
successive
unnoticed by
on J. M. W. Turner.
Montias gives the impression of following the adventures and misadventures

of several generations
as
at
once.
he has read the archives; he
the seventeenth century.

vicissitudes.
He
He
One
is
is
guesses acutely
will read Vermeer
and His Milieu several times,
an indispensable companion for anyone

alert to the
which
who
likes
human consequences of economic
collateral
branch
is
most plausibly on the
make.
Plausibility
victim to
common:
is
artist
who
makes no matter
as
is
credited with the
skills
and gains the concession to
falls
claims to secure permission for
where such
to Delft,
making off with the proceeds and bankrupting Granny
forbidden,
uncle
near
comic episode the grandmother
richly
smooth-tongued confidence
a public lottery as
An
one
in
thing
is
in the process.
though not the scruples of a military contractor
town of Gorkum, with an unauthorized
fortify the
profit for himself.
Such
The
surprises recur.
milieu was raffish and evidently disreputable.
family stuck together in self-defence.

are
to
nothing to what
is
The minor
in store, ticking
away
The
discoveries of Montias's reading
in the archives like a
bomb, waiting
demolish our preconception of what kind of refined background great painting
springs from.
the secret
is
Twelve
As the page turns
it
seems that the writer
is
holding
his breath.
Then
out.
years before the painter's birth almost everyone in the immediate
family of Vermeer's
mother - her
father,
stepmother, mother-in-law, brother,
seems to have been embroiled in the counterfeiting of

currency. The plot, which was intended to help the Elector of Brandenburg pay
for the acquisition of the Duchy of Cleves, providing the States General with a
sympathetic power along their border, was after interrogation immediately
unmasked. The two leaders were beheaded by the sword. The other members of
the closely knit family who were involved combined to buy their way out of
trouble; Vermeer's father stripped himself to the point of selling his bed everyone's dearest possession to find the money. 'Vermeer, who was born soon after
stepbrother and husband
must have heard from
his grandfather's death,
adventure', Montias concludes.
He
himself became
prompts tempting
in
if
these might have

fascinating.
counterfeiting the visible world.'
reflections,
with
critical
relevance that
mind. The conspirators of 1620 thought themselves
One
of the family plotters told an
her husband was ever caught counterfeiting, he would be
pardoned 'by reason of the
artist
background.
coincidence ever occurred to him.
indeed in some respect authorized.
accomplice that
such
an
linguistic
own
historian, such as Montias, permits himself such a speculation,
Montias may not have had

justified,
or relatives about the
was an inescapable part of his
"counterteijter\
Montias wonders whether the
When an exact
who can resist? It
'It
his parents
been
is
services that
he had rendered to the Prince'. What
mysterious: the hint of secret services
But there need
rare subject as St.
now
be no doubt about
Praxedes. In the
incongruous and
how Vermeer came
shadow behind her
decapitated martyrs, their expressions transfigured by grace.
[12]
is
One
there
to paint
lie
two
cannot doubt
martyrdom was
that
In maturity
of the
still
real to the family.
Vermeer made
visual scene;
Nothing
very
it
is
way
his
to a material texture but to the
constituted an image, and constituted
obscura, as anyone notices
who
Vermeer
collection at Oxford.
in particular
it
will
satin
by
the likeness
on the screen of
that
camera
have thought of the luminous objectivity that
One remembers
twelve years his elder.
sister
essence of the
art, a visible
feminine world.
the
is
Vermeer was brought up with

mother,
With Vermeer
looks at the image in the accessible camera in the
untroubled household, which
his
as such.
it
whole configuration of light
the camera captures as the absolute value of pictorial
twenty-one
as a facsimile
him, except occasionally the sheen of
the likeness of appearance.
as close to
was not primarily
of painting
reasonable to suppose that he thought of
in genre painting before
Ter Borch, came
to a conception
When
that
he was
wife Catherine took her place, supported and directed by her
who opened
to
him
the distinguished milieu that
we know. Montias has

may have met, and
enchanting reflections on where Johannes and Catherine
on
almost reluctantly,
notes,
romantic love had
Vermeer
is
truth.
is
real.
what
is
seen.
world
of a
styles.
the object of his imitation.
doubt of its
miscellaneous eclecticism of narrative
surely reacted against the
what
It
lies flat
state that
colour
is
before us in
is
The
He
retains for ever
The camera image

Its
grounds, the likelihood that
a part in the story.
painting in the international
That
sociological
solid
is
purity of the household light replaced
fabricated
blessed that
own
so irrefutably that
we
have no
an unbroken harmony, the inherent value of
a projection
the essence in
its
it
it.
of the very
which
specific luminosity
and
Vermeer might have thought
Times Literary Supplement, 16-22 February 1990
13
light that
visibility consists.
is
emitted by
The household
pallor. It
is
this
essence
to counterfeit.
Lawrence Gowing
RELEVANT LITERATURE PUBLISHED SINCE

Albert Blankert, with contributions by
Vermeer
of Delft
1632-1675,
edition, Phaidon,
Dutch
Oxford and
and Willem Van de Watering,
edition, Utrecht
New
Christopher Brown, Scenes of Everyday

Century, Faber
Rob Ruurs
and Antwerp, 1975; English
York, 1978
Life:
Dutch Genre Painting of the Seventeeth
and Faber, London, 1984
Albert Blankert, John Michael Montias, Gilles Aillaud et

editions,
1970
Amsterdam, 1987
&
1992; English edition, Rizzoli,
John Michael Montias, Vermeer and His

University Press, Princeton,
Milieu: a
New Jersey,
Arthur J. Wheelock Jr., Vermeer and
the
Web
Vermeer,
al.,
Dutch
New York,
1988
of Social History, Princeton
1989
Art of Painting, Yale University Press,
New
Haven and London, 1995

Jorgen
and
Wadum,
the
Vermeer Illuminated: a Report on the Restoration of the 'View of Delft'
by Johannes Vermeer, with contributions by
'Girl with a Pearl Earring'
Rene Hoppenbrouwers and Luuk Struick van der Luoeff, Mauritshuis, The
Hague, V + K Publishing, Inmerc, Naarden, 1994; 2nd revised edition and
English edition, 1995
Johannes Vermeer, edited by Arthur J.

J.
Wheelock Jr.,
Wheelock Jr., with
catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.
Hague, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.

Press,
The
New
Scholarly
Wadum
contributions by Arthur
Ben Broos and Jorgen Wadum,
Albert Blankert,
exhibition
C, and Mauritshuis, The

C, and Yale University
Haven, 1995
World of Vermeer, Klaus van Berkel,
and Kees Zandvliet, with
Anne van Helden, Jorgen
contribution by R.
published to accompany the exhibition held in the
E.
Museum
O. Ekkart,
of the Book,
Meermanno-Westreenianum Museum, The Hague, Waanders
Publishers,
Zwolle, 1996
Delft Masters:
Vermeer's Contemporaries
Michiel C. C. Kersten, Danielle H.A.C.
Lokin and Michiel C. Plomp, exhibition catalogue, Stedelijk
Museum
'Het
Prinsenhof, Delft, Waanders Publishers, Zwolle, 1996
Age of Vermeer, edited by Donald Haks and Marie Christine

van der Sman, to accompany the exhibition held in The Hague Historical
Dutch Society
in the
Museum, The Hague, Waanders
Publishers, Zwolle, 1996
[14]
JOHANNES VERMEER
OF DELFT
Elements of his Appeal

Vocabulary and Style
Characteristics of his
His Development:
Thought
the Early
The Mature
Style
His Subject
The Last Phase

His Reputation
Works
The
tide
of style
ebbs and flows follows
as it
often understand.
When we
broad logic that
approach closer each wave
is
we
can
seen to be
made of fragments of thought, of personal feeling, all of them in

some degree enigmatic. The flow remains unbroken. The seventeenth century carries with
it
in
current the greatest of painters: there
its
we
losing sight of such giants. Yet the stream as
any
man
whose
detaches himself to appear alone
reticence,
whose conformity
uninterrupted. If
it is
has
personal
character
The work of Johannes Vermeer is a

plume thrown up by the wave of Dutch painting at its
him from
separates
perfect
moment
it
his time.
which
slender and
crest.
For
seems that the massive tide pauses.
simple, immaculate: the perfection of
It is
no
not the most powerful but one
it is
itself,
survey
is
Vermeer no longer needs ex-
pounding. His pictures contain themselves, utterly
self-sufficient.
them
is
accomplished and com-
a familiar
room, nearly always the
mark an
the surface and design alike
plete. Its limits are
same,
its
unconcealed.
unseen door
window opens
lie flatly
Nowhere
solved. In
paint, yellow.
round
we do
it.
It
not
on the
is
movement of the household,
domestic world
On
by
is
refined to purity, to be
the surface of these pictures the
side in final clarity.
little
to the left
of the centre,
is
square of smooth
colour evokes a luminous ripple in the tones of the picture
window
that
resting solid
and
describes a lighted surface, the reflecting epitome of a

see,
and the surface forms the side of
the blue of the
table,
is
the
complicated references of Western painting so re-
heavy against the arm of the
mented by
together, locked side
picture, a
Its
Here
in definite statement.
else are the
one
scene
closed to the restless
to the light.
conveyed on canvas
forms of life
is
The
which
act
In each of
a part
girl
who
stiff folds
of the
life
holds
it,
she wears.
its
book.
golden yellowness comple-
The book, with
of the room, but
[17]
It is
it
is
also
its
companions
an emblem, an
attribute, like
wreath and trumpet, of a Muse.
the glance from the femininity
The
play of tone
an allegory and
retains
lies
The
indefinitely.
elusively,
its
is
it
it is
a shield tilted to deflect
The meanings recede
half conceals.
statement remains simple, a finite yellow plane.
same time
the
at
which
And
a definition
of space,
domestic incident,
record of an unspoken depth in the painter's nature. Yet
independence.
It is
impersonal and lucid
as a
still
it
on the bottom
pool;
the square of yellow, clear and precious.
The
beauties
material
Vermeer's world uncover themselves quietly,
ol
The
neither sought for nor unexpected.

objects receive the light as if
by
habit,
nature ot things
is
perfectly visible;
without welcoming or shrinking. En-
crusted, lustrous, or with the lucent enamelled facets ot the later works, these
textures are familiar
is
life:
they
make no
claims.
could be touched. Often
not matter that occupies the eye, so
it is
much
the reciprocal play of nearness and distance. Overlapping contours, each
accessory to the next, confine the space, an envelope of quiet

in
Their character
not spectacular, the drips ol light take no account of it. They never remind us
that they
as
companions of
it,
near or
the light
its
far,
bound
essence,
its
Everything in the
moving
ot space
unresisting
surtace.
by the atmosphere, each object
room knows
it
in.
to a nicety
There
Each province has
its
suspended
yields
up
place in the design, as un-
its
cool and positive hue, each has an
window
frames, across the
the perspective pattern extends until, against the wall, framed in
rectangular divisions, the
human
inhabitant
is
discovered. She has
no remarkable occupation. Her mooning
in particular,
to
an unshakeable logic in the divisions
is
edge whose firmness forbids doubt. Along the

floor,
And
purest colour.
as the walls that shut
and
air.
matic net, made definite
at last, part
is
its
no thought
caught in
mathe-
of a timeless order.
VOCABULARY AND STYLE

we know, communicate
Pictures,
municate information about

deal with them,
nature of the
illusion that
and
artist
we
also,
himself.
ner like
a suit
visible things,
of information. They com-
about the painter's equipment to
by inseparable implication, information about the
Some
can construe
masters hold their secrets
several kinds
it
more
painting, that of
with equal
tightly.
facility-
They
Renoir perhaps,
on even'
level.
gives us the
Others of the
knit the consistency of their
man-
of mail about them. However definite and recognizable the weave
[18]
of paint
in the style
There
a curious
is
of Vermeer, inside
many of his
note in
something
it
pictures.
It is
hidden and compressed.
is
be seen
to
of representation that he applies to the simplest form, the fold of

finger.
It
is
detachment
feeling about the painter. His
tone
is
The
so impersonal, yet so efficient.
wedge of
this
even to know, what

light?
Vermeer none of this
nose?
it
is
description
always exactly adequate,
What do men
painting.
What do we know of
him but what
its
call
To
shape?
world of names and knowledge
matters, the conceptual
forgotten, nothing concerns
is
is
Vermeer seems almost not
light.
he
that
finger?
so complete, his observation of
is
always completely and effortlessly in terms of

to care, or not
bodice or
one cannot help
a personal uncertainty that
note of ambiguity,
vocabulary
in the
wedge of
visible, the tone, the
is
is
light.
All should
be well. Such might be the constitution of the simplest of painters.
Yet something keeps one wondering. Perhaps
How
uniform success of the method.

vate
it?
What
kind of
was of
to corner
and
more
detachment,
god-like
the unvarying adequacy, the
did he earn such a
man was Vermeer? Here
examine the pictures from corner

he
it is
how
did he culti-
We may
the ambiguity.
is
still
gift,
be uncertain.
balanced,
more
It
seems
civilized,
as if
more
immune from the infection of his time than any

Or else he was of a naivety beyond belief, all eye and
accomplished, and more

painter before or since.
nothing
else, a
deaf-mute painter perhaps, almost an idiot
the mental furniture that normally clutters the passage
walking retina
I
am
drilled like a
machine.
considering for the
moment
vocabulary of formal representation,

is
something unexpected
in the lack
of any of
between eye and hand,
not pictorial design so
much
as
Vermeer's
his tactics rather than his strategy. There-
in the relation
between them. Vermeer's design
usually considered to be classical in kind, a deliberate ordering of space

pattern,
and
in general the classical designer
do Piero and Poussin,

tion
and
is
in the smallest
form he
makes
is
and
his deliberation visible, as
represents. Vermeer's representa-
of the opposite kind, the kind which abhors preconception and design
relies entirely
on the
ceptual representation
retina as
we know
Vermeer's impressionism
is
as
guide, the kind which in contrast to con-
impressionism.
worth an examination. The
localized colour
which he presents
recent painters
whom we
call
its
are
definite patterns of
of course quite unlike the manner of the
Impressionists.
[19]
The element which
seek to
isolate
here
not colour so
is
it is
as
an even more intimate characteristic of his
explanatory vocabulary. Like the impressionism of Velazquez
style, his actual
and Manet
much
notation primarily of tone rather than of colour.
And
of tone in some of his pictures, those of the type which the Lady Writing
Kenwood and
in Dublin, the Guitar Player at
have made
which
has
affinities in painting.
describe
may
it
It
method. Where
feature of Vermeer's
prove
a Letter
the National Gallery examples
of the Louvre Lacemaker, reaches an extremity
familiar, the type
few
use
this
indeed the most palpably personal
is
else
all
some attempt
so uncertain
some
and
useful,
is
to
more technical
consideration of more elusive
reference will perhaps be forgiven, before direct
rather
issues.
Perhaps the plainest sign of peculiarity
is
the frequently almost complete
absence in the darker passages of these pictures of that linear realization which
Many who
drawing.
call
have glanced
the hands
at
which
rest
boards of the virginals in the pictures in the National Gallery
on thinking
that they
have caught the master in
its
and denies
it.
Where
bounding
as
how
the darkened forms are,
lines.
may have
light or
line,
an eye
it
casts
were, to admit to us that he
it
they are divided, where He their
In the servant in the Dublin picture
submerged, in her mistress the eye
passed
weaker moment. But these
away from the
fingers turn
hemispherical shadow Vermeer refuses,
knows what
the key-
Vermeer's shadow does not only obscure
details are quite characteristic;
interrupts
on
we
it
is
the
as well, in the lady seated at
mouth which
is
the virginals the
disappearance which becomes very clear
when
whole form of finger and hand,
we
close to Vermeer's influence as Metsu's Music
turn even to a picture
Lesson
which often hangs beside
writer resting
on the
vocabulary in such
gulf
is
as
plain.
table,
with
it.
which was
to deal
convention and
bracing the form
it
limits, a
its
arm of
the letter
in the conventional
Buckingham
Palace, the
with something quite outside the
burden of
pictorial evolution
an almost solitary indifference to the
historic function
of describing, enclosing, em-
seemingly involuntary rejection ot the way in which
the intelligence of painters has operated
Even now, when
is
the
conveyed
so often the
between Masaccio and Rembrandt. His

linear
we compare
picture as Ter Borch's Letter at
painterly fullness of tone
whole
If
a similar detail
Vermeer we have
In
from the
earliest
times to our
the photographer has taught us to recognize visual

* See Notes
at
end of Part
[20]
I.
own
day.
as against
imagined continuity, and in doing so no doubt blunted our appreciation of

Vermeer's strangeness, the
and
verse,
to a degree
remains
feat
exceptional
as
which may not be easy
as it
apparently per-
unconcerned with the
for those
However
technical side of a painter's business to measure.
is
firm the contour in
these pictures, line as a vessel of understanding has
been abandoned and with
the traditional apparatus of draughtsmanship. In
its
place, apparently effort-
whole weight of formal explanation.
automatically, tone bears the
lessly,
it
may be observed a similar indifference

of modelling. The critical point at which a change of
Allied to this rejection of line there

to conventional continuity
tone becomes large enough to be worth recording appears to be decided by
Vermeer
optically, almost mechanically, rather than conceptually or in the
interests
of comprehensibility. Dealing with drapery, the blue turban of the
head
and the
in the Mauritshuis for instance,
skirt
the lighted side of the fold to
wood, he allows
of the guitar player
convey both. The
at
Ken-
delicately
abrupt divisions which convey the features of the Louvre Lacemaker, like the
accents of tone in the head of the Girl with a
vincing that
we
of modelling
are sought.
is
effects in a
he
is
head
at
Washington, are so con-
hardly notice that they are entirely unexplained. Intermittence

in itself
What
unsubstantiated.
Red Hat
is
common
strange in
in painting
Vermeer
When De Hooch,
like that
is
wherever strong
Vermeer's close associate, attempts such

at
Buckingham
apt to lapse back into the subtly insensate cockeyedness
Vermeer seems
Caravaggio, in
to
parallels
to
human
When
which
is
Palace
so lovable
For him the accent of
earlier generation.
remain utterly unaware.
whom
cultivate a sharpness
of an
with concept, the telling
light always coincides
of light
however
the authenticity of accent,
of the lady in The Card Players
in the low-life genre paintings
effects
the
of which
particular,
Dutch followers of
Vermeer's practice are often discovered,
of tonal division,
in order that the transition
it is
when
it is
presented, the invariably sinuous drawing-together of half tones, shall be the
more compelling.
shadow,
as
When
Ter Brugghen omits linear drawing
he does in the head of a courtesan
ous intention, only so that the contour

reach
he
it.
This
artifice
is
at
shall
Utrecht,
it is,
in areas
of fleshy
with
voluptu-
his
prove more piquant
foreign to Vermeer; tangibility
is
when we
not the illusion that
seeks.
This surprising independence of conceptual continuity of modelling

equally clear in passages of
still
life.
We
can see
[21]
it
for
example
is
in the picture
Kenwood, in
the work basket
frames which appear in the paintings in the National Gallery and

the lacemaker's accessories and her plaited
beside the lady in The Love
minor
work very
tonal incidents in order that the
last
Metsu and Jan Steen
In the frames and baskets of
line
shall
have
its
effect.
and modelling work
unremittingly to ensure that the smallest form shall be understood.
which appear
paintings
On
difference.
in these interiors themselves reveal the profundity
the walls of
Metsu and Jan Steen they
conceptual replicas. For Vermeer such
behind the lady writing

surface.
The
the touch
is
a letter, is a
a detail as the
come
near to perversity but there
however
particular shapes
and blend,
as if
deft,
of the objects
received by
it
depicts.
is
comes increasingly
is
The
invariable,
inflexible as
tassels
on
retina
how
it
is
which
spread
diffuses a little
It is
how sharply
by De Groot as
easy to imagine
the touch of any other painter of
even in passages where Dutch handling

optical impartiality be-
approaches the crucial points in
Boughton Knight
remote Vermeer's manner
soft lights
the cushion of The Lacemaker
which were recorded
need only compare the head
piece in the former
is
sake.
was by convention most minute. 5 Indeed Vermeer's
We
not only that
hardly a sign that he
Indeed the round,
would have been characterized by

Such diffusion
own
some minutely granular
the bands of her book, and the silks
matter.
toned
striking thing about Vermeer's
have an enticing and baffling bluntness of focus.
the school.
is
a flat,
does not characterize more emphatically the
it
the points of greatest luminosity.
feathers,
little,
features of his handling of paint, the pointillc high-
same system. The
are a part of the

that,
of the
epigrammatic but that the epigrams imply no comment. His
so
The most conspicuous
is
The
Finding of Moses, seen
pure visual phenomenon,
aware of them or interested in them for their
pointille
are pictures in
peculiarity of Vermeer's descriptive use of light
optical paradoxes
lights,
so
differently, exaggerating
inch of texture
3
is
of the shape on
are prepared to take the rest
general the painters of his school
trust. In
hair, in
Vermeer's isolated accent of light
Letter.
we
assured, so convincing, that
band of
his subject
in the Mauritshuis with the parallel
collection
by Michiel Sweerts
to notice
from the easy explanatory fluency which
is
so lovely a feature of the convention of his time.
Another kind of
visual
paradox makes an occasional appearance, the ap-
parent deformation, the familiar object which, though
on the occasion
as it
was represented, yet looks

[22]
it
doubtless appeared
in the record grotesquely unlike
Painters have always avoided this effect.
itself.
Even Caravaggio, who sought
the painfully convincing detail, accepted unconsciously a conceptual vocabu-
of recognizability.
lary
We
now
are
well accustomed to the fact that the
photographer's lens does not. In Vermeer just such an apparent deformation

is
visible in the painter's
details,
which we can
hand
many
trace in
through their forerunners to
The convention
in the picture at Vienna.
its
pictures of his contemporaries
origin in the iconography of
St.
in
such
and back
Luke, was to
ensure recognition by emphasizing the characteristic changes of plane. Ver-
meer seems unaware of

hand
It is
on
takes
his inflexible impartiality the
bulbousness which has few parallels anywhere in
a fortuitous
a startling intrusion at
noticing
and by the hazard of
it
such
a point.
But again there
In these pictures Vermeer's style of representation

knit. In this
it is
exceptional in his school;
Buckingham
beyond
the
stylistic
The
forming influence on
The
letto,
his
it is
likely that
is
would not be
we know.
much
as in
of
it,
is
plain.
And one
it
in the actual execution
Cana-
extraordinary; several painters, notably

is
facts.
alone in putting
He
painted
The
not in the planning of his pictures, for
perspectives as The Music Lesson,

tools, so
look not only
Vermeer made use of the
him from using
than the accumulation of
visible
we must
at
easy to think that an optical projection was a
have used the device. But Vermeer
most
which
mature manner. Very possibly the darkness of the
within reach of the ordinary technical methods.

is
think of any parallel
the impartial visual record
like
It
of the pictures that
bare fact
style rather
difficult to
riddle, or the technical part
instrument's image did not prevent

parts
consistent and closely-
resources of his time but outside the normal experience of
camera obscura. 7 Certainly
of many
is
Vermeer's work in parts of the pictures
in
particularly suggested.
is
it is
Palace and the gallery at Brunswick
painters altogether.
answer
For anything
sudden appearance
Vermeer
of both the mechanics and the mental background of
to his rejection
painterly perception.
makes
sign of
His detachment was unshakeable indeed.
it.
anywhere
no
is
art.
is
little
it
to the service
that
optical basis
that,
was not
of
easily
of his manner
except in such broad
well within the compass of the
the tonal recording of specific passages.
common
However
closely
the internal indications agree, the precise technical solution remains a matter for
conjecture.
The
would be
poor service
truth
is
buried.
to use
The
pictures, or
them no
some of them, we have;
it
better than as fodder for another of the
[23)
hobby-horses to which more than one study of the painter has been bound.
What
important
is
to isolate the very unusual consistency that they present,
is
of which the plausibility of

are unlikely to receive
real riddle
mechanical explanation
Why
simple sense
technical ease.
its
Mary may have doubted
his
The
The
nature.
choose the optical way?
it,
method had
doubtful, whatever his
artist's
We
did Vermeer, whether or not he painted
with the camera obscura or learned from

It is
in itself evidence.
any more positive indication of the
rarely discussed.
is
is
recommend
to
painter of Christ
in the
it,
was
if it
in
any
House of Martha and
chances in the highly competitive production of the
miniature genrepiece and anyone might well have hesitated to sink himself in so
petty a descriptive technique as that of
the talented
in the least
more obvious
at ease.
ill
although he might,
He
were any more
Vermeer's blandness
its
however
itself in Delft.
evidence, have brought
is
crucial for
Nor
is
there
limitations of the genre convention left
remained happily bound by them
the Diana
if
than any of
Italianate style
ralities
this issue,
young men of Leiden, hardly presented
reason to think that the
him
Dou. But
practitioners
difficult to
it is
Sometimes
natural to him.
it
is
to the last
more
and
grace to the
think that
its
gene-
tempting to see in
a deliberately acid note, a critical reflection, perhaps,
on the
shortcomings of conceptual naturalism or the coarseness of the Caravag-
may indeed be
gesque. There
at the
Virginals
keeps
meaning
company with
the
Baburen on the wall - study of these
them by chance - but
pictures destroys the belief that anything enters
of Vermeer's
It
is
style
does not
lie
its
his
reflection of Caravaggio's influence.
But contacts with
though they no doubt provided the painter with
tainly at
work:
manner, with the lustrous
modelling, simplified but strangely authentic,
means explain the
we
case.
the root
in such embroidery.
sometimes almost possible to construe
sharpness of
with which the Lady Seated
in the air
Italy
a precedent,
as
and Utrecht,
do not by any
delicacy of discrimination without parallel
can almost believe that
we owe
Beautiful in itself he surely thought
simply
as
it is
doubtful
if
it,
alone in
this
extreme among
the evolution of a decorative scheme.
with
a little
cer-
it
alone.
painters
all
the formation of his style can be understood
The compound which
been suggested, the mixture of the influence of Utrecht and

Fabritius,
is
this intricate orchestration
of optical accident to the painter's eye for the decorative beauty of
before Degas. Yet
distant
of Haarlem and perhaps even,
[24]
as
that
has often
of Carel
one writer has proposed,
A.
A MAIDSERVANT POURING MILK

Amsterdam
B.
THE CONCERT
Boston
(Present location
unknown)
C.
WOMAN IN BLUE READING A

Amsterdam
LETTER
D.
HEAD OF A GIRL
The Hague
E.
THE LACEMAKER
Paris
F.
A GIRL WITH A FLUTE

Washington
A LADY WRITING A LETTER WITH HER MAID

Dublin
H.
A LADY WITH A GUITAR

Kenwood
a trace
of Paul Potter,
is
from accounting
far
we know.
for the result
Vermeer's
perfection does not quite conceal that there are deeper roots to seek than the
coincidence of a
Nothing
stylistic
context and a marvellous freak of
Vermeer's painting
in
more
is
which he pursues appearances. His work

it
to
marked by
is
invariably
the optical method of the
is
not actually to deceive
and
perfect, that
The record
us.
is
at first sight
associate
Delft.
The
first;
conclusion
idiosyncratic in
very
its
works. His pictures are so
from the sug-
entirely
we wonder whether
the intention
is
a counterfeit. It
is
indeed
purpose, the painting of trompe
this
which we
with Vermeer's name, that such unremitting closeness to appearance
strong trompe
it
left its
In Vermeer's time
mark upon both
Fabritius
was not quite untouched by
point to
more than one motif with
of a trompe
is
recorded
liberal
the
was
in fact current in
and painterly
In Vermeer's pictures
it.
and the archi-
still-life
style
it is
of Carel
possible to
a distinct origin in the trompe Voeil school.
the satanic Johannes Torrentius, that the use of the
Voeil painter,
camera obscura
tradition
I'ceil
of the town, and even the
tectural painters
It is
is
the extreme opposite of the stylistic refinement
elsewhere to be found.
10
authenticity.
on the point of becoming
it is
almost from the
so inflexibly impartial, so unchallenge-
only in painting which openly pursues

Voeil,
later
it
and completely convincing, they abstain so
gestion of any other purpose, that at times
able
all its
him, an extreme which
this pursuit led
impersonality,
is
distinctive than the insistence with
has the quality of pure visual experience in
which
taste.
among Vermeer's
predecessors."
Yet these connections have an incongruity about them. However deceptive

Vermeer's intention, the result
For him the play of
subtly denies
it.
The
light
perception but also
its
at
the opposite pole to naturalistic
upon form not only conveys
illusion
the refinement of trompe
is
which he seeks
Voeil,
to counterfeit not only the credibility
the immutable barrier of space.
It is
which
it
implies, that visual impression in
all its
him. There
is
in his
visual
for this, for the impalpable
genuineness
is
thought, the paradoxical accompaniment of
deep character of evasiveness,

diffidence with
of
It is
intangible remoteness. Immediacy, touch, are excluded;
is
to
substance but also
not closeness but distance.
is
his subject
veil
its
tactility.
perpetual withdrawal.
which he approaches the
negative reaction to the
warmth and
stylistic
liberality
The
brandt spread through the genre school.
[25
We
so precious
its clarity,
can trace
problem of
it
in the
his time, his
which the influence of
peculiar composition
Rem-
which the
current genre subject matter takes
behind
his lack
of that
in his
hands
is
And
affect.
of evidence of it.
full
of invention which the
facility
temporaries was able to
on
It lies
of his con-
least talented
here in the most intimate reflection of his
thought, his vocabulary ol representation,
clearest
it is
of all.
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS THOUGHT

zone ot emotional neutrality in which Vermeer suspends the
In fact the
human
matter in his pictures
when he
Vermeer,
infused with the profoundest personal meaning.
is
recording optically,
is
which naturalism holds
cating himself from the hazards

tree to operate in the field
a
where he
condition of the investigation for
It
drew him
to the point
taking evasive action, extri-
is
feels at ease.
him was
where he
for
him. leaving himself
His nature excluded directness:
that the angle should
of
stands, farthest
all
from
be oblique.
his time, as a
poetic illustrator of the subtlest and least expressible meanings of human aspect.
Eyes never meet
unmoving
almost
virginals.
them.
It is as
We may
figures
if
is
communicate by
letter
method,
his
vocabulary of
relationships.
watching the
women move
to
silent
their peculiar
and
distil
fro.
something miraculously
serenity
which
removed from the

underneath
temper, there
them and
curtains, that
is
it
is
this difference,
definite,
character.
However much more
may seem
than those ot other
to the painter. His style
On the surface there
which
much
as
it
were
record them and from the uncertainty
pure and absolute.
is
we
is
of a somewhat
are dealing with an
oudook
the characteristic of his school.
lurking below his almost
an element very
he entered
he could record them with
often remarked in these pictures
genial facility
It
There he could spend the hours
From
equivocal kind. In the study of Venneer's style
And
these
provided the solution.
light,
magnetisms in their enigmatic courses, and remain
immune and uncommitted. He could
far
no speech,
or on the keyboards of the
camera cabinet perhaps, behind the thick
undemanding
The
is
they were meditating on the barriers which he between
the world ot ideal,
he could
There
stilled.
fancy that their relations reflect another, between
tangled. His tonal

in the
Vermeer. action
For Vermeer the situation, technical and personal, was deeplv
their painter.
was
at variance
inhuman
fineness
of
with any simple view of his
elusive Vermeer's emotional preoccupations
artists
they were certainly not the
less
compelling
developed under an unremitting internal pressure.

is
litde
enough
sign of it. Possibly
[26]
we
should be justified
from the impeccable consistency of these pictures
in suspecting
neath something
An
hidden.
is
which perhaps the painter was
element of concealment, of deception, of
much
as
kind of evidence of
which
lies at
basis
comprehensible,
at least
is
but
years after Vermeer's death.
visible
was,
however
world
now
is
his students,
his intractability to
the root of his style.
no doubt
work
12
false',
We
in the
wrote
hands of single collectors in
The
so thoroughly conditioned
fact that
if
own
his
not in-
thirteen
century,
our conception of the
by photography
made not out of
is
visual data so
it is
we
that
can
call
from us (and
much
as
from
idees
in
his followers raised in
enlarge the formulae of conceptual vision.
we now
recognize
opened the way

century
art
to
as
its
time to
art
It
provoked
artist
is
reticent,
taste in his
Vermeer
The
beauty,
time
even
is
to penetrate
resistance,
the
most
characteristic glories
of Vermeer, though hardly
and
of the kind
secretive,
and the
difficulty
is
it
of seventeenthhas
some-
more
subtle
as directly as
times been suggested. Vermeer's breach with convention
He
a quite unparallel-
the typical concomitant of an avant-garde school;
many of
and to the
mechanical transcript,
they can ever have seemed strange.
difficult to recall that
of Caravaggio and
now,
ed pitch of violence the historic battle of the European
of
have evidence, in the comparatively large
objective facts of tonal distribution are
style
kind.
to obfuscate the present discussion) that the popular naturalistic
so ubiquitous that
that
is
the current notions of the appearance of reality.
The
The
study
Dutchman who was born
prized, a special taste.
convention in every age

revues,
never
can be imagined,
It
the academic painting of our time photographic tends to hide

thus
is
eccentric and of negligible interest. 'The effect of the
striking,
concentrations of his
any of
of Vermeer's method seemed to many eyes,
everywhere the
camera obscura
as
photography diffused such optical records
think, that until the invention of
it
victim
certainly his long neglect yields an indication of the
it;
nature of the peculiarity
that
from Vermeer's thought. Indeed
entirely absent
under-
that
of
of imagining the climate
only the beginning of the obstacles which the study of
presents.
expressive content of his style,

is
bound up with
this
however blunted our perception
its
essential idiosyncrasy,
deepest
very approach to visual credibility which,

has
become,
is
in fact
to his time, so
ambiguous, so perilously equivocal
world of which
we know
so
its
much. The very

[27
and must have seemed so
a basis for
reproducing
closeness of his approach to a pure
visual standard
of representation was in
strange depth of emotion, a
of the tangible world and
complex pattern of
a rejection
of it were
dictory roots have
no doubt nourished the
however tempting
it is
do so would
of the
inveterate analytical animus of Degas;
and decisively with humanity.

lity
which
The
that the
subject.
life is
It is
of more than one painter. But

artists
this
In the later
on outside resources
works we can discover most
Lady Standing
a picture as the
style are internal
purpose in
is
his
London owes
is
open
to
any student to
most
at
from
unpopularity
very evident dynamic
inconsistent;
determinants of
all
his
step, the
ultimate solu-
feel a distaste for the later phase,
who
ease with pictures
nevertheless a sense in
far
its
movement towards an
and
in parti-
have understood the genre school best
which agree with
its
conventions. There
is
more
peculiarly characteristic ot
last
phase.
The conclusion of his
which no work
the painter than the dozen pictures of his

is
is
mirror in The Music Lesson, the Mauritshuis head,
comprehensible that those
feel
is
it
elaboration that such
development. The deepening meaning of each lovely
Letter Reader, the
of Ver-
hardly concealed. Indeed
its stylistic
at the Virginals in
the Lacemaker, allows us to discern the
should
his
and subjective.
clearly the essential obliquity
with the painter's most devoted students. Yet there
it is
which
and form of his pictures
for the matter
perhaps to the perceptible emotional tenor in
cular
contained.
is
enigmatic, half-concealed contradiction
meer's apparent directness; their complexity
is
and neutra-
reflect the conflict to
but the essential factors in the formation of his
tion. It
century, to
last
study of the painter's development has to deal. Vermeer depends
peculiarly closely
Dresden
of the
in his nature to deal so directly
deepest revelation
with
attraction
Vermeer did not command the
case.
of Vermeer's thought
characteristics
attitude to
its
style
Such contra-
in the appearance of diffidence
It is
assumes that
his style
reconciled.
at last
was not
it
which the
feeling in
amoifg the
to seek a parallel
risk a simplification
which he contained
fact the vessel in
the preoccupations
which
work. His circuitous course
style
it
half uncovers are the
is
path of penetration
towards the inscrutable yet revealing conclusion.
The detachment to which he clings as if in self-preservation, the tiny body

of his work and the closed, hermetic perfection of the systems it presents are so
many signs that the painter is facing an issue of some personal difficulty. His
path
is
hedged about;
often retraces his steps.
his
development
is
complex.
He
But however reminiscent and
often looks backward,
repetitive the forms there
is
an unfolding logic in them; the problem remains constant.
motion of withdrawal which complicates
Round
throughout.
we
at last
he builds
it
gain a kind of
The remarkable
we know
is
manner
deceptive yet lucid
until
basis in his deepest feelings.
thing about the four immature pictures by Vermeer that
that they are in every
works from which they
way
on which they
so
much more
derive. Their clarity
colour already reflect their painter; in

motifs
persists
DEVELOPMENT: THE EARLY WORKS
HIS
13
approach to the world
his
his elaborate,
knowledge of its
The simultaneous
all
and objectivity and
other respects their
are based, are discrepant
their positive
styles,
like the
and even inconsistent with one
De Hooch and Maes
another. But the subjects of
considerable than the
in Tlie Procuress
and
Girl
Asleep are pursued with the aid of an eclectic variety of devices to a point of
perfection as far outside those painters' range as the size of the pictures exceeds
their
customary practice. In
reason to think that the view of
makes,
in the
course of a year or
it
these pictures give
two and with
series
of separate monumental essays
time.
It is
his
phase of Vermeer's activity we have no
this first
all
in the four
in
of the aims to which he
of
circumscribed
(as
itself
well
is
as less
that
very different.
We
all
overwhelming resources
sets his
of a
who
visited
in fields
dependent on the discernment of
It is
beyond the
very
much
The
less
posterity) than
Vermeer was ap-
have here a part of the background to the inescapable atmos-
him, and Arnold Bon,
traveller called
pictures.
in the early
the equipment to realize ambition, yet his course was
failure at the
who
end of
Vermeer could
likely that the
not, or perhaps
narrowing of aim
be explained entirely in terms of his
own
[29
his life.
De Mon-
celebrated his fame in a chronicle
of the town, agree on the esteem in which he was held
French
of all
an aesthetic significance.
man of ambition
phere of disappointment of the years of

conys,
his
and accomplishment. The
those of the rarefied triumphs that he was in fact to gain.

parently gifted with
typical
each of them of an unchallengeable technical
his associates has a personal as well as
impression that forms
commands,
more
is
pictures conveys quite clearly that this aspiration to a position

rivalry
one he
dominant conventions of
standard, a quite exceptional consistency of style

disparity
a true
the resources he
evidence of a powerful purpose; nothing indeed
works than the achievement
not
is
in
in Delft.
would
But when the
not,
produce any
Vermeer's mature work must
temperament.
If
one thing emerges
from the development
it
is
conventional ambitions which
his early
ot the course that he
was
He
is
with which
De Hooch. Metsu and
turned to
towards the end ot the decade.
it
De Hooch and
closest to
and the drinking scenes

both ot
The
that
at
his stature
and
descriptive
method
empirical.
He
leaves
enough
is
subject in the early
as a
Mieris were
all
occupied
The works
in
cally objective.
ot the genre painting
no doubt
Vermeer's procedure
at
only but
his taste
his standard
is
the facile inventiveness ot incident
But
The
comprehensible
convention
by contrast
inflexibly
is
almost dogmati-
of genuineness that
of which they remain unaware.
It
which was the
as
him
so
involves a
appears that of the
which was the
circle, just as
it
forbade
common endowment
the reflection of a naturally
him
of the
more profound
works ot great painters show more than one
early
is
from the studio of Rembrandt. Ver-
meer's temper rejected the fluent, hybrid idiom of his
intelligence.
is
any point about the closeness of his transcrip-
lesson that Carel Fabritius extracted
is
when Vermeer
of the times serves
painters ot Delft only he understood the visual authenticity
school. All this
and
which Vermeer
evidently higher than that ot his contemporaries. Painting for

quality of conviction
fifties
his peculiarity.
not
It is
of the
Berlin and Brunswick, already convey a great deal
within the exquisitely calculated scheme his method
tion:
to indicate
Metsu, the conversation pieces in the Frick collection
essentially picturesque.
is
comparison
entirely within the boundaries
which Ter Borch had popularized
mesticity
suggest. Indeed a
with the prosperous and leisurelv do-
in particular
deals
works
to tollow.
Vermeer's subsequent development

genre school.
nature provided an obstacle to the
and freedom ot Maes
ot the Girl Asleep with the fluency
much
own
that his
parallel.
consideration ot the pictures suggests that the exacting quality of Ver-
meer's self-criticism had another side.
The
figures in the Berlin picture
unmoving. The scene
we
as
look
at
have
it
tomb. The arrangement of the figures

shred of
lite
remains to them.
living matter until they almost
the head of her cavalier

tion ot particulars.
But
tor
The
some reason
it is
is
mummified
takes
is
on
in the current
The immobile
submerge
it.
essence of the picture
not applicable to
[3o]
shrouded and
manner, but hardly
furnishings encroach
The
precariously balanced
quality,
the character of an exquisite
girl's
face itself
is
upon
the
obscured:
on top of a heaped accumulais
human
the transcription of
detail: the
still-life.
curious and signi-
ficant fact
method,
which
is
that the extension
easy-going manner of Metsu
in the
London of a
uncover
these pictures
rather similar
group
the
fluency,
The
understanding, though of a finer kind,
in his painting in
it
also narrower.
is
whole
Berlin picture lacks the
of the Metsu.
inventiveness
ingratiating
see
The Duet), to the rendering of
called
domestic episode was outside Vermeer's range.

sociable
we
(as
of the painter's
The
Vermeer's
genial breadth of
Metsu's grasp of feature and furnishing alike in one equable and unexacting
rhythm makes
When
subject.
the clearer the dislocation to
all
the hiatus
method were
still-life
is
recognized
symptom
Dealing with
his attitude
life
is
seems
of surface ob-
human
as
well
as a
decorative significance.
generous, relaxed; his gentle picturesque rhythm
Throughout
his life this
beyond Vermeer's power. Technically he neither
attained nor
a caress.
And
attempted Metsu's magnificent conceptual grasp of fully-fleshed heads. 14
one of the mature pictures known
in only
vernacular realism
common
influence, as well as
reflected the
common
Metsu
delicately as
he does the picturesque convention.
dealing with
formation of
tinction
part
is
that,
it,
issues,
his style.
The
is
its
as a basis
stops short of humanity.
which emerges
counterpart,
lack itself
is
in dealing
attaches to
The
side
world,
lack of
with the
one. Vermeer's dis-
style.
The
temperament
is
this
instinctive
the sign of
lack of facility corresponds to a depth of feeling; his diffidence
The
virtue in an artist
not only qualify but disable. In
cosm,
by
his
the fundamental factor
of the expressive content of his
with the aspect of humanity

it.
is
side
common
seriousness of his assent to the requirements of his
The
it
purged of any other content.
Vermeer
human
analyses
with the passivity characteristic of his thought, he accepted
of his nature
his genius.
He
which he endows the inhabitants of
elemental clarity of vision which

in the
their
work, with which the genre school
in his earlier
the stature with
indeed perhaps because of

facility in
De Hooch under
example of Rembrandt. Vermeer approaches the flavour of
life as
all
he come near to the robust
to us does
and Maes, and
to Fabntius
into visual elements, statements of light
For
is
the very efficiency of his
some deep impediment. The confident
has a quality of sympathy, the quality of

gesture remains
as if
in itself, as if the quality
servation sought to compensate for
explanatory fluency of Metsu has
it
which Vermeer's approach
a situation in
this
is
is
the measure of the
meaning which he
often like a bare nerve; sensitiveness
may
Vermeer's development reveals, in micro-
which more than one

[3i]
later painter has
found himself.
In
The
whose
Procuress,
consistency, like that of the picture at Edinburgh,
the consistency of an earlier generation, these problems are

It
was the
naturalistic trend
still
unformulated.
which the genre idiom took under the influence of
Ter Borch that presented Vermeer with the crucial
issue
round which
formed. Vermeer's development must be considered in relation to

mediate
There
circle.
are
is
his style
his
im-
indeed indications that the sources even of the
apparently exotic elements in the early pictures were equally available to his
associates. But, quite apart
the
humane and
from the
results
of
his
temperamental antipathy to
descriptive tendencies of the school, there
Vermeer's place in
his age.
epoch, and he was
among
He
its
belonged to the third generation of the great

youngest members, almost the
figure that the school of Holland produced.

a little late, recruits in the
a significance in
is
hour of
The
victory,
effect
upon
upon
last
remarkable
painters of arriving
scene dominated by the
achievements of their predecessors would make an interesting study. In another

century
a
few
it
stimulated Seurat to a doggedly unremitting application: Elisor, after
brilliant years,
of both reactions.
broke.
it
We
in his
we must
understand both the hesita-
which deeply mark
the beginning of his career.
in this context that
It is
tion and the force of ambition
And
can trace paradoxically in Vermeer something
subsequent development from the acquiescence to the naturalistic
genre convention in such pictures
as
the Soldier and Laughing Girl to the
whole
evasive nature of his ultimate accomplishment, as well as in everything
know
of his
later life,
we
can trace the other half of the story,
of the attempt to compete.
men
The
He
double edge of beauty and threat which
resisted his attempt to
swallow
it.
His companions
by
his
could not imitate
his
eye discovered
moved on with unblunted
appetite towards the surfeit and decay of the popular style.

disqualified
abandonment
evolution of genre painting was in the hands of
of a tougher kind and Vermeer did not follow them.
their voracity; the
his
we
Vermeer was
alone,
nature and reserved for other things.
The structure of his style has been obscured by the habit once common
among writers on the masters of discharging them out of hand from any suspicion of debt. Vermeer rendered no subject that was not in the commonest
currency. This in itself is remarkable in an
genre school of which nothing
which were
common
treasure with
which
is
more
artist
of his rank, singular even in the
typical than the
number of themes
ownership, passed from hand to hand
to defy the infinite fluency
like a patriotic
of the painters of Flanders and
human
the international catholic style. In his rendering of
on
relied
his sources
with
which has few
a closeness
Vermeer
incident
He was
parallels.
quite
without the prosaic inventiveness which was the chief equipment of

associates.
The work of De Hooch and Metsu abounds
in
more
or
less original
arrangements of figures to demonstrate the easy freedom with which, on

very exacting level, they dealt with the matter of
on the
foreign to Vermeer; he never embarks
we
genre motifs which
work which
in his
recognize
how
And
from reducing
so far
characteristic this
paradoxical quality of
ot
is
Consideration of the sources of so pure

to pursue
them
some
in
detail, has
new
to regard each debt as a

is
of
more
tion,
The
streams.
The
even
The
an
it
were
easy to
is
his
and
air
it
handling of life.
will later
be necessary
of incongruity;
we
are apt
7
meeting
as
we
we know them
more
intimate pictorial
thought accumulates
affect his integrity
sources of the
see
in
seems to take on not only an aesthetic
him
our
clearly in the earliest
works, one of
who
themselves to
own
world from every possible source.
face the
his figure motifs
his strength to stand so often at a
his essentially original
Vermeer remains,
those painters
artists,
it is
Procuress as well as the Studio,
which
less.
of
currents reinforce one another until the final composi-
but an historical inevitability

devices
would be hard
limitation. In Vermeer's case at least the contrary
true. Iconographically
many
less
utterly
inevitably enforced by that
a painter,
none the
not
not based on precedent;
is
which impeded
the barrier
his,
It
his distinctiveness
how
it,
was
and supple evolution of
fertile
inquiry multiplies the evidence that the majority

directly derivative.
facility
can watch in the drawings of Maes.
theme of any boldness
to find a
This
life.
his
the constitutional
as against
without compromising their
own
time
It
is
fortify
remarkable
how much
such
the intellectual eclectics, are able to adopt
concerns, and Vermeer
is
the quintessence of
the type.
Such incidents
as
Laughing Girl intrude
work
to
as
we
him but
later
a little
come
to
development,
it is
when
know
it
De Hooch which
appears in the Soldier and
incongruously upon the consistency of Vermeer's
inconsistent with
very personal one;
Dresden,
the motif from
it.
The
borrowings are not only foreign
one another. Vermeer's
emerges, in
Lady Reading
early
at
the
work of
own
vein of genre
is
cardinal importance in his
Window which belongs
to the gallery at
immediately recognizable.
The commonplace
descriptive intention of his school vanishes.
[33]
The
ac-
cumulation ot household
with
up
And
goes the humanity of genre, the unity ot particular people pursuing
it
their lively
The
genre painters has disintegrated.
detail dear to
girl
ways
in characteristic places. All this has disappeared, distilled away.
herself is so stationed that
panes ot
between
is
Her occupation
glass.
wrapped
see only her narrowest aspect, so
only indication ot outwardness and roundness that reaches
in herseli that the
us across the barriers
we
by way of a meagre, blanched

is
no more than
token; even
reflection in the
undue engross-
ment nnght unsheath some inner power, some native personality. She
disinterested.
life
of
a painter's
work
in the
The only
ot
model.
We
perceptible,
lite
the simple, timeless
is
from convention.
how
far
presents to us the painter's essential
It
theme: the composition recurs significantly throughout

handling ot the genre problem, the description ot current
a
is
hardly need to recall the forms such subjects take
Ter Borch and the school of Rembrandt to perceive
picture stands
this
act, the only
Vermeer's
his career.
life, is
an evasion of it,
more elementary and elemental than we could have imagined
solution
possible.
The
space, inescapably defined,
in the Letter Reader
which
and the curtain and
point the meaning of the arrangement
and toreshadow
Girl Asleep
its
twenty-six interiors that
we
table
which squarely bar our way both
as it
evolves in The Procuress and the
development
the genre subject matter takes
on
have
is
in later works. In Vermeer's hands
curious structure. In only three of the
the space
uninterrupted. In five ot the others passage
more
eight
the heavy objects interposed
and
this
preference
his
from the human matter
divides us
between painter and

is
considerably encumbered, in
amount
to
something
the remaining ten they are veritable fortifications.
dilemma
The
is
tells
sitter at all
It is
like a barrier
hard to think that
us nothing about the painter's nature. In
it
the
whole of
conveyed.
Letter Reader,
folding ot Vermeer's
however, marks the emergence of more than the

style.
It is
no accident
that in
it,
alongside his peculiarly
evasive handling ot subject, there appears another and perhaps even

elusive invention, the inverted use
part ot his later style.
curtain
The
of troupe
I'ceil
scaf-
which becomes
more
so essential a
obviously deceptive motif in the Dresden picture, the
which challenges the spectator
to believe that
it is
as real as himself,
is
only the beginning of the picture's complex play with credibility. Even the
final
wall
which encloses the composition

[34]
retains a certain flavour
of subtle
deception from the
fact that
it is
plane of the picture.
parallel to the
It is
easy to
may have
been suggested by the architectural painters of Delft, or by some work of the
Leiden circle or the school of Rembrandt. Several influences may have condiscover origins for such devices in trompe
tributed to the choice of

a peculiar affinity
it,
I'oeil
practice; the curtain
although Vermeer's figure,
as a pillar,
still
with Gerrit Houckgeest. The innovation of the
the beauty of the deception,
precisely that she offers us
is
no flower through the casement,
casts
no shadow
no
glass
suggests
Letter Reader,
of wine, plucks
across the frame of her niche.
She makes no appeal; she claims no place in the tangible world. The whole purpose
is
to exclude her
to confine
from
it,
from the world of touch,
her within the envelope of space.
We
magnetic attraction,
gather from her and the
immutable terms of her confinement an impression of the forces

stay the painter,
and discover
a tension
All these resources, the evasiveness
of feeling that
is
that
move
yet
in essence poetic.
and the ingenuity, were directed
one
to
end, to absorb and compensate for the peculiar difficulties
which
naturalistic
temperament. The
Letter
Reader was
figure painting presented to Vermeer's
no more than the beginning of the process which developed

after
The Music Lesson into an optical demolition of naturalism
Dresden picture the
difficulty
proach to figure painting,
measured, fortified
of something
field
of
The
like fear.
es the Letter Reader, the
already clear.
is
meaning
to recognize.
It is a
we owe
is
a vital
which he approach-
measure of the
to
seem the more
measure of value,
it is
it
comes
reached.
To
this
search for a
the characteristic beauties
The colour
encloses
life,
we
distributing
an orderly coolness that nothing will disturb.
certainty of spatial interval, without equal in the
enforced by
his attitude
are ac-
continual aspiration to purity that governs the
It is this
lovely positiveness of his colour.

tonality
an element in
the
prototype of his typical theme, reveals the enigmatic
impersonal solution
customed
In the
delicacy of Vermeer's ap-
caution, the tentativeness with
that she holds for him. In later pictures
definite,
itself.
upon humanity down
his perspective, suggests
profound for the circuitous course by which
its
The
cautious advance
his
significance that he attaches to her.
pact;
in the pictures
whole of
its
The
pictorial
imutter
art,
is
concern with immediacy and distance. Only the most certain
spatial logic will serve,
and from
vision of equable relationship.
it
colour
The
distils, in
space in
succeeding pictures, an ideal
which Vermeer's
figures are dis-
posed, so singular by comparison with other painters' versions of his themes,
[35
is
magnetic
like a
The
up.
field. It
formed exactly by the tensions which the
is
design precisely contains them.
power which though
so veiled hangs
breadth which frames her; the space
is
The humanity of the
heavy
This quality of feeling
is
lite
his circle.
the painting of figures and the space around

profundity. His
pressure
is
way was
which such
issues exercised
a particular interest in
sense in
forties,
different; happily
the links
which Rembrandt's use
more
is
only in such
it is
no kind of sign of such
is
One
other
them
artist
did discover in
implications of an equal
on the development of Vermeer. But there
between Rembrandt and Vermeer. This
ot the genre
its
he was undeterred by the perverse
framework,
in his interiors
is
of the
work than any of the Haarlem
truly the precursor ot Vermeer's
and Leiden pictures from which
and
ean be half uncovered.
Vermeer's alone. There
depth anywhere in the productions ot
Letter Reader, the
in the air, dictates the height
her arena. For Vermeer
unbreakable designs that the substance ot
figures set
We may
style derives.
even doubt whether
the antithesis in every respect, in trame ot mind, in manner, in productivity,
between the two masters

waves
ot
work
as
is
entirely an accident.
humane warmth, of
it
character
fertility
and understanding, which Rembrandt's
which was
entirely his
the world ot ditterence
common
possessions ot the school
Vermeer turned
emotional ramifications of the
common
their appreciation ot the
left
Rembrandt's studio four years or so
before Vermeer painted the Girl Asleep, was evidently
of the commonplace,
manner
significant,
is
Maes was an inadequate

there
is
one,
is
to a
painters of Delft only
his virtue lies in
vessel for the greatness
Vermeer's
to
of
which
fills
its
him. Maes
In his style matter
his master.
open aspect was
the space, high and wide,
profited.
But
The atfinity, if
too, among the
Vermeer appreciated the example of Carel
in the self-portrait at
within
it.
student. In this respect
alone could have understood, foreign though
head
known
and from the matter Vermeer
more profound
the emotional radiance
them. For
art.
The work of Nicolaes Maes, who
rather than
to
were not
between Rembrandt and Vermeer's inverted and
sophisticated expression the painters have in
a painter
own. The daylight and the rectangular do-
inspired again with feeling of such depth until
was
resisted the
unfolded diffused through the school: only Vermeer retained
mestic architecture which were the
all
Only Vermeer
Fabritius.
He
to his thought,
round the
artist's
Rotterdam. Such comprehensive statements were not
range.
He was bound by
[36]
the
contradictions
ot
his
temperament. The emotional weights

presented
wonder
painters have reconciled such a conis
something
to
at.
The
surface of Vermeer's pictures remains clear
cident interrupts the deliberation;
nowhere
meer's perfection
Italianate styles
Certainly the climate of taste

the painting of
handling
Dou.
15
is
no
them,
16
have nothing
of
to suggesting his use
paint.
possible
was much influenced by
sign
of such
refinement
does the school of Delft approach
although occasionally in
recalls
Neither the
it
which made
But there
Nor
of Leiden.
painters,
technical aspect of Ver-
nor the school of Rembrandt, whatever other bearing they have
on Vermeer's development, ever come near
fijnschilders
The
ac-
any momentary or
is
in the historical context, a little surprising.
is,
No
and untroubled.
work
in his
impulsive stroke admitted to the perfect fabric.
life
themselves
his style in
predicament any productivity, however slender,
in his
flict;
of
in the balance
Few
a threat to the equilibrium.
more generous
its
essentially like
it
to
among
Even
it.
the
the
still-
phases Vermeer's
show.
It is
Vermeer's
armour of his own invention.
alone, an impeccable
THE MATURE STYLE

Vermeer's approach to
which alone
it
his
problem
a retreat to
is
the elemental level
can be completely solved. Faced with the
commonplace
of invention with which the school abounds, he paints the
Letter
facility
Reader.
Presented with the hybrid naturalistic idiom of convention, he seeks, a

the ultimate element, the bare optical statement.
later,
simplifications,
two
human
of the
dilemma
is
sistencies
of the drinking scenes
the
it
the issue, banish
it
its
ness
is
solution
The
it
is
prominence
a
which
And
consistent vision, a
is
in
enough
The
difficulty
incon-
pressing as ever.
based; the purpose
which
new
as
is
in the
is
to defer
of describing
life is
The device
of mind. The surprise,
paradoxical.
is
ease
familiarizes us,
is
that his very evasive-
one passage of The Music Lesson he propounds the
to transform the condition
crucial point in
now
is
to a degree
one with which Vermeer
poetic.
visible
Berlin and Brunswick,
to the uttermost point.
permits the painter
although
at
structure of the picture
met by reducing
are reductions,
and The Concert the nature of Vermeer's
openly conveyed. The problem,
whole
little
terms in which the painter must operate. In the
pictures called The Music Lesson
Upon
Both
on
The Music
of his
Lesson, the
[37]
art.
human
detail,
is
dismissed to the
farthest limit
eludes us.
it
of the perspective, and
The head of
when
at
we
approach
his
whole cloudy
length
the cavalier, and with
it
dwindles beside the sharpness of the furniture round him.
The
it
we
find that
structure,
lady abandons
her identity to the pattern of rectangles against which she stands. Everything in
fact
is
more
humanity;
visible than
of geometric intersections,
we
are
left*
to contemplate an accumulation
tower of ebony edges and,
signifying detail of
that
life
The Music Lesson and
Vermeer
pendant
its
resists.
He
recall the great
thought, the View of Delft. In the landscapes the
whole material poetry,
penetration to develop.
We
Vermeer's dilemma. Yet
it
it
how much
that
he pursued to the end.
frame of geometry. The
measured and secured exactly upon the
and
lid
In this refined solution the inconsistencies of the
virginals.
Berlin drinking scene achieve a systematic balance, but
complete balance of forces in
rehearsal for the
to the distance;
it
excluded by the terms of
is
was the human problem
is
the
is
poetry of brick and vapour, of resistance and
see in
problematic aspect of the lady
keyboard of the
relegates
It
monument of this phase of his

very absence of human tension
The Music Lesson he seeks definition in
In
mountain-
and the gleaming shape of the magnified jug.
ous, carpeted table
allows a
in front, the
later
is
it
no more than
works. There
is
little
to
prepare us for the passage of the mirror; here, in the square reflection, the accent
is
suddenly decisive.
of
light
conveys neither
line
nor form but instead
map
whole
tradition
of thought, are entirely suppressed. Instead
we
have
pure form the manner of painting which Vermeer followed throughout the
latter half
matter, a
The
of
his
work, applied for the
first
time, and to the crux of his subject
woman's head.
solution
resistance, the
shrined in
is
pursued in Vermeer's
later pictures
and
it is
temperamental contradiction, does not weaken.
style,
incorporated with
its
emotional
basis in
not relax the peculiar tension which
we
complete.
It is
own
its
of affirmation. The mirror's image in The Music Lesson, which
it
a flattened
and shadow. Within the optical boundaries incident, description, and
with them
in a
It
is
The
rather en-
oblique kind
a foretaste,
sense in the rest of the picture.
does
But
in
the technical evasions are reconciled in the emotional ambiguity of simple
optical statement.
In the mirror the
mood
of intentness, the half-restrained
response to the cavalier's attention, which hangs unexpressed like a cloud over
the rest of the picture,
we
can
notice
that
becomes
if
the
explicit.
back
Comparing
of her
[38]
head,
the
girl
with her reflection
directly
seen,
is
more
more
conventionally perceived,
reflected face,
its
detail dissolved,
kind of completeness.
painter's
face
is
temperament. For the
however oblique,
The change
much
The
else that
is
for the
a
humanity suspended
its
reflected not only in the mirror but also in the
first
we
time
have the sense that he has
fundamental one and by the side of this
of Vermeer appears in
Lesson and The Concert. Indirectness, a
temperament presents
action of the pictures.
deeper
in light, has a
a use,
whole of human appearance.
characteristic
is
perhaps more touching, her
recognizable,
human
to
The
new
his
innovation
essential
work
The Music
in
appreciation of the barriers that
contact, infuses not only the style but the
conviviality, the obtrusive attentions, the picturesque
male interruptions of the scene, elements of genre inconography which intrude

constantly and incongruously
into
Exchange of glance, expressive
the
early
work,
gesture, except in
are
one
hardly seen again.
characteristic piece
reminiscence and recapitulation, entirely disappear. Only the

interaction of presences
the ladies are alone.
is
It is
silent,
of
brooding
Most
often
with the aid of the successors of the Dresden
Letter
allowed to burden the
stillness
of the
air.
Reader that the painter investigates the furthest ramifications of his relations
with humanity.
Vermeer's
later
work
is
not only consistent but confident. As
evolves, the key of tone unlocks for
He
is
him
equipped to embark on the development of
his
own
method
themes; from The
Music Lesson onward the pictures conceal under their simplicity

is
his
whole world of visual impression.
meaning
that
both deep and elaborate. The reliance upon precedent and derivative matter
never relaxes, but
does not intrude on the unique consistency of
it
Vermeer's invention
is
rarely of
any boldness; the inhabitants of
evolve from picture to picture almost imperceptibly.
dominant types
When
their
are finally assembled in the last genre scene, the
his
style.
world
two pre-
Dublin Lady
Writing a Letter with her Maid, they are as familiar to us as to their painter. Their
natures and their circumscribed orbits are completely understood. Vermeer's
hand never moves

self-criticism
endowed.
perilous.
On
freely;
he never gives the impression of that security against
with which the

his
own
least
well equipped of his school were so amply
superb level his technical balance remains delicate, even
But the change was deep none the
less.
The
access of confidence in the
works which followed the Buckingham Palace picture,
detachment very
different
serene and final
from the frame of mind which preceded

[39
it,
is
per-
some
haps the clearest of the indications that his thought was fortified by
become acquainted with
external support. Perhaps he had
process
of
is
development took
We
passage
The
consequence.
little
and emotional, which
turn, technical
do not know the precise history of the change.

The Music Lesson represents the single
in
his
enough.
clear
is
optical devices; the
It
is
unlikely that the
turning point.
historical
Vermeer's development proceeds through the realization of resources which

are within his grasp, rather than
his career his habit
first; it
seems
by any dramatic
of thought retains
tendency which marked
however much more modestly, he
that,
in several directions
and on several
clear evolution than
of a varied group of half
levels at once.
scene
as a
is
one of the
whole, for
solution,
and
earliest
discrepancies, brings the
all its
and from which there
One work
of
pictures,
doubt-
to turn
use of his
new
ing of the early
artifice
its
technical character
among Vermeer's
of his time, to revert,
facility
was
fifties,
and rehearse
had ever known, and
to return to the source
it
its
When we
how
as
her own.
It
compass
can hardly
belongs rather
impulse was
his
were, to normality. His
of
his style, the
characteristic subject.
it is
genre paint-
He was
De Hooch nor even
he was
are stated
is
Dou
now
at
able to give
Fabritius
act
is
him-
a deliberation quite foreign
reached are characteristic of
and Maes but even
to a picture as close to
variance with convention.
The
And
it is
clear
in the difference
bare notation of tone with which her head
unexplained and unsupported by any of the descriptive
which draws the eye
Her
first
turn to the works of his contemporaries, not only to
the value of the Maidservant.
ear fluency
we
Metsu's Sick Child which often hangs in the same gallery,
essentially
and arms
his
was accomplished with
the corresponding subjects of
Vermeer
early works.
as it
them. The triumph and the course by which
Vermeer's way.
to
pearl pictures to the final works.
an impersonal definition that not Maes or
self
group which
problem of representation near
As the matter of life came within
from the
last, a
only one outcome, the homogeneous
is
on account of
Maidservant Pouring Milk
to his maturity.
lies
of a
less
middle phase remains to be considered, and that perhaps
this
masterpiece. If only
place
to
have indications
dozen or more
from the
pursues his purpose
Brunswick among the
that at
development which led through the
it
We
still
it
painted in the course of three or four years, of which the Berlin drinking
less
its
middle phase of
stroke. In this
to
Metsu;
it
creates for her a distant
simple, customary, unrevealing.
[40]
Her only
life is
lin-
world of
that
which
she shares with the matter about her, to receive the light with a passiveness
remote from time and personality.
The
Maidservant
approach to
never repeated:
is
and
a positive
of the humane painters
it
would seem
which follow the middle phase
woman
figure of a
view of human
substantial
something
positiveness excludes
stationed
essential
a table
spect,
is
Vermeer's single
is
By
activity.
and personal
the standards
Vermeer. The works
to
whose sharp corners

same
very
its
on the same theme, the standing
are refinements
by
It
most considerable work. Yet
his
her, a figure standing motionless in the
pearl pictures unfold,
stands alone.
it
daylight.
separates us
from
But the view which the
though the development appears inevitable
in retro-
almost the antithesis of the earlier work. Vermeer's evasiveness and his
resistance
embodied
now
response
even crippling
idiosyncratic,
carded, are
human
direct
to
of
traits
his
The
reveal their intimate value.
temperament,
in the expressive matter
of his
The
art.
from being
far
dis-
concentration and
the constraint of the middle phase are relaxed; reality and physical substance
have
exacted
the
painter's
generous, and their claims give way. There
world
that
field in
of
feeling; his
will
be deployed, in
all
purposes are to be reconciled
naturalistic style
and
Letter Reader, are far
is
are to
at last.
become
The
behind, and with them the clotted pigment in which they

as
it
now
develops towards
the world of the mirror in The Music Lesson.
element, in terms of
light.
The
daylight
is
immaculate
its
It is a
world
itself,
the same;
it is
real physical
world, redeeming incidents that take no account of
them. Even the
slight hint
the lucent
it.
Now
and the
possibility
sole active principle that remains within the confines
new
significance.
The
it
of natural substance that was given, of the
of
[4i]
light
of the picture. The
inhabitants of the
still
lively natural contact.
That vestige has gone; incident and material have evaporated and
has a
is
in terms of
gathered into her bodice, for instance, in The Music Lesson,
carried an implication of activity
itself
that
sky which in earlier works has decorated beautifully the
a veiled
lady's sleeve
progeny
the forms of his
whiteness of
outlasts
the
forms of the Dresden
autonomous and independent, not described but describing
own
It is
the
unyielding forms of the
their characteristic surfaces, the
were rendered. Vermeer's world
its
less real,
their immaterial gravity, the pure
Here the forms of visual impression
completion
uncovered, not
Vermeer's own, growing out of light before our eyes.
is
which
his eye.
is
ambiguous and
both
characteristically
tribute,
room
turn to
it
is
the
window
as to
the
source of their being:
its
light recreates
casement and grasps
it,
whose
through the
glass,
More and more

She
creature.
humanity
is
is
is
translated.
them.
we
finger-tips
She
The
see as
parison to any naturalistic picture,
symbol:
is
as
to the
round pools of radiance
moment
is
we
of rebirth.
presented to us
a living presence,
Tone,
as in a visible allegory.
hand
puts her
steadies herself in the
being of authentic existence,
evoked
who
each succeeding picture there
fully in
a
girl
but one whose
see if we turn for
this lady
new
com-
rendered in the
is
intangible terms of visual impression. Yet they are intimately and properly
The impersonal record of light
her own.
is
her emblem; through
it
she and the
painter find liberation.
Each flowering of Vermeer's

gressive
style
narrowing of aim. The process
We
development.
also a sophistication; there
is
can follow the change
his subjects, his passages
never clearer than
is
as it
is
at this
is
a pro-
crux in
his
reflected in the accessories of
of still-life. Earlier the pictures have been furnished with
domed shapes of loaves in round baskets or with spherical fruit

dishes. The spherical white jug has been offered up to the light on
the ample
in
shallow
its
round
platter: the
shining ring of a wine glass has been cradled in careful hands.
All are images of satisfaction, of natural

possession.
They
of a completeness which
are images
where the matter
is
volume
human, have not been within
that
at
is
in
full,
appropriate
the centre of his subject,
the painter's range.
Then
the
we watch
and reflection. And the
horizon contracts and the worldly substance dissolves: in one picture
ewer
as a
in
its
basin loses
its
corresponding image in the

pictures that follow there
feminine filaments,
stands beside.
The
We
visible shape
a string
shape in
latter
lies
of
pattern of lustre
phase
is
quite another.
On
the tables in the
an open box and drawn from

pearls.
recognize them
as
They
it,
among
are the property of the lady
the
who
part of her, an extension of female nature.
condenses the breath of an abstracted
life,
pervading every-
where.
At the turn of Vermeer's development
it is
for a
moment
in
doubt whether
space or light, in themselves, will not emerge as the chief of his motifs. But in
the pearl pictures and their successors his subject
once again
clear.
From
we approach him we find the same paradox: it is at the moment

human detachment from the last trace of tangible substance that he is
whichever
of barely
is
side
able to turn freely to a
medium through which
theme whose humanity

they
is
its
essence. In the refined
show themselves human

[42]
beings
now
shed
all
The uncomfortable
disquiet.
the
it
takes
simile
is
which was exchanged with
Defined
dissolved.
in light, assimilated,
on the form of the Mauritshuis Head, the form

that
is
nothing
Brunswick
the picture at
girl in
directness of the glance
is
which Vermeer
lost.
The
process
offers us:
is
is
itself
it is
which the only
Nothing
like a pearl.
one of incorporation;
suspension, form
visible essences, in
it
for
stylized,
is
Seen
a reconciliation.
as
and living presence are encompassed
at last.
In these pictures Vermeer's detachment reveals itself as a quality of love.
When
his
two purposes,
tion they are
found
to
to capture the
And
be one.
we
we may need
The
always, a possessing.
valuation of
To understand
himself.
difference, in this sense, the variety,
Vermeer put the violent
strous aggression as
modest exercise of naturalism
itself
him with
evidently
and damaging, not only to the painter but,

to the physical world, involving a loss
which
being, perhaps
as
in each painter's
is
of the baroque,
came
to
its
be
mon-
work. But even the
his earliest
at least as
of
tradition
what most genuinely enriches
acquisitive flourish
seems, behind
it
as
grave and wonderful
this
can conceive of Western painting
constitutes real property, of
what
achieve resolu-
it,
whole aspect of European
to recall a
We
have overlooked.
to escape
the latter element, the paradox, emerges
the fertile essence of his thought.
maturing
world and
contaminating
felt as
profoundly, to his subject,
very virtue,
its
separateness.
Painter and subject both require to be free of the irksome material attachment.
And
both find
separate at last
feminine subject
existence.
is
is
to
him
it
comes about
mestic and feminine
life.
of the
Looking back again

Vermeer's own,
of the
we
beneath
it is
it is
The
immemorial
he.
And
marriage of light.
The
representation, the construing ever
see
Vermeer building the
moulds her mask of light,
essential
is
ideal shape
of do-
more
closely
also
an independent,
forms of female being, in their permanence.

appearance of so
much
first
find
beginnings in The Music Lesson. As
its
The
necessary halves of a
we
as it
life.
and perfectly other than
to that
naturalistic
virginals, like that
essentially
part in her
that
of the aspect of the beloved

intact construction
no
painter has
the most complete enrichment.
world have come together:
lifting
The
intact, entire.
She remains outside him,
being so she
Thus
their natural condition, their fullest
burden the outer
of the Maidservant,
is
skirt
that
is
most deeply
if in visible
who stands at the

common fashion, and
of the lady
drawn up
in the
seen another. This lower skirt hangs in regular, vertical folds;
[43]
it is
fluted
and independent
uncovered.
is
the unveiling of an impersonal core, the emergence of a principle
is
been
has
momentarily shows
capital
Nothing intimate
the curled volutes of the head-dress.
itself in
This
column, one whose
as a
held in reserve, since the Dresden Letter Reader.
latent,
covery in female physique of the rhythmleSs quality of
development
meaning
until
We may
implicit here.
is
foresee
appears entire, standing free in
it
It is
the dis-
monument.
which
All
its
accumulation of
its
growth,
its
final shape, the
its
shape of the
servant in the Dublin Letter Writer and the Lady Standing at the Virginals.
This
the particular
is
The shape
cleft
last,
vertical.
is
shadow of
utterly
we come
The
know
combines with
it.
rounded shoulders which
woman
the
its
More
we
realize that
see at
And
besides this upright shape, this
pillar,
rooted, as
It is
essentially
a table. It has a
noticed
as
the shape of the raised
we remember
With
we meet
these
with
two forms,
a third.
Among
the shape of
feminine quality of self-possession:
which
the shape
It is
woman
as
it
some of the incongruity of the conversation
the Lady Weighing Gold and the
draped body of a
and equally
antithesis that nevertheless easily
crude formulations of attentiveness, was that there
first
the egregious cavaliers.
it
Letter
Reader
pieces,
was applied
identifies itself, in
Amsterdam blue
to
The Concert,
at least, as
the
in the
air,
child.
the dual
embodiment of an
the furniture
carpet that reaches to the floor; there

its
we
it,
often the stooping shape of preoccupation, of a
is
bent attentively over
in retrospect
and immaculate, out of the
rooted in
it is
the shape of a bell.
The Music Lesson.
skirt in
furniture;
to the floor.
another,
It is
pearl pictures, a gentle stillness of stature.
figure appears, tender
cumbrous
the
unmoving,
to
theme of the
a table,
is
is
its
essence that
is
great bulk covered with a
no overlooking
it.
We
might compare
shape with the time-resisting base of an obelisk, or with a tented pavilion,
presenting to us
stable; in
one
its
last
shaded, patterned face.
it is
It is
also the
hollowness: deadness
is
its
Outwardly
first
virtue,
it
has
as
no
life, this
It
form becomes
As
we know
it
becomes an impersonal extension of
best
But
in
its
finds a kinship with

her, her mediator,
reconciling her special forms with the squareness of the frame.
[44]
it
closed and weighty
neutral fortification.
and variations from The Music Lesson onwards
the lady herself.
its
shape of the curtained aperture through
17
see to the heart of Vermeer's grandest works.
the carpet-covered table.
repetitions
flat-topped, pyramidal, infinitely
daring, perhaps over-precise identification
the skirt of a seated lady.
which we
It is
It
has the
character of a buttress, with
from the
strength
it is
it,
whose
leaning sides
and when the
floor,
shape intently on
like
its
letter writer sits
draw
root-like fringes
behind
it,
resting her bell-
The
More generally
may have hung in
in fact her support, her inseparable pedestal.
carpet-covered table also renders a service of a less material kind.
we
recognize
the
It
air.
women
last
through
it,
as a
gathering of any mystery that
embodiment, perhaps, of whatever of the
the
felt as
is
been incorporated
has not
bear the
shadow
its
burden of
feeling,
in this world.
Thus
acts, in its stability, to
it
of femininity, to hold
of
fertility
it
in stillness.
Through
family of forms, female shape and nature are built indestructibly
this
into the picture.
So we reach the summit of Vermeer's achievement, the peaks of
whose whole length

pictures
which were painted
five years old.
When we
The
equality of forms.
an allegory of
his art,
above
stands high
its
middle
in the
sixties
of
subject, the description
the picture. There
is
the representation, rules

lishes the perfect
vital principle
essence for
that
is
itself:
order that
which
is
we
come upon
continuous
is
secret,
deep
in
is
it.
The meaning
Colour
which
also
is
everywhere,
is
The picture,
consistency which estab-
the very visual
is
absolute.
reveals itself as a general saturation,
manifest everywhere.
world quite
is
It
the visible sharing of
is
yet the object of everything
life.
distinct.
disturbs
in the distinctness
of the assembly. Each form

alliance,
common
Nothing
it.
is
is
a clear quality
is
it
might,
none
has
its
own
us:
has precedence,
all its
of being. The effect
itself,
fellows.
is
that
It is
and being so finds

their
bond
to
hold
which we know when
Amsterdam blue
it
Letter Reader,
shared by the saturation of the wall behind her. Thus,
together, forms discover to us their virtue, their fulfilment. Each, of its pure,
vitality,
as
uncovered the character, the open
seen, in another picture, that the nature of the
her very pregnancy,
nature:
interrupts or impoverishes
coolly, positively
an identity of nature with
its
concedes nothing to
It
parts exist together in perpetuity:
Its
And
of
separate, set apart
met our eyes by chance.
no recognition of the meeting
see.
memory of the
a painter's life
equality
which we have no words, which
always with Vermeer, have
each
is
of all,
written of Vermeer.
We
its
it
The
to the
no point of concentration: even
the lovely object of attention delicately disowns
evenly distributed through every shape.
come
range
before Vermeer was thirty-
recall the Studio there rises, first
fills
We
surroundings.
untroubled access to an ideal
[45]
retina.
still
This world has by nature
the capacity to
vide
its
what
its
own
emblem,
to the painter to
He was
autonomy.
give up without loss
itself seen, to
intimate
meant
it
make
own
its
art.
Only
here, at
watch the world of light
engaged in unfolding the deepest
community of
flat
surface the
from the
first,
become
in essence could
sought yet hidden, covered by
ever within the grasp of thought,

artifice, to abstracted pattern.
Yet
of
fantasy, the fantasy, as
it
coming together
in
on
was the
him
in
very contradiction, seeming
its
might seem
as it
this
The germ of it was
his.
if
to us, to lead at best to
fantasy
which was confirmed
in
and in the contrivance with which he was equipped, perhaps by
a friendly scientist,
know
understand
the enrichment of outward things, the fantasy that
all
world
truth, in science,
we
were capable there of meeting him and of
a perfect plane,
him
conferring on
last,
in the real exercise
seems, that visible things in their integrity Were capable of

the
of light, to pro-
its gift
bodied forth under
his eyes:
we
imagining the experience
the rapture of the camera cabinet. Before
him
lay the
whole depth
of the world. There lay the forms of life, disposing themselves in their luminous
essence
upon
the table of his camera, lying in their final amity
flatly
together,
intact.
Such was the consummation of Vermeer's purpose, preserved

marvellous monument. Nothing
its
evokes the impression, certainly no
else
printed reproduction, nothing but the canvas

a
for us in
itself:
we
see, large
and
plain,
mosaic of shapes which bear equally on one another. They are clasped to-
gether by their nature, holding each to every other in

see a surface
in the instant
which
we
embedded
has the absolute
recognize
its
shapes
as
natural embrace.
its
flatness
of inlay, of
emblems which
We
And
tarsia.
carry in their stillness
the force of the real world.

If
no
we
seek the beauty of a
other, could allow
style,
Vermeer
distribution of the impact that
shape. In a
him
the
form
that
invests the act

fruit,
to
is
in
its
intimate necessity.
Only
this
way,
uncover the heart of his meaning. Only
life
makes upon the eye could
this
so contain
its
symbolic on every level he resolves the enigma that for
of representation
And
how much
itself.
we find
have we come
The Lacemaker
moment. Never before

creature.
to
it lies
turning, as if
lies
open
to
from the
him
so close to this other
Weight and volume, the lovely bulk of head, seem
translation almost within
tree to
in the great
world and
its
in their lucent
our measure. Yet her distance remains; with gentle
firmness the impartial tones convey
it.
Tangled defences are woven about
[46]
her:
she
enclosed in the impenetrable envelope of space.
is
female
in
life
whole secluded
its
unimpaired. There
need had
in the
is
richness: engrossed in itself
meeting
unspoken from
lain
no
tiny canvas as
deep
We
other.
nourishment
have come upon
it is
seen entire and
of personal completion.
a sense
It is as if
time beyond memory, the need of an indis-
pensable complement, the need of

material symbol and
We
achievement in
its
one
this
we
share in a fulfilment;
delicate,
im-
derive from the
can hold.
as sight
HIS SUBJECT
often seems that the criticism of painting should be printed in parallel
It
columns,
as
simultaneous readings in the various levels of meaning which
painting holds.
The
place,
on the
their visible character.
Other
present inquiry has been founded, in the
nature of the pictures
on
representations,
as
first
points of departure were equally open; they might have led to no very different
result.
The very
his sources
and
opposite course, the investigation of the painter's relation to
to his contemporaries,
mentary on individual
of
will
concern us
pictures, yields a clear view,
When
temperament.
his
which
though
com-
a less intimate one,
the discussion reaches such a picture as the Studio
the shortcomings of the present standpoint are apparent.

invisible threads
the
later, in
which have been
the
felt in
web of
In the Studio the
Vermeer's meaning are
The picture is a deliberate allegory, like

among the mature works: it is symbolic of The
gathered palpably together.
the only
other of a similar size
Painter's
Art,
and was
known
such in Vermeer's time to his
as
incongruity in the uncovering of

quite consistently
imagery
is
not to escape
fact.
us,
own
subjects exist in their
neglect the
of the
Only
we must
last
century;
Vermeer's world
we
in such a case as this,
as rich as any,
is
is it still
which
the household;
if
overlook none of
right, as did the subjects
deceptive an appearance of purity,
of meaning, often
this allegorical reference.
Vermeer's development. Evidently,
"in
until the latter part
own
of
are perhaps
where the
all
family.
The
We
the intention of his

its
associations. His
painting, invariably,
no longer tempted
visible
difficult to take
account of that level
pictures hold as illustrations.

it
is
the setting of the great part of his
shown
us as lacking any content other than the sufficiently absorbing
daily
life
and
its
to say, with a subject
routine.
to
shape takes on so
He
is
no
Studio appears
work.
deals, that
feel
Few of Vermeer's
[47]
which more recent
pictures
expound
painters have
themes of
the subject in this
simple fashion, in the
which belongs
the label
the label of intimist,
with which
ours.
And
life
apply to
him
in this century,
our understanding. There
to place a limit to
between Vermeer's view and

that the subject
of household
to the great painters
is
To
sense only one, the Maidservant.
fullest
a gulf
is
when we notice
far as we know it
seems the greater
it
his career as a
genre painter so
begins has hardly appeared again in any memorable picture between his day
and
The
ours.
secular painting in
among the
was
Nevertheless in 1656
cal
form,
among
painters of Utrecht
was already
it
surprise. In
a little archaic: if
De Hooch
of the decade.
Its
appearance
is
itself:
of
was
it
Holland
their influence
in
purest histori-
it,
its
composition were discovered
Maes
would arouse some
it
hardly
is
which was current
an explanation only one presents

to
such
or
in
turned to
Vermeer's picture the reminiscent flavour
the design in the convention

earlier part
and wherever
when Vermeer
the works of Fabritius,
common theme
in the seventeenth century
earliest phases:
its
favourite
felt.
was
subject of The Procuress, venal love,
in his
none the
less
for
felt,
own
slight
he clothes
school in the
exceptional. If we seek
the subject itself was of great interest
Vermeer.
This reading
of
illustration
house that
common
It is a
is
stock; in the early
again, a
Soldier
fifties it
was
little
less
of a tavern,
and Laughing Girl

a typical subject
is
is
rarely
open
is
of
might well escape us
if
we had
delicate hint
to doubt. In
transposed into the setting of the latter part of
the decade and rendered with the perfect mildness of his method;
its
the
scene in which the extent of the hospi-
be exacted of the agreeable hostess
Vermeer's picture the subject
subject with
later, to
legacy of the wars, the entertainment of foraging soldiery in a
more or
tality that will
when Vermeer turns

theme. The incident of the
confirmed
a positive
drawn from the
De Hooch.
is
not his prototypes.
of erotic
force majeur
is
Its
its
intention
essence remains. This
a translation into the
do-
mestic idiom of the formal theme of venal love.
During the years
in
which
these pictures
were painted the
common
matter
of genre painting was developing in quite another direction. Under the influence of Ter Borch
bourgeois
life.
In this
and elegant; there

larly
is
its
milieu was shifting to that of the most prosperous
new convention
a
the characteristic happenings are leisurely
show of gallantry. One element of this imagery
particu-
concerned Vermeer. Over the seated lady whose eyes meet ours
in the
conversation-pieces there bends a man, an assiduous visitor, in the picture
[48]
at
attentive, breaking in
Brunswick odiously
This theme, the motif of interruption,
Merry Companies painted
in
clearly
conveyed. Often indeed
which
to press his proposal:
are
it is
of the room.
life
its
origins, in the
thirty years before,
its
significance
seen that the
man
certainly,
less
to the Girl Interrupted at Music.
We
is
few coins with
carries a
Vermeer's contemporaries are more discreet.
informed only obliquely, though none the
which brings the gentleman
the quiet
an old one and in
is
Haarlem
upon
We
of the errand
learn
it
through
medium of the picture, Cupid as a messenger, which hangs behind him on

the wall. 18 The possessive hand no longer finds its way to the girl's breast, no
money is offered, but the motif of interruption in these pictures remains the
the
descendant of that which appeared in The
civilized
Much
of genre painting
We
concealed.
is
coloured by an erotic element, open or half-
can understand
it
as
lending to commonplace existence
quality of universality, a quality if not a status
of subject matter, and

have contributed,
as
among many
moments which have

content
far
is
enter
upon
Nothing
is
is
its
no
at first sight
as a
of
his
development
discover his creatures in
particular significance.
exterior happenings: in analysing
more
Yet the emotional
it
and
its
complex devices
of Vermeer's course than the transformation
characteristic
Tlie Procuress
undergoes in
a great
progressively refined into subtler and
marginal note, only
work painted
we
line
seems that the essence of Vermeer's subject
It
and conspicuous subject of
as if in a
The
that
yet a further level of his meaning.
theme of
that the
single
complex imagery of genre, and
simpler. In the later pictures
from weakening.
extends beyond
we
in the
his persistent reversions to the
time in Delft by no means the dominant.
makes the problem no
Both advantages may
appearance in the painting of Vermeer. But
its
convention alone does not quite account for
in his
comparable to the older orders
lending, too, a universal appeal.
distantly, to
theme, to one strand
Procuress.
as a
his hands.
outset
it
is
the
masterpiece. In succeeding pictures
more
elusive forms. Finally
picture hanging
early in the century
At the
on
by the Utrecht
his wall:
artist
it is
it is
it
seen,
a Procuress, a
Baburen, that appears
decoration, a collector's piece, behind The Concert and the Lady Seated at the
Virginals.
These
last
oblique references to the theme are certainly no
more
intended to escape us than was the Cupid in the conversation-piece. Yet

not easy to accord to such devices their
as part
of
his subject a
work
in
full
value.
Whenever an
artist
it is
represents
which we can construe another, an image

[49]
we may
within the image,
expect that the conjunction will prove significant:
enough known. Nevertheless we can hardlv
the use of the artifice will be well

share
the
extremes
where
which Holland pursued
allegory
for
taste
did a
else
man
arrange to be painted with his betrothed
And we do
Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Annunciate?

elaborate correspondence
longer decorated,
as
was
between painting and
that in Delft,
Raising of Lazarus would not

renascence,
as
did
it
Zoom.
The meaning
when
now
own. He does not often seek
not welcome an
Courts of
life.
the
as
Law
no
are
with the Judgment of Solomon, and the
suggest itself as a symbol of civic and national
a picture
Vermeer
that
such incongruous
to
was sought
Bergen-op-
for the townhall at
from the pictures on the wall
gathers
tor his subjects
his
is
and generalized philosophical
enforcement, of the kind that Velazquez extracts from the decorations of
works, painted in Vermeer's time. Vermeer's meaning
great genre-like
specific
though by no means
direct:
he contrives, almost
mythology. Only one precedent suggests

devices.
When
Philemon
his
itself for
eye
on
falls
woodcut on
his exploits, a lustier
moment
recollection ot the
the wall.
The
imagine that
pictures
ot his meaning.
favourites:
whatever
it
It is
We
Mercury
house of
see that the print depicts
arsenal full
the scene.
of antique crockery:-
to Vermeer's taste.
wall are an appropriate vessel for the complexity
no chance
that the
Cupid and Baburen's
Procuress
they are relevant to the burden of his thought.
manner of
interest the
in the
gods outrageous power enriches
would have been
on Vermeer's
own
secretively, his
one. with the same companion, and in the
Goethe thought the stroke worth more than an
we may
19
is
the personal quality of his
Elsheimer's Jupiter takes his ease with
another ot
a
his
Utrecht held tor
him
lay as
were
his
It may be that
much in its in-
variably lascivious application as in any deeper quality of style.
It is
a pri-
vately lascivious fancy that this device, a picture within the picture,
first
appears in Vermeer's work. Behind the Girl Asleep the corner of a painting
seen,
hanging on the
wall:
it is,
as
only the
artist
recognized, the Cupid which
we know from
beside the Cupid's foot, there
is
designed evidently for
any significance
yet
it is
is
this
and
later
inserted a detail
his intimates
works.
On
is
could have
the ground,
which never appears
again,
occasion only and giving us our only evidence that
intended here, the detail of
clear that lacking this passage the
[50]
discarded mask. That
is all,
meaning of the whole picture would
be
different.
Without
the subject
ness:
we
it
should
would hold
moment
thought. Here the
feel in the Girl Asleep a certain oppressive-
a sullen quality
illuminated to
is
which
show
its
is
hidden nature. Sleep
revealed as the dropping of a mask, uncovering the fantasy
we may
secret, a fantasy, as
foreign to Vermeer's
which
is
is
the sleeper's
of Love.
guess,
The picture which contributes its delicate and private overtone here is no
more than a tentative rudiment of the device as it evolves in later works. The
privacy of Vermeer's method remains: in any separate case we might almost
think that to pursue the meaning would be to force upon the work more than
it could ever yield of its own accord. We can seldom, in the work of any painter,
how much
tell
of
his revelation
was
deliberate.
But
chance and
we
can be sure that
it is
not to chance that
The Cupid figures again, a little

of Vermeer's method. We may wonder whether
the Girl Asleep.
behind the Laughing
ture
is
we owe
later, in
the
is
closed to
meaning of
the next unfolding
the broad lines of the
do not add something
Girl
any,
to
map
our impression of the
bold plan of campaign, but the effect of the Frick conversation-
soldier's
piece
more than
often cannot be fortuitous: Vermeer's style,
itself so
a possibility that presents
more
positive. In
on the wall
is
Girl Interrupted at Music the reference
of the pic-
of the simplest kind; the purpose, the erotic emphasis,
is
not subtler than that which similar pictures serve in the works of Jan Steen,
though not before

is
his contact
never so direct again.
The
ruption, shows us his way:
with the school of Delft. 21 Vermeer's symbolism

later variation
it is
of the motif, the motif of inter-
the measure of his sophistication and detach-
ment.
The
progressive refinement of Vermeer's subject reveals his paradox in yet
another aspect.
The theme which
has engaged his taste proves also, subtly, to
The whole of the ambiguity is seen in the conversation-piece at

Brunswick. The man, more villainous at first sight, more pressing than ever,
offend
it.
bends over the lady in
shows
that
his
customary fashion:
Vermeer himself
now
we
stands aside
feel for her.
second glance
from the presentation. The
serpentine attentions of this cavalier are openly contrasted with the upright,
ideal
man, painted
nice one.
The
in the style
suitor
is
of Palamedesz, on the wall. The calculation
transfixed. This perfect objectivity holds the possibility
we may view him as we

saved. And looking closer, it
of mockery:
please, lusty or ridiculous,
tion
is
is
is
and the
situa-
seen that the cavalier, rendered in so
[5i]
simplified a pattern,
who
is
no more than
figment of the
man he seemed,
man
the
pays his court in the works of Vermeer's simpler contemporaries.
which outward
This, evidently, was the point at
events, real happenings,
ceased to hold the painter's imagination. Conventional incident disappears
from the pictures
which expresses
that follow,
it.
Vermeer
and with
is
it
the brightly compelling local colour
no longer concerned
to fabricate the fictitious
elegance and gallantry of the conversation-pieces: his figures are again dis-
covered in the dress which was customary,

household.
The undramatic
depth, the
meaning which we
Concert.
Lesson.
istic
we may know
Berlin approaches, in
at
But never
devices take
is
is
first
Others of the genre-pieces
suspended that
scene
subject
found
as
we may
to
hold
meaning of the utmost
perceive in The Music Lesson and The
set forth similar
moments
which action
in
is
the pure essence of relationship: the drinking
more
a further
mood
robust fashion, the
so subtle a tension revealed as here.
on yet
own
imagine, in his
complexity.
On
The
of The Music
painter's character-
the wall of the
room
oc-
cupied by The Concert, beside one of the romantically shadowed landscapes
which often appear where otherwise an unfeeling formality might mar the
scene, there hangs a
its
more
legible subject, Baburen's Procuress.
three figures, and something of their ruthless transaction,
that they supply
of them;
its
immobility,
concord of The Concert
its
very innocence, gain
is
bound behind
woman. The
his back.
rests, as
as
mind an inconceivably
antithesis
gentle as the air
is
complete.
itself,
rests
the wall to discern a
the rapt look of the gentleman in front of

calling to
trio in front
The amiable
banished; instead a solitary lady fingers the keys,
enough of the painting on
kneeling with his hands
aware
curious significance. The
sets forth the opposite theme.
choosing to remain unaware of the gentleman whose gaze
Charity,
we become
an ironic commentary on the performance of the
Music Lesson, possibly the pendant,
see only
As we construe
We
it.
But
it is
man,
her.
We
a prisoner,
sufficient to illuminate
Roman
dependence of man upon
In fact
abject
upon
it
is
part of a
gather that over these scenes there
an allegory of liberty and bondage, an allegory,
the inscription informs us, of the pleasure and the melancholy of love.
Here the painter

His theme
is
has reached the
purged of
its
form and the meaning which
grossness,
its
importunity. But so long
has a positive subject, his subject remains the attention that
As he
attains the
pure form of
his
maturity
[52]
we
man
are his
as
pays to
own.
Vermeer
woman.
see again that in this evolution
nothing
pieces,
drama
stylized,
is
nothing
even to The
is
male attention, neither

intact.
There
has
We
lost.
Procuress, that
which
the part
is
what
is
been played
resisting
looking back to the conversation-
find,
most memorable, most
lasting in their
Under
the pressure of
in
by the
it
lady.
nor complying, she has remained of her nature
inherent in her being an inviolable
is
status,
Vermeer's maturity the subject of the conversation-pieces

single body, the standing figure
The
it
window
itself,
is
is
woman.
of a
usually alone, waited
indeed
musician turns from her
on only by
presence in the room.
lute, as to a
beloved
These
herself.
stance; fancy,
reference
is
no
less
and personal.
painted and sold
verse allegory
the
is
we
a tree against
wall.
more
To
and to the
us,
significant, that
fact
than to the mirror
The
which
the
first
to
parti-
imagine, the con-
gives a quality of the uni-
richness of the
There
her bell-like shape
foliage:
we
painter, as
of womanly judiciousness.
purely visual.
is
is
found
last
More
works
typically
is
of the
in her ringlets the char-
compared with the round head of
the sky, painted in the style of Wynants behind her.
finished in ten years or
their
window
the fabric of these pictures. Their
is
Vermeer's fantasy comes quickly to completion.

is
to the
and analogy are knit together: the whole
see in the Guitar Player.
of hanging
And
an allegory of the Last Judgment, in accordance with the
parallels are
kind which
to the light that the
is
doubt the picture of the Gold Weigher might have been
cosmic balance, to the
Vermeer's
acter
as
the light. Daylight, the
employed. The essence of his meaning remains
is
No
on the
subject hanging
versal, a
than the visible shape,
artifice
less
her,
though iconographic study lends them sub-
are fancies,
rarely simple. Allegory
of the painter's
It
visitor.
with her adornment, her necklace, turns no
cular
incorporated in a
seems that half the imagery of the genre tradition hangs about
Yet she
invisible.
show
In
lady of the pearl pictures inherits a rich accumulation of meaning.
Sometimes
girl
is
a separateness.
little
The whole
more. At the culmination
independence, taking on,
as
it
in turbans, or in the beautiful skirt,
its
construction
creatures
seems, their natural clothing.
emerge
in
They appear
seen between the furniture, of the model in
the Studio, or in a wide, striped hat; their costumes, although there seems
nothing surprising in them, nothing immediately exotic, are often such

painting has ever
shown
us.
We
of Vermeer's fancy holds, nor do

lovely fabric, a
woven
as
no
know the full associations that the dress

we need to. Perhaps a hanging length of
do not
cascade gleaming distantly in the
[53]
air, recalls
to us that
was
his father, early in life,
a silk-worker: the brilliantly feathered hat
more connection with
the ladies has
the fashions of his childhood than of the
What
decade in which the picture was painted.
of
light the dress
clear
is
that fancy brings to
is
world, an ideal orient, which
a foreign
of one of
the
is
immemorial
world of femininity.
The
fancy costumes are seen in a few pictures only and disappear.
gone before we have any sense of

existent things. His purpose
the force of
first:
the
common
Head
who was
seen in the
is
weakening
in the painter's concern with
to isolate an essence at
The
its
richest, a
symbol with
the
the successor of the Girl Interrupted and she of the
girl
principle has
company of The
been present
Procuress.
From
in
the grossness of the
of erotic circumstance, Vermeer has
traditional subject, the force
pure theme: he has discovered the virtue of female existence,
We
its
distilled his
separateness.
gather from the process the understanding of an intimate sense in
style
and substance
standpoint
as
are
embryo from
life.
of a Girl
is
They
are one:
we
development again from
see his
the uncovering of a love
own
which
leaves
its
this
which
other
object unimpaired. His
man to woman is
finally identified with the attention of a painter to his subject. The Studio is not
only the crown, it is the sum of the pictures which have led to it. The model is
The Muse of History, and as such not only the fellow of painting and its
inspiration but also the bearer of the fame which is its reward. More estheme becomes the theme of
sentially the
acteristic.
Her
model
She both
delicacy
is
is
his
feminine, she
is
life.
The
attention of
young
invites the painter's attention
Her
girl.
and
The
room
shall
painter, as always in
felt,
is,
it
is
also a
off.
precaution that
Vermeer's world, remains an inscrutable cipher.

typically, to supply
male face does appear,
whoever he
tenderly wards
as
char-
not suffer interruption by the intimate charms of life.
cannot reveal himself. But,
be
is
protected by the lustrous armour that she gathers about her; the
impersonal quality which her emblems confer on her

the calm of the
disposition
He
an element whose lack would
a plaster cast. It
is
as if
the heroic part of him, lay slain and
some of
this painter,
dismembered under the
goddess's glance. In this equilibrium action and passivity are balanced: in
symbol
We
as in style
are
still
Vermeer's paradox
not quite
painted close together

nearer to
it.
The
at
at
the
is
resolved.
the heart of the painter's subject.
end of his
scenes are similar:
career, the pictures in
two
[54]
ladies idly
The two
pictures
London, bring us
occupy themselves
at
the
Yet between them an
virginals.
is
essential antithesis
a contrast:
is
it
presented to us by the pictures on the wall, the erect Cupid and the pliant
We
courtesan.
find
again in the landscapes, one rocky, the other verdant,
it
which decorate the
of the instruments. Everything contributes: such
lids
detail as the viol with a
bow
resting
the tangle of The Music Lesson, has

is
There
is felt.
between
its
own
its
middle
We
receptive.
The
ment.
have come upon
antithesis
the
It is
expound
is
very familiar.
embodiment of a
the final
is
view of female nature, challenging and
a dual
deep pattern of Vermeer's thought.
We
have
theme which has from the
known
first
it
in every stage
complete without the other; they evolve together,
is
The
revealing their complementary essence.
of develop-
opposed the seated lady
standing, the attentive to the active, the shape of bell to that of
statement
from
undertone of meaning to add. There
an intimate significance in these pictures. Each
principle: together they
strings, extricated
Neither
pillar.
at
to the
every turn
lady standing aloof in The Music
Lesson supposes the existence of the mild, amenable creatures of the pendant.
And
in
The
Concert, perhaps originally designed alone, the seated lady requires
the presence of her standing companion.

sufficient
its
of pictures, must
still
The Dresden
be followed by the
Soldier
and Laughing
most memorable, most permanent shape, the opposition
tress
and maidservant
as
they appear in the Dublin
Letter Reader,
Letter.
is
his
own
Girl.
his
22
In
theme of mis-
But equally
theme of Mary and Martha. Involuntarily Vermeer unfolds

his definition
the
most
it is
the
double subject,
of female nature. In the definition, nowhere more, something of
nature
is
defined.
THE LAST PHASE

The achievement of Vermeer's
tension:
no
abundance
universal style
is
maturity
discovered.
that the characteristic jewels
precious vein
lies
is
We
complete.
works of the middle
It is
sixties are
not open to ex-
have never the sense of potential
of his century give
open, ready to be worked. There
cannot imagine another.
It is
is
us, the sense that the
only one Lacemaker:
complete and single definition.

accomplished something,
When
a quality
we
the great
of tension,
goes out of Vermeer's thought.
The
final
phase has none the
The Lacemaker there are signs of
less its
own
marvels to show. At the time of
wonderful boldness.
deal with elusive intimations: in the Guitar Player

I
55]
We
and the
have no longer to
portraits in
Washing-
ton Vermeer's method
The
of thin paint which have lent
veils
Red Hat presents an
are cast oft: the
such a record
as
mosaic of tone
own
openly revealed. Technically the change
is
we know
is
to have
surprises us
formed the
unknown
on
stance,
irre-
lip:
prominence of a nose unites
from marble and
everyday things.
that
There
glitter.
The
They
in flat
shadow with
boundless forehead imperceptibly becomes
garment of pigment
decorative device.
is
satin as
is
gathered
much
as
as
enamel; they shine with
random from shadow and sub-
at
from the
pictures find a place at
light,
an endless display of
busy neatness of
for the
last
wear
share the pride of the domestic world: they
its
charming, spotless surface.
expressive function
contradiction;
its
is
pan of
purpose
makes with every device

vention, there
Letter,
is
is
as
its
nature.
Its
command
liveliness
of the scene, there
design shows his paradox so boldly.
as revelation.
his last attack
brazen quality in his manner.
behind the
The
obscurity of
virtuosity
takably
human,
escape us
it is
sharpness
of paint
earlier
extracting lirmself
active,
on the anecdotal con-
Under
is
picture
But when he
the brilliance of Tlie
It tells a
is
sidelong advance along
story
and
a greater
unmis-
is
the story should
lest
painted with a dapper violence, in contrasts ol tone and colour ol
which
is
affects, in
was outside
which Vermeer has
never approached elsewhere in
his
work. Even the handling
the veins of the marble floor, the free calligraphy

his range.
Nothing
is
The
all
his
aperture through
work. Yet he contrives to
which we
glimpse the whole morbid fascination ot the genre world
an impregnable defence.
However
[56]
which
lacking ot the lively descriptiveness
skirted so cautiously in
preserve his detachment.
a screen,
purpose.
a perversity in his
from the predicament. The mcident
even vivacious.
its
lucid surface holds suspended a
near to concealment
at his
The
a cryptic quality.
forbidden road where each ingemous step involves the painter in
but
hair.
patterns. Perfectly polished, they
immaculate
Vermeer's impressionism has always
whole of
in the
with the face ot optical abstraction. Eyelid joins to temple,
an adventitious
Light and shadow proclaim their
itsel
Then, progressively, the paradoxes become
No
the
Life
the plane of cheek or
Love
Now
of earlier pictures.
basis
pictorial art.
spective of shape or surface: the
own
and authentic, just
epigrammatic statements: they override the logic of form and para-
doxical unities are discovered,
take
remarkable.
semblance of continuous modelling
optical record, bare
seen naked, justifying
is
is
are allowed to
not only
frame
violent the juxtaposition ot
blue cloth and yellow
However
the zone of neutrality around
satin,
insulates
it
it
from
us.
black the ebony frame against the white linen cap, the shadow of the
curtain and the
broom
waiting in the foreground are a fraction darker; they
confine the impact inescapably in an envelope of light.
The Love
Letter
curious demonstration. Perhaps
is
some of
has
it
the
quality of a retaliation for the discomforts that the genre convention has often
seemed
to inflict
on the
approach has not quite met
which was
temperament.
painter's
commonplace
disposed of
is
challenge
which
the prosaic descriptiveness
at last;
of his contemporaries
in the style
his circuitous
here, with every
is
precaution and the most ingenious saving clauses, brought within his compass.
The
gesture of liberation, and the wilful glitter
guess
how
He
of
assures himself
We
shining, impeccable paint.
see
The
out again to the real world.
grasp. Nevertheless there
Vermeer, clothed in
gesture
And The
a discord:
is
Love Letter
the Frick collection,
so
is
is
from Vermeer's way,

are
made
in
is
movement of
life
remain beyond
is
letter picture, in
present state that
its
third of the late
we
can
works departs even further
The genre
another direction.
as
his
the consistency of the development
setting
and
his
the frame for a grandiose religious Allegory, arranged
conventional lines and
this
of ambiguity: fundamentally
full
characteristic in
hardly be sure of the authorship.
been
style has
armour, reaching
its
not the only breach. Another
little
allow us to
confidence almost too openly in
his
he does not change. The substance and
broken.
it,
submission to the limitations of the earlier
far his
involuntary.
which conveys
own room
on the most
conventionally represented.
Vermeer's character retained the
trait
which marked
works.
his earliest
And at the climacteric, when his development within its limits was complete,
when the restraining purpose relaxed, we see his art again as the art of an
ambitious man. He still lacked the real triumph to which the early works had
pointed, the grand eclectic
hardly sought
it.
But
at
the
element of painting, the
act
consummation of the
moment when
that the tangible
chance that
still
globes, the ball hanging
lives
of the
from the
are idealized descendants of the

vision,
which decorated the
reward
of
he had
his school:
preoccupation with the primary
of representation in
must have seemed

in the
his
styles
itself,
lay
reached
its
conclusion
open before him.
It
is
it
no
phase the characteristic shapes, the
last
ceiling, the bitten apple, are spherical: they
round forms, symbols of

There
early works.
[57
is
comprehensive
an opportunism even
in the
with
style itself,
its
its
wooing of
the distracted forms of the everyday world and
accumulation ot adventitious decorative
first
ness less potent
by
works. As claims upon fame
character ot the
The
far
we
mood, Vermeer came
The Lore
to
Letter.
throw off the most intimate
to
the figure ot the Allegory was perhaps the only one of
not painted largely from
life.
unique
the
ot
them
find
in their direct-
than the symbolic tribute which preceded them. Yet
was such pursuit that contributed most
character
pictures have again the
marvellous gestures toward the worldly horizon, the
character of isolated,
er
detail.
An
And
tie
his
thus, in anoth-
which bound him:
maturity which was
irksome problem was discarded, and with
The
solution.
own
painter's
it
the
it
of
consistency
representation was replaced by linear generalization, the consistency of the
baroque.
We
discover here an element, submerged and held in check since the earliest
works, which had none the

Lore
Letter, are best
apparition
less a
understood
which was
rarely far
the spectre of the baroque.
The baroque provided
rhythm
kind ot trophy,
to heart.
For him
Vermeer was compelled
much
as
underlying character of careerism incarnate,

world.
The
by about him.
a real
We
that not far
how
can imagine
most foreign
far
any element
how
among
its
it
more
as in its
upon
the
that
it
established
monuments on
it.
to stimulate his inveterate de-
in the art ot
an age were lacking

lay in the
House of Martha and Mary necessitated,
of the baroque principle, confronting to

withdrawal. Buried
who had
ineradicable
The impediment which
also a perfection that
it
Yet he was aware
deeply, not only the pursuit of a perfection as tar
baroque triumph but
ment
character of assault
great artists
own
to take
an object ot imitation
to him.
went
the awareness
antithesis. If
in the
away there worked
products would be different.
painter of Christ
er
all
worldly dominion and wrought their
velopment of the
its
was of
principle
which domi-
the example
personal adornment, could wear the baroque.
force was not so
its
painting.
while other Dutch painters could earn'
feather in the hat,
as a
of emulation, gestures incited by the
away even from the purest of Dutch
And
with Rembrandt,
',
as gestures
nated Vermeer's beginnings.

as a
deep significance. The Allegory even The
we
can
beyond
way of
now
all
the
gath-
rivalry as
any
was tormed around the very converse

the opposite essence ot passivity and
the profound motives of this single-minded detach-
there lay the attraction of the opposite course, waiting to be
let loose.
Vermeer's idiosyncrasy was not to be discarded. Only one way lay open to
[58]
him. Such genuine liberation

hardly ever but
hand
across.
on
he achieved was achieved only
as
the scale of pictures
The consummation
century eluded him. In the
works we detect no more than
last
the
whole of his school. Occasionally
Vermeer devised
that
for marble, satin
perfect and independent of the rest he
remains
code of
light,
and
as
gilt
moulding became each more

to the descriptive
elaborate or decorative his style,
decoration belongs to no convention but his own.
marbling
distant world: in the calligraphic
momentary
the epigrammatic renderings
symbolism beyond reproach. Even
the span of a
which were over-
conceded something
however
standpoint of convention. But
microcosm,
of naturalism and the typical rhythms of his
capitulation to the international style and elegant surface
whelming
in
measuring no more than
we
It
is
quality of
its
the decoration of a
find an inconsequent perfection
unlike anything in the European tradition, recalling only the Chinese.
wonder whether
from oriental
of
may be
a screen. It
lacquer
art, in
if
not on
works was on quite another
positiveness of his thought in this

his
the leaves, perhaps,
that these tenuous connections represent a last stage in
Vermeer's appreciation of every available resource.

final
silk,
We may
mind some narrow
the painter of The Love Letter had not in
vertical design
it
was
level. It
last
The achievement
to realize with
ot the
the brilliant
all
phase the enduring essence of his style and
meaning, to sum them up in three pictures. These three, the pictures
in
Dublin and the National Gallery, illuminate the whole of his work.
The
visible
definition of female shape
progressively he had discovered in

tullest
form and proper
was within
pure and
the
in his
his control,
continual purpose:
monument. But
the character of a
it
no longer presented
development had reached
its
its
crucial
end.
perhaps too completely to sustain
There was both
difficult course.
moment when
his
setting the discovery waited to the very
career. Representation in itself
dynamic element
had been
loss
and gain
end of
its
fullest
extension.
Vermeer was
its
his
problem. The
The matter of life

him longer on his
in the conclusion.
the very motive of the development was solved the
mental principle found
for
At
monu-
able to give his designs
their logical geometric shape.
Everything of Vermeer
ation
which was never
seemed
is
in the
his before.
Dublin
Form
is
Letter Writer, set
seen plain, free of
particular or accidental. Light carves in
the bare and perfect design
two
flat
59
all
a deliber-
that has ever
facets the simplest shapes. In
characteristic creatures
[
out with
meet
at last, in
the cen-
tre
the standing maidservant, carved
simply
as
ernment over the space around, and before her the
They
herself.
unshakable.
is
square lines of
furniture of
bell-like lady, engrossed in
complementary
are the poles of Vermeer's world, revealed in the
character and held together in equilibrium. There
balance
exerting her gentle gov-
as a pillar,
this
life
It
is
come
no impact, no drama: the
weighing of Vertical against horizontal. In the
design there
has
is
is
made
to share
its
The geometric
visible a reconciliation.
by judicious coun-
nature: attended, as
sellors,
by the long planes of hanging drapery, leaning inward one
other,
life
and geometry stand together, made
Love
Letter,
is
here locked finally into the subject
painted rather later and seeming to stand

a gloss to the
the
The
bound
to her
and to
space
its
that light itself has
shown
frame more exactly than ever.
sometimes exerted
now
The
removed by
space
is
revealed in
its
rest,
at
Nowhere
providing
is
the design
magnetism
the
We
cannot
complete and utterly
is
essence as a hollow cube.
The
last
doubt
is
the lid of the virginals, raised like a third wall yet offering an ideal
that
presented
is
disturbs the shape.

it
pictures,
Virginals
the
reflection of the opposite prospect, a painted counterpart of the
window
The
the culmination of
movement nor even
think that this world extends behind the frame,

enclosed.
from the
around the Lady Standing
of such economical symmetry: not
London
In the
itself.
are
still.
which intrudes upon The
a little apart
whole of Vermeer's work, we
agreement.
one, perfectly
as
rectangular shape of a picture's frame, the rectangle
against the
we
as in a
never
see.
Precisely at the middle point of the structure,
box from which our eye
central principle.
From
view from the
the standing lady
no
has
we
escape,
learn
we
find
its
essence, the
something ol the
we have hardly known before.

The common characteristics of all the painter's work,
painter's
nature that
which he
extracts
suggest the
from the world,
imminent
possibility
the remarkable order
of
his elaborate evasion
of opposite
qualities,
its
Whether he
does in the earlier inconsistencies of style, or covers
it
presence of the threat
to the visible
he
lays
many
its
his
own
it,
It is as if
veil
to
he
of
which
with which he makes
of a woman,
as
he imputed
nature, the insistence with
likeness, the determination
his central subject, the figure
skirts
with the merciful
equally clearly conveyed.
world something of
hold upon
own. Around
is
claims,
fearsome anarchy,
formidable, exigent principle not to be trifled with.
light, the
human
it
which he makes
his
so
approaches, each complicated by a simultaneous gesture of withdrawal,

r
60
The woman's detail, the complexity of her

element. Examined too narrowly she will become
an enigmatic meaning accumulates.

being, conceals a disturbing
a
source of danger.
tion;
The
infinite ingenuity
its
such depths the criticism of
latest pictures
we may
personal force.
From
sympathy
who
the lady
style
does not embark. But
whose ambiguity
in
human
so
much
painting finds
its
a palpable
Her
image,
existence
is
unshrinking nature, her very delicacy, extend the meaning. Her
presence has the force of
should elude
Yet out
justification.
being. She displaces the light with measured purpose.
positive, her
vestige of
last
light has itself a barely
of the impersonal pattern of reflecting surfaces there emerges

a
the
system of tone more closed to those unwilled
which
among
has the profoundest
stands at the virginals the
been refined away. The play of
economy; never was
gestures of
they hide.
notice statements
particular substance has
credible
directed to isolating from these latent, intimate
is all
among which
perils the visible beauties
Upon
of self-preserva-
painter's style develops along a line
it
a challenge.
the imponderable
The
picture has
no other theme;
map of the woman's head
is
lest
we
linked in ebony
bond, inescapably, to the erotic emblems that are urged with equally inscrutable gesture
flexible
air.
Her very height
of native power.
a quality
ebony and
work
on the wall behind. The cupid's support lends her an
lace,
we meet
is
16
a part
of her armoury; her stature reveals
Concealed
at last
in this glance, in the pattern
the ultimate quantity
round which the
in-
itself as
of
satin,
painter's
has revolved, the force of female aspect.
It is
triumph of Vermeer's
passivity.
The poetry of the
painting, here and
among Vermeer's last pictures, is involved in its very closeness to

simple statement. The impressionism, now so perilously lucid, yet contrives to
hold the image in suspension. The cryptic weight of expression which the tone
elsewhere
carries, the
index
at
once of the eye's insistence and the unmeasured, devouring
depth which awaits the heart,

gaiety, precisely balanced.
from
a single passage,
neutrality formulates.
is
We
easily,
immaculately borne, without gravity or
can almost gather the message of the picture
the sleeves and shawl perhaps;
And
there, as the eye
it is
moves
there that the pregnant
across the surface,
corner to corner along the rectangular avenues and returns,

again of the limit of
reminded
a retinal
its
that the grace
we
are
from
reminded
meaning, paradoxically both narrow and bottomless,

of Vermeer's world
is
to
wear
to the last the
impression, to claim no greater depth than the play of light.
16.
garment of
HIS
The
REPUTATION
painting of Vermeer's nearest associates belongs recognizably to their
same
time, to the
rhythm of Metsu has
Vermeer
The
this affinity lapses.
Tone
hardly existed before his age.
any
self;
itself
which
art in
his wall. In
issues
of im-
distance, play such a part certainly
and pure
phenomena were not
visual
content of his style has no local reference. Vermeer disengages him-
there
which
on
century capable of the autonomy he allowed them. But the
earlier
essential
of an
possibility
The
represent.
kinship with -the picture frames
a natural
mediacy and withdrawal, nearness and
in
which they
fabric as the interiors
stylistic
is
no understanding him
his style reflects, at
perception, follows
way of
once
logic
and reaches
own
its
of a decorative scheme. The vision
in terms
common
seeing and a rejection of
own
its
characteristic
and unique
solution.
When we
consider Vermeer's forms and seek their like
painting of his school or his century that

for female
life
and the consistency of his
European
season, the spring of

critics
have had
much
to say
on
we
pictorial
the subject.
the painting of Caravaggio and his time,
be
less relevant.
We
constructions that
it
It
We
recall
an earlier and purer
with
is
be clear that
as
we
approach
no longer
none indeed could
applies:
think rather of the early Renaissance and the purest of the
gave the world. There
are not here
is
following such a
a difficulty in
felt at a
time
when
the idea of
concerned with influence of the kind with which
We
works which none the

such problems.
Where
own
less
must be considered with
the essence of form
method. The
criticism
of
No
style
is
concerned, the
doubt
is
History presents
his.
we
are
naturally
common
the art of
tradition.
To
China perhaps;
us the idea
it
is
clearest
may be with
[62I
notion
and usefully concerned

artist
from the
Yet history appears to require equally the opposite conception,

of a
many
sometimes the victims
with separation, with the isolation of one picture or one
radical unity
historians
have no reason to think that Vermeer saw any of the
of influence often seems misconceived.
art,
other
Italy:
determinism takes on so many specious and popular forms.
are used to dealing.
of our
shapes that he discovers
affinity
will
not to any of the
which has been often considered,
connection, and one that will be particularly

historical
form
The
tradition.
the essence of Vermeer's art the parallel
The
turn.
it is
when we
that
consider
rest.
of the
a distant
surprise that in discussing western
we meet
painting with a Chinese connoisseur
hardly dispense with
how
recall
it
each of us
we
if
childhood, in that strange time
one saw the printed
strued,
hanging on the wall,
it
likeness of
may have been
piece, or an oleograph
likely as
not that was
when one found
or rudimentary shape one had
how much may

mind
has the turn of
different one,
may
contain
all
vivid, undistinguished picture
calendar reproducing
way
picturesque old
advertiser's blessing.
As
the masterpieces, to Giotto and
to
unexpected: one had
of form, must of necessity
met them
and taken them involuntarily to
realize
whoever
some
could be more than half con-
in their intensity,
that such forms, such articulations
we may
in
artists.
mystery pondered deeply and long. But
one's
Cezanne, they were not, except
fulfilment,
of European painting. Perhaps
which came with an
a visible
all,
We
to
when no image
academy
years later
know
to
own
can
need
our
are to understand
came
first
we
nearer home. In fact
it
already,
heart.
exist. In vestigial
possibilities
as
known
awaiting
Through some such memory
how little,
One Italian
exist in
ready to be unlocked by
for
picture,
it.
Italian painting. It
seems that
and
that an in-
the achievements
all
of a tradition are present in embryo in every one of its works.
we can well conceive how form is transmitted, how one strand

may long be lost and yet, as if spontaneously, reappear. We can
In this light
in a tradition
understand, in the present subject, the miraculous durability of the rarest

essence.
waits
We
need imagine no fabulous chances or peregrinations: the principle
from age
of mind for
it.
to age, concealed in
No
doubt
it
many
was thus
that
vessels, for the
which was the
special property
awaits the letter, rooted like a
which was
felt
to the eye.
There
idly
enough
the affinity than
more
Letter Writer,
we
presence of
his
think of the shape
And in the maidservant who

floor, we come upon the affinity
to the
its
natural, simultaneous revelation
are near to the creatures of Piero della Francesca.
causes:
it
come
may seem
Piero's
it.
first; this
name
will
be often and
preferable to resist the compari-
serious grounds for hesitation.
we doubt
be evident from the
column
that in the years to
unworthy
in
son here. There are
so, for as-
of Giorgione.
the Studio uncovered
With her we
are signs
invoked
when
Dublin
And
work discovered torms
fully for five generations. In the
bell-like ladies, Tlie Lacemaker or the
that has the turn
reached Vermeer.
it
suredly such recurrences are not accidental, his mature
which had hardly emerged
man
We
no sooner discover
Understanding of Vermeer confirms what must

relationship of final forms
[63]
is
belied by
all
that
we
know
which were open
the possibilities
The
as
Nor
of the way which led to them.
to the
method
character ot Vermeer's
the contrast simply that between
is
Quattrocento and to Vermeer's time.
indeed beyond our reach until
is
we
see
it
the antithesis of Piero's.
The
opposition
traces such a thread as this will
mood
with
flute
its
of the picture.-
example and the same key
to
and the
memory
it
predecessors
may seem
turn to
is
clear.
the gulf
it
With
of anv time.
And more: we
its
artists as
itself
divides
intact
his strangeness
is
by
its
art.
own
none the
less
by the standards
exerting, with
baroque, even in Dutch naturalism
when
We
understand the
their achievement, a
hidden tyranny
marvels have concealed.
its
all
We
over one principle of their tradition.
medieval night. Thus
which
gather from the affinity and the difference something
of the intervening age that
power of
similar
of Vermeer's
law and that here only the law has changed. In that change there
conveved the whole of Vermeer's temperament,
the Studio in mind,
to us that the essence
world reconstruct
to let the
is
tip
key both to the forms and to the
And when we
all its
of Piero.
the art also of Giorgione.
it.
whoever
rounded
the
happens that Vermeer provides us with
It
the Girl with a Flute from
Hampton Court
at
square opening provides

4
recent writer, and
have him often and gratefully in mind, has
noticed that in the Giorgionesque Apollo
of the
as clear as the affinity.
is
see for a
itself, a
moment
in
mannerism and
quality of obscurity, a resurgence ot
the Girl with a Flute
came
to
be painted the stand-
point that in the fifteenth century had seemed the ideal, the perfect normality,
was so suppressed
sport
ot
history.
idiosyncratic:
ment but
that
it
as to
be encompassed only
The normal form was
as
if
by chance
in a
wonderful
only through the most
attainable
was beyond the reach or even the knowledge ot any tempera-
which had found
representation but also
its
in the
peril,
human world
So
impossibility.
its
not only the necessity tor

it
is
that ot the tip ot
we know only two wedges ot light, outposts ot the pattern

which is the mask of human form. They mark the surrender of comprehension
as a pictorial function: for this painter the active mood was a distant, enviable
Vermeer's
flute
arrogance,
beyond
No
other
art.
possibility.
Only
certainly not that
gesture of withdrawal to show.

Studio, the Letter Writer.
historical
They
passivity
was
left,
the
last,
of the fifteenth century, has
The
affinity remains,
afford us a
connection: they are evidence
this
embodied
virtue.
immaculate
tor us in the
knowledge more welcome than any
that,
[64]
extreme
below
style,
deeper even than any
obvious
owe
of temperament,
trait
it
to a radical disposition to the
is
these forms, forms which of all that our
we
world that
given us perhaps remain the
art has
most precious.
Considering Vermeer across the gulf between us
preoccupations of more recent times. His reputation
of the nineteenth century.
It is
largely
due
Theophile Thore. The revelation came
at
difficult to discard the
it is
as
we know
to the essays published in
when
the time
work
the
it is
866 by
was
belle peinture
la
penetrating to popular understanding; not even Velazquez appeared to ex-
pound
the beauties of tone and execution better than Vermeer.
seem
apt to
creature of the age that canonized him.
the patron of cultivated taste that
The
frame.
instead the
later
artist
from the tomb, from
of genius
of matter
less
in
in
it
has been so completely
Vermeer.
its
when
the material ot
its
produced
It
life
wore
follows, has turned another way. Simplicity
which we
mind than
century
is
heroic age of everyday things.
lost
Taste, with the painting
he
to us
can hardly conceive of him outside
nineteenth century did not breed
confident aspect, from the
a quality
we
He
And
easily believe.
the
power
that
We
it
is
not
have the integral preciousness
unleashes
when
The
splits.
it
corresponding view of painting has similarly declined. Thore's approach has
When
suffered with each generation an inevitable deterioration of gravity.
writer
on the Mauritshuis Head observes
after a
while smile back
at
you'
it is
that 'if
you smile
No
is
is
moment
may seem
hope
ventional mask; there
is little
will inspire us again
with the enthusiasm which breeds
travelling
now
feels
that Vermeer's style as
Renoir's lifelong regret
which
at
Vienna,
it
painters
and com-
might almost be measured by the degrees of
rarely the Studio
chiefly occasions
little
its
chance of
now understood
new pictures. If an
it is
being unable to go to
it.
The
stature
of recent
their indifference to the
what the
was about. 26 The precious material of Vermeer's pictures does not
the old devotion.
The symbol which we used
con-
ironical
master. Clausen eulogized him; 2S Steer confessed that he could not see
fuss
she will
of Vermeer's rediscovery. Today such apprecia-
clouded by staleness and habit. There
is
familiar
recapturing the force either of Vermeer's originality or of
artist
doubt the optical understanding spread by photography contri-
buted to deciding the

tion
her
clear that the response has degenerated to an
automatic recognition of the photographic tonality which

forting.
at
attract
to find in the petit pan de
mur
jaune of aesthetic altruism, the apparently generous disinterest with which
[65]
artists
enrich us,
Vermeer,
no longer quite convincing.
is
like Proust's Bergotte,
27
with
The
magnetism of its
as
Half
dozen
War
was found
it
fabrications
was
We
ideas about the painter.
master of
rank comparable to
that
Vermeer with
him which
more profound
not
either
fill
too small to
to the
need not conclude
as a
that
van Meegeren
is
likely that the
it
his reputation are a
28
to
our
warning; the truth
own
us.
bill;
his
shape
more
is
something
his place
necessary to see the barrier
demands of his time and
own
his
He
which
ambition
any of his more conspicuous
is
as
humane
tradition as
prehending embrace which

reveals
little
but
its
ment with
its
it
it
his
temperament opposed
an element
as positive in his
By comparison with
and
broken.
He
his standpoint
clear that his position
artist
solitary statement
and the perfect
is
if
anything
rarer, his
of
truth
which conveys
love the world,
forms of
com-
style in
emo-
achieve-
upon which many
it,
achieves a
artists
have been
stands outside our convention because he cannot share
however
own. Whatever bold show

real
the
complexity more incomparable than the most devoted apologist
sustaining fantasy, the illusion that the
an
a place
masters extend to physical matter his painting
has claimed. Vermeer's passivity, the very style

classic
does
not only too big but also
are understood, as they yield their strangely
becomes
gifts.
has developed.
But when
limitations.
which he enshrined
tional content,
its
it
it is
He
Vermeer's reaction to humanity was too idiosyncratic to allow him

within the
among
domesticity nor even, although
eccentric.
is
The view of
lets slip
Vermeer hardly maintains
humane poet of
he had
that
estimate, as a pictorial designer of the pure classic kind.
fit. It is
originality as
Nor
perhaps shed light
Vermeer indicated merely
from the time of Thore
essential nature.
the masters simply
that a catastrophe
incomparable evasive talent has eluded
his
has obtained
of the painter's
of
vicissitudes
itself
his predecessor.
decline at that stage of serious interest in
been over-rated. The
by
had been accepted with
enthusiasm by leading authorities. Yet the confusion
on accepted
killed
happejied, even to be spared the news-
it
paper paragraphs. After the Second World

criticism.
indignity, transmu-
last
object.
study of Vermeer was not,
had overtaken
of the
his fear
newspaper paragraph, has been
tation in death into the substance of a
the very
often seems that the study of
It
life
his
power of style over
seize
eye
on
it,
in truth
life is real.
[66]
is
stronger, at
any
great
However
he can never make
may make of subduing and
remain untouched. Matter
its
it
his
devouring, the
moment
it
may
turn and crush him; finally

the foreign
possess
is
power of
light.
the
it
outside him.
life
Uncongenial
surely will. Vermeer's delicacy
statement
his
He knows
may
be, but
that
it is
not to provoke
is
that the eye can
all
one
that
we
are well
able to understand.
prolonged
It
is
Yet
trast
of seeming to undermine
the weight of feeling so perilously suspended
leaves signs
The
is
us to unravel
lost
his solitary
which
distinguishes this
something of
his
ambiguous
both the essence of a rare and wonderful
and an unexpected illumination of

of
his
painter of The Lacemaker, doubtless against his
which allow
miracle. If they escape us there

style
risk
as
marvellous equilibrium.
will,
of Vermeer runs the
we examine some of the tangle which assumes such an

mask of light we value Vermeer's simplicity fully for the first time.
clearest quality.
inscrutable
analysis
its
surroundings. Without the con-
opposing gesture our understanding of the positive hold on
the world characteristic of his century and
Yet Vermeer reaches, and
it
is
our
last,
its
masters
less
complete.
abiding view of his paradox, a deeper
recognition than any of the fact of the existent world.
67
would be
NOTES
Abbreviations
A.M.
H.:
Hind;
Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings, London, 1923.
H. de G.: C. Hofstede
Eminent Dutch
de Groot;
A Catalogue Raisonne
Painters of the 17th Century,
of the Works of the Most
Jan Steen, Gabriel Metsu,
I,
Gerard Don, Pieter de Hooch, Carel Fabritius, Johannes Vermeer, London, 1908;
Die Handzeichnungen Rembrandts, Haarlem,
1906.
K. der K.: Klassiker der Kunst; W. Martin, Gerard Dou,

de Hooch,
Valentiner, Pieter
Other bibliographical
commentary which
The
(1)
references are given
H. de G.
below and
an optical simplification
analogous to that
shortened
tip
in
the notes to the
and
list
is
be found
to
Metsu's rendering of the subject in
in
158.
Sometimes, by the converse process, the
(2)
W. R.
follow.
precisely analogous passage
the Louvre,
Stuttgart, 1913;
and London, 1930.
Stuttgart
commonly
lightest parts also lose their linear divisions,
not occasionally due to the pictures having suffered damage)
(if it is
seen on a heavily exposed photographic plate,
of the right hand in the picture
at
Kenwood and
the fore-
e.g.
a similar passage in the
Dublin
Letter Writer.
Lord Ellesmere's collection (H. de
E.g. the baskets in Metsu's pictures, formerly in
(3)
G. 95), and the Wallace collection (H. de G. 186) and the frames in his Letter Writer
(Dublin, H. de G. 185) and Jan Steen's Music Lesson, also
at
The
approaches of more conventional
between Vermeer and even the
distance
painters to his style
untouched by
(4)
one
final
more
it is
unlikely that any of them
were
turn in the story of Vermeer's treatment of other pictures

naturalistic
convention and achieved
human
attention to
detail than
is
is
worth
notice.
technique of condensation which
optically justified,
he introduces
in at least
own. The emotive points in the painting in the

the Cupid's eyes and his bow, are possibly very slightly
case a barely perceptible bias of his
Lady Standing
darker and
is
well demonstrated by such pictures;
Hertford House (H. de G. 412).
his influence.
Having discounted
pays no
is
closest
at
the National Gallery,
more prominent than
is
justified
by
their position in the
scheme. The
of simple mechanical reproduction which has been most delicately and
This case, one of the very few in which

interest in considering the
(5)
The
we seem
themes of his
effect of diffusion
is
in
some
to catch
Vermeer
artfully
total effect
retouched.
half out of his shell,
is
of
pictures.
cases increased
by changes due
to time.
The
appar-
ent softness of drawing of the fingers in the Pearl Necklace, for example, in fact arises from
the numberless minute pentimenti
a
which
are
now
visible
round
their contour, the results
of
long process of tracing and retracing the boundary between the tones.
(6)
painter's
hand
typical
of the conventional rendering appears
(K. der K. p. 16) in the National Gallery;
depicted by Rogier van de
Weyden. The
it is
in
Dou's
the direct descendant of that of
nearest parallel,
[68]
on
Self-portrait
St.
Luke
as
smaller scale, to Vermeer's
known
passage in the works of his associates
Woman
Spinning
Buckingham
at
Once such
Vermeer's departure.
to the writer
in the hand of De Hooch's

Comparison with it indicates
is
Palace (K. der K. p. 42).
breach with conventional formula
is
recognized other cases
may be noticed throughout the later work. The nose and shaded side of the head in
Kenwood picture provide an example made the more conspicuous by the old copy in
Johnson Collection at Philadelphia (Hale, Vermeer..., London 1937, pi. 29) in which
passage
is
reduced by an accomplished hand to conceptual standards.
comparisons drawn here with painters
who
are
If
it
the
the
the
be thought that the
by no means Vermeer's peers remain incon-
of reference, though a more distant one, may sometimes be

work
of
Georges
de La Tour. The style of La Tour was evidently formed in
found in the
very much the way that it has often been thought was the style of Vermeer; it is a classic
and humane development of Caravaggesque painting, in particular the painting of Utrecht.
Perhaps an awareness of the possibility of such a development had some part, in the absence
clusive, an illuminating point
of
knowledge of La Tour,
Vermeer. At
ceived in
events the comparison provides a
all
which
graphic,
is
to say
which
light,
The
until three
in the
broad stream of western
tradition,
fully
modelled and con-
and of the absence of that
work of Vermeer.
by
Aristotle
(who did not pursue
it)
Roger Bacon and Leonardo (whose experiment was not published

later), became common knowledge in the course of the sevenprevious history may be briefly summanzed. Cesare Caesarino (Como,
Vitello,
its
1521) included an account of it in
form of the instrument
his
is
version of Vitruvius; Erasmus Reinhold, to
due,
made
use of
it
for solar observations
application to terrestrial objects (Wittenberg, 1540. A. Kircher, Ars
Rome,
believe misreading, of
hundred years
teenth century;
practical
we
as
profound demonstration of the intimately
principle of the camera obscura, observed
and recorded by
and
comprehended, character of form, however
is
character in the mature

(7)
in suggesting this reading,
Magna
whom
the
and noted
its
Lucis et Umbrae,
1548, was perhaps aware of Leonardo's manuscripts in the Vatican). Giambattista
della Porta's
device and
Magia Naturalis (Naples, 1558) was largely responsible for popularizing the
its
invention for long remained associated with his name. Reinhold's example
was followed by the great astronomers
who
succeeded him, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe,
Moestlin and, in 1607, his pupil Johann Kepler
camera obscura
century
name and recorded with
its
it
(Dioptrice,
Augsburg, 161
remained an instrument of every kind of optical inquiry. In
it
Wotton described
to
1)
who
gave the
more than a
1620 Sir Henry
the transit of Mercury; for
Lord Bacon the portable dark tent which Kepler used
for sketching
landscapes (Reliquiae Wottoniae, 1651, reproduced in Graphice or the Most Excellent Art of
Paitititig).
1637).
Kepler's pupil Descartes experimented with the device in Leiden (Dioptrique,
The
natural philosophers of Vermeer's time continued to interest themselves in the
camera obscura.
In England,
where
a translation
of G.
della Porta
appeared
as
Natural
Magick in 1658, Boyle's box camera for landscaping drawing was used and imitated some years
before 1670. (On the Systematic or Cosmical Qualities of Things, ch.
assistant,
described in
demonstrated
tor, his
it
at a
vi.)
Robert Hooke, Boyle's
1668 the portable camera which he was accustomed to use and
Cutlerian Lecture. In this context
exact contemporary in Delft, with
Antony van Leeuwenhoek,
the
whom
it is
Dutch pioneer of such
[69]
of interest that Vermeer's execu-
at least his
studies
widow was
acquainted, was
and Hooke's correspondent.
Van Leeuwenhoek was one of the most indefatigable makers and

Perhaps we need look no further for Vermeer's source.
who
of lenses
users
ever
lived.
G. della Porta noted
(8)
may
jected image. Such
(lib.
iv,
cap. 2) the possibility
of laying colours on the pro-
have been Vermeer's method; the evidence of radiography
in fact
connection will be considered in relation to the Head of a Young Girl in the Mauritshuis.
in this
Even here an affinity has been noted. Maxinre du Camp wrote of the View of Delft
'C'est un Canaletto exagere' {Revue de Paris, October 1857.) There may indeed be a direct
connection between the two artists: the possibility will be discussed in reference to The
Music Lesson. The camera obscura was on sale in England at the beginning of the eighteenth
(9)
century (John Harris, Lexicon Technicum, 1704). Algarotti wrote: 'Les plus habiles peintres
de Vues, que nous ayons aujourd'hui, tirent un grand avantage de cette chambre obscure
sans elle
Crespi.
n'auraient
ils
pu rendre
les objets
si
fort
He named
au naturel.'
portable camera appears with the painter's tools in
as
an example G.
Haid's mezzotint of the
J. J.
Bavarian painter and etcher Joachim Franz Beich (171 5). Sir Joshua Reynolds' camera
Museum
preserved in the Science
in
et
M.
is
London. (Meder, Die Handzeichnung, Vienna, 1919;
Waterhouse, Journal of the Royal Photographic Society, xxv, 1901; B. Cohen in Enc. Brit.,
15th edn.) A. Hyatt Mayor (Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, v, I, 1946) has
He
reached conclusions similar to those of the present study.

(b.
1687): 'Several
Dutch
painters are said to have studied
people to think that the
of the camera
Pans, 1755,
(10) In
p.
is
more
false.'
(C. A. Jombert, Xlethode pour apprendre
there
from
Italy in 1656.
W.
F.
Among
le
dessein,
his
remained
in the
commentary on
van Riemsdijk
Tlie
town during
'ceil
death in 1658: his
the painters admitted to the
were Pieter and Harmen van Steenwyck. The
specific debt to the perspective trompe
discussed in the
(12)
in their paintings,
139).
to the Indies in 1654-5,
(11) B.
s'Gravensande
its
Vermeer's time Evert van Aelst painted in Delft until
Deltt guild in the forties
is
but
striking,
nephew Willem returned

voyage
J.
manner of showing nature which has led some

camera could help them to understand light or chiaroscuro. The
the effect of the camera obscura and
effect
quotes G.
and imitated,
latter,
apart
from
the following decade. Vermeer's
painting of Carel Fabritius and his circle
Music Lesson and The Concert.
in Bredius Feestbundcl.
G.J. s'Gravensande. See above, n.
Amsterdam, 191 5.
9.
House of Martha and Mary at Edinburgh, The Procuress at Dresden, the

the Metropolitan Museum and the Diana in the Mauritshuis at the Hague.
(13) Christ in the
Girl Asleep in
Vermeer's development
which
is
discussed in further detail in the
commentary on
the pictures
follows.
(14)
Metsu's Cello Player
at
Buckingham
Palace (H. de G. 156)
may
be contrasted with
the male heads in these pictures by Vermeer.

(15)
now
Consideration of Dou's significance to the genre school, and even to Vermeer,
hindered by
a certain
prejudice against his petty
Dou, on his own prosaic level, of pictorial

selves more completely than his.
than
(16) A.
van Beyeren
is
style.
But no
self-sufficiency;
particularly indicated.
van Beuningen Museum.
[70]
Cf
the
artist
is
has a clearer notion
few pictures contain them-
Still Life
with Fish in the
Boymans-
(17)
The
aperture
which frames the
shape of stillness and seclusion.

istic
of the early works,
and the
Laughing Girl
(18)
The
as it
It
a still-life
antithesis, the
its
the very
is
now
barely legible;
it
of musical instruments. The pictures represented
further misleading.
The
picture in the
all
deteriorated.
was formerly
in the earlier
The evidence of
Brunswick conversation piece appears
clearly in the present reproduction than in the original while that in The Concert
less
to
is
is
springing, barely balanced V-shape.
works, rendered for the most part in very thin paint, have
photographs
Letter
opening character-
appears in the forms of the Edinburgh picture, for example, the
Street, a
passage has suffered with time and
overpainted with
and the Dublin
Studio, the Allegory
may be compared with
be better seen
(19)
in the
photograph than
it
now
is
on the
is
said
actual canvas.
Dresden Gallery. The picture was well known
in
the engraving by
Hendnk
Goudt.
Quoted by W. Stechow, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, iv, 1-2.
(21) Compare the Doctor's Visit at Apsley House (H. de G. 137, there are numerous
variations on the theme). The erotic reference of these medical scenes is well known; it is
given a curious turn in H. de G. 797 (St. Petersburg) where the interest of an elderly invalid
in his nurse is made clear by a Rubens Susanna and the Elders on the wall. In The Choice of a
Suitor (St. Petersburg, H. de G. 126) the scene is decorated with a popular woodcut of The
(20)
Ages of Man. In
presence
a picture at Frankfurt,
The Importunate Guest (H. de G. 788), the
More
explained by a print of travellers on horseback.
is
visitor's
general references include
of the Allegory of Fortune which decorates the overmantel in the pictures of Jan Steen
feasting on oysters (Easy Come, Easy Go, a version dated 1661 is in the Boymans-van
that
Beuningen collection and another of 1660
exists,
H. de G. 854,
856); the
list
might be pro-
longed.
(22) In
acter.
We
Vermeer's development successive works have often
might find an
one not unlike
that
which
It is
in the light
has
between the drinking pictures
complementary charBerlin and Brunswick,
been noticed between the Brunswick cavalier and the picture
wall: they
unlikely that the
all
the painter's resource has been lavished are found repeatedly
be
in a subtle sense
no more than
and completion, often on
partial statements,
and
when
they are finished to
need of immediate correction
in
canvas of the same size in a similar scheme of colour, by a second
supplementary piece. The characteristic links

pairs
at
propound opposite kinds of relationship between man and

two works were intended as pendants. The interest is rather
which such relationships throw on Vermeer's habit of thought. Pictures on which
behind him on the
woman.
antithesis
in the chain
of Vermeer's development are
of pictures rather than single works.
(23)
working
(24)
London
Not
least
of the implications unfolded
seated. His eye
is
on
a level
Adrian Stokes, Art and

1949,
Science: a
Steer's
is
that
of the painter's habit of
Study of Alberti, Piero
della Fraticesca
and Giorgiouc.
Delivered
Newcastle upon Tyne. Oxford 1925.
at
remark, made on the occasion of the exhibition of the View of Delft
Burlington House in 1931,
same picture
is
lady's sleeve.
p. 61.
(25) In Charlton Lectures on Art.

(26)
in this picture
with the
is
recalled
by Mr. Rodney
recorded ofJozef Israels.
The only
[71
J.
Burn.
direct reflection
similar
comment on
of Vermeer
in
at
the
contempo-
rary painting
forgeries
trompe
I'
(27)
known
which
will
to the present writer, aside
be
from the academic imitations and the
work of
familiar, appears in the
a painter
who
is
concerned with
ml, Salvador Dali.
La
Prisormiere, Paris (1923), (1927), Vol.
I,
p.
255.
The
incident was based
on an
experience of Proust himself; visiting an exhibition to see the View of Delft he had suffered a
seizure
a
which seemed
few hours before
an
artist
of whom no love
was one of Vermeer's

personal
likely to
his death.
vacuum
One
is
least
prove
fatal.
He
is
Odette de Crecy,
affairs
said*o have dictated revisions of the episode

it
will
were recorded. Yet
perceptive
critics:
be remembered, took
in retrospect
it
little
interest in
does not seem that she
the notion of pure painting emanating from a
not an inviting one. Happily
it is
without foundation in
fact.
two French writers of the nineteenth century discerned the peculiarity of

the case. The judgement of Maxime du Camp has been quoted; Charles Blanc, quoted by
A. B. de Vries, wrote in 1861 that 'in no school of painting do we meet with such an artist,
unless perhaps among the modern realists'. Fromentin's famous, and from his standpoint
(28)
or
justifiable, dismissal conceals a similar point:

It
has
been the misfortune of criticism
to
'il
des cotes d'observateur assez etranges.'
have neglected such warnings.
[72]
II
THE PICTURES
A
a
List
and
Commentary
II
Although
of Vermeer's
there are
published;
October
life
Church
at Delft.
was received into the
we
no
glories
years later Johannes
years before. 3
was chosen
him
who
a Delft publisher, in a
picture
which
him and found
the
single figure, but
book of a thousand pages on
as rising
the
phoenix-like from the ashes of
had died in an explosion of the powder magazine thirteen
Vermeer took
as president.
office twice as
A number
one of the
six syndics
of his guild and
of financial transactions which
are recorded; the painter appears to
1672 he
On
Vermeer married and
show him. 2 His baker had one, of a
of the town, celebrated Vermeer
Carel Fabritius
been
all
son Johannes of Reynier van der Meer,
Guild of St. Luke. In 1656 he dated
local
pictures to
They have
was later also an innkeeper, was baptized in the
Twenty-one
was expensive. In 1667
may
refer to
have been most often the debtor. In
moved to a smaller one. His mother-in-law, a lady of

him power of attorney in 1675 but before the end of the
house and
let his
substance, entrusted
year he was dead.
He
scarce as his pictures.
have, The Procuress. In 1663 a French traveller visited
painter had
it
as
the records
be sufficient to summarize them here.
31, 1632, the
who
Dutch
better archivists than the
remain
will
it
silk-weaver and art dealer
New
no
On December
15th he was buried in the
Old Church
at Delft.
eleven children, eight of whom were minors; they do not appear in any
left
of his remaining pictures.
He
died insolvent. His widow, in her petition, stated that he had been able
to earn
in his last years.
little
number of
the possessions
contained two
walking
stick
baker against
The inventory of Vermeer's
which appear
and
shows
his front
room
easels, six panels, ten canvases,
three bundles of colours and a
widow
gave two more pictures to the
with an ivory head. His

a large bill,
a representation
in his pictures
effects
and another
of 'The Painter's
to her
Art'.
The
[75]
mother, to
whom
she was in debt,
post of trustee was taken by
Antony
van Leeuwenhoek
who was
occupied
the time with a drapery business and
at
the position of chamberlain to the sheriffs of the town, in addition to his optical
researches.
There was some dispute with the mother-in-law
'The Painter's
Art';
it is
But
it
and
in the next year
for possession
of
not clear that the transaction was beyond reproach.
Van Leeuwenhoek's
evidently did not disturb
he appeared for her
with the
relations
widow
of another
in the legal settlement
family matter.
Twenty-six of Vermeer's pictures in the custody of
were put
dealer
Amsterdam
in 1696.
They were
Twenty-one appeared
the present time. 4
at
without errors of attribution or description

curious that the one item in
gentleman washing
in dealing
school.
would
his hands,
with
which
it
at
auction
described in a catalogue and fifteen or sixteen
of them can probably be identified
work
Nineteen were
to auction in the year after the painter's death.
sold at the death of a Delft printer in 1682.

at
Haarlem painter and
if
was unique of
quite certainly
is
lost,
the
its
list
kind;
was
it
of
a picture
is
have been singular in Vermeer's
also
was not
a subject that
it
But
in the
most general currency
in his
Historical
here no other
and subjective considerations make
method
has proved less hazardous.
dangerous mixture. But
We may
expect that Ver-
meer's vocabulary of representation, which has formed the starting point of the
present study, should bear
It is
some
relation to the history of his development.
the most intimate visible constituent of style. There
less in
every feature of the pictures, their dimensions, tonality, handling of
paint and subject matter; each seems to yield
they were painted.

in 1656
Of the two
when he was
years before his death.
has
pictures
twenty-four and the other
The
manner which elsewhere

the pictures that
fall
some
earlier
displays
shows
we know,
as
we
it
place
into three groups. In the
Reader, the painter's style
is
in
different
sign
of the order in which
which Vermeer dated one was painted
less
been examined than almost any other of
works,
none the
significance
is
its
when he was
his
works while the
From
maturest form.
to
the pictures
later
up
to the
Dresden
from contemporary convention
Lesson, elements
apparent. In the remaining twenty pictures,
[76]
is
in the
this standpoint
one or other of the dated
rather than in kind. In the second group, comprising such
wick picture and The Music
seven
of the personal vocabulary which
them nearer
first,
thirty-six,
works
as
Letter
in quality
the Bruns-
of a very unconventional vision are
which we suppose
to follow
The
Music Lesson, these become the basis of
a consistent
manner of
Within the three groups the indications of chronological order

of the middle phase
history-
forms of the
is
particularly uncertain.
movement of Vermeer's
style
The commentary which accompanies

vides in a
few
more important purpose
on which some of the
of pictures that follows pro-
list
of
is
is
and meaning
style
to consider the historical matter
generalizations that have preceded
examination of Vermeer's sources

use
thought. 6
his
the
are tenuous: the
impression nevertheless
cases opportunity to pursue the evolution
in further detail. Its
made
and
An
representation.
it
The
are founded.
based on the belief that where
a painter has
of iconographic tradition or subject matter that was
in
general
many cases evidently did, it is of interest to inquire

in what forms they may have come to his notice. It is rarely possible to carry
such studies to a conclusion, but we are at least fortunate that the idea, to which
currency, as
Vermeer
in so
more than one consideration of Vermeer
been
has
sacrificed, that
they in any
way diminish the stature of the painter is no longer widely held. Some of the
more conspicuous cases of Vermeer's immediate influence are indicated. The
histories
of the pictures have been well treated elsewhere; they are referred to
only where
it is
ject are available
extensive, and
possible to add to them. Serviceable bibliographies of the sub-
and there would be
somewhat
little
purpose in detailed discussion of the
repetitive, literature here.
(i) What knowledge we have is largely due to the discoveries published by F. D. O.

Obreen (1881-2) and Abraham Bredius (1885-1916). The documents are reprinted with
English summaries by P. T A. Swillens, Johannes Vermeer, Utrecht, 1950. Recent bibliographies are given by Swillens and by A. B. de Vries, Jan Vermeer, London, 1948. The
histories
of the pictures have been dealt with by
De Groot and De
Vnes; they are referred to
here in notes 65, 79, 99, 102, 124 and 144.

(2)
The Journal of Balthasar de Monconys was
(3)
D. E. van Bleysweyck, Beschrivinge der Stadt
to have
been written
after the
Vermeer owes something

(4)
and
6),
1667
seems
12), the
Washington or Dublin
two landscapes
(no.
35),
the
and
verse
Gold Weigher (no.
the
149
is
said
I),
Palace (nos. 4
and Laughing Girl (no.
II),
32), a letter picture, either that
Secklace (no.
26),
National Gallery pictures (no. 37) and the two portraits (possibly
[77]
(II. p.
intervening years.
Kenwood and Buckingham
(nos. 31
Pearl
The
likely that the reference to
in the
identified are
the pictures at
p. 854.
II,
Letter (no. 7), the Girl Asleep (no. 8), the Soldier
The Lacemaker (no.

in
2),
it
growth of his reputation
The works which can perhaps be

The Love
Delft,
explosion of 1654 but
to the
Maidservant Pouring Milk (no.
published in Lyons in 1666
one or other of the
among
nos. 38, 39
and
40).
'Gay Company' (no.
(no. 3)
was
possible that
(5)
No.
a 'portrait
we
work
might be the Brunswick
of Vermeer".
have the picture
picture.
may have been
in the style
related to that
his hands, in a
of
it
is
15).
room with
through view, with
Pilate
and
that the picture
that the
was perhaps an
early
of Rembrandt's school. (Compare the work in the Metropolitan Museum.)
In Vermeer's nearest approach to this style, the Girl Asleep,
washing
of the cheaper items
and unusual". Prof. Van Regteren Altena suggests to the writer
view through into another room and

ladies
One
can hardly be the Vienna Studio, nevertheless
It
(see n.
'A gentleman washing
5:
pictures, artistic
subject
9)
their
on
a picture
two of the
features described, a
the wall, also appear. Representations of
hands with the assistance of a page are not
uncommon. The
subject was
by Ter Borch and Eglon van der Neer (Rothschild sale, Sotheby 19.
dated 1675). On these analogies Vermeer's picture, if one existed, might
painted, for example,

v.
1937, no. 13,
have been nearer in date to
Tlie
Love
Letter.
No
certainly early
works
are recorded in the
1696 catalogue.
(6)
Recent work on the
logy proposed in the
first
artist
allot precise dates to the pictures
Concert and the
Head of
has tended to agree with the general outline of the chrono-
edition of this book.
Young
Within the main
remain speculative.
Woman
in the
It
now
stylistic
groups, attempts to
appears to the writer that Tlie
Metropolitan
Museum were
previously
earlv. The approximate dating that now seems likely may be summarized
From 1656 and the proceeding years two pictures seem to remain: Plates 1 and
dated too
as
follows.
4.
About 1657-9:
About 16635:
pearl pictures,
Plates 6, 8, 10, 12
Plates 38,
and
Plates
and
14.
About 1660-2:
Plates 16, 18, 21, 24, 30
and
33.
40, 42, 43, 44, Hie Concert, Plate 22. whose affinities are with the
47. 49 and 50. About 1666-9: Plates 53, 56 and 57. The inscribed
and Plate 59 were clearly painted in about 1668. The writer would not
attempt to date the dubious picture in the Frick collection, Plate 54. About 166972:
picture. Plate 58,
Plates 62, 64, 68, 71, 74
Plate 80,
may have been
and
75.
The Lady
painted after Vermeer's
78
move
which
early in 1672.
is
now
included,
Moretto Da Brescia
Christ in the
(S.
House of Simon
Maria
the Pharisee
in Calchera, Brescia)
Plates 1-3
CHRIST IN THE HOUSE OF MARTHA AND MARY

62-^ X 55-L in. (1578 X 1410 mm) Signed
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
The
four immature works by
picture, Tlie Procuress,
mon,
Girl Asleep
that
we
have,
the
Edinburgh
and the Diana, have one element
in
com-
their considerable size. In style they are discrepant; the conventions in
which they
from
Vermeer
are painted, like the figure motifs
characteristic
of Vermeer's manner
commonly assumed
that the
as
we
on which they
later
come
are based, are far
to recognize
it.
It is
four pictures represent only the peaks of the
[79]
Erasmus Quellinus The Younger

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
(Mnsee, Valenciennes)
painter's youthful production,
in particular that
some
of which the
years of
lesser
examples have been
lost,
and
development took place between the House of
Mary, the only picture in which the painter
is
predominantly influenced by the
international style of the southern Netherlands, and The Procuress. If Vermeer's
evolution obeyed the usual laws the inference

case.
We
have no record of
would be justified. This
phase and whatever slight indication
this
gleaned from the presence in Holland of the painter

imitated, at a time not very far
from
that
view of the date of The House of Martha.

early pictures
their outset
The
were
lost,
but there
is
It
of The
would be
no evidence
which connects
this picture
rsoi
whom
Vermeer
not the
may be
certainly
Procuress, tells against the usual
strange if none of Vermeer's
that the
which emerges from the works we have
signature
is
is
view of his
activities at
not substantially correct.
with Vermeer was uncovered in
Christ in the
Jan Steen
House of Martha and Mary
(Private collection, Nijmegen)
90 1
when
it
passed into the hands of a
London
dealer.
Its
Italianate flavour
is
evident and Dr. Borenius pointed out a similarity of the figure of Christ to a
Neapolitan Caravaggesque painting of The Death of

attributed to
lies
were
Andrea Vaccaro. The pose and gesture

7
in fact part
seventeenth
of the
centuries;
common
purely
St.
in
Joseph
which
is
now
which the resemblance
rhetorical repertory of the sixteenth
and
Caravaggesque prototype would hardly
account for the obtrusive rhythmical flourish which distinguishes the Edinburgh
picture
from the
and there
is
rest
of Vermeer's work.
no doubt
that
rather recalls the school of
Rubens
Vermeer's chief source was the rendering of the
subject by Erasmus Quellinus the
Both the heavily
It
stylized folds
Younger which
is
now
at
Valenciennes. 9
of drapery and the handling of paint with which
[81]
they are conveyed follow Quellinus closely; the group of Christ and
modelled upon
clearly
knew
more
arrangement.
his
the actual picture.
10
It
appears that Vermeer, like Jan Steen,
fifties
between Antwerp and Amsterdam.
1656 he painted the ceiling of Amsterdam -Town Hall, part of
It
The
more than one
that introduced
In
grandiose
exotic motif to the school."
remains likely that Vermeer was aware of other versions of the subject. 12
cannot even be excluded, and the
possibility
strate at the outset that
single origin, that
he
no occurrence
in the
knew of one of the
renderings, the picture of a similar subject

at Brescia.
Not only Moretto's
13
ancestry of the Edinburgh picture
means remote.
still-lifes
in the
14
fact will
be enough to demon-
work of Vermeer
has any simple or
chief iconographical sources of these
by Moretto
Maria in Calchera
in S.
Christ but the intent attitude of Simon and the
strangely suggestive detail of the hanging
end of
his
turban seem to point an
which though doubtless
indirect
is
by no
Moretto's cloth-covered tables and the simple and memorable
which they bear often foreshadow the
world of Vermeer. For
Caravaggesque influence
is
is
Quellinus himself must have passed through Delft
than once in the middle
scheme
Mary
is
all
place
the orderliness of
nevertheless visible.
which such
things take
Vermeer 's conception
The colour of Mary's
skirt
the saturated green-grey favoured, in various equally pregnant hues, by
the painters of Utrecht. Analysis of the picture's sources
passage of
it
characteristic
unscathed
of
as
seem
to leave
one
Vermeer's own, an example in embryo of the realism
his later style, that
of Mary's head resting upon her hand. The
much in the work, must indeed have been studied from life, but in
view of what we know of Vermeer's habit it would not be surprising if even
detail, like
here he had some prototype in mind. 15 Both methods evidently contributed

to the
and
making of the
in the light
picture; occasionally
of what
we
learn
from
some
later
hiatus
between them
works of the
painter's
certain inconsistencies here, in Martha's right arm, for instance,

is
is
visible
temperament
whose
structure
so difficult to construe, have a particular interest.

In the case of another painter such elaborate derivation
credit.
But
Christ in the
House of Martha and Alary
is
would be hard
to
no more than the beginning
of Vermeer's complex synthetic grasp of current motifs. His natural
clarity
of
thought, already so evident in the Edinburgh picture, was equalled by the

peculiar acuteness with which, throughout his work, he
of his time.
[82]
drew on the resources
It is
(7)
Museum
(8)
E.g. the figure of
Moses
in Tintoretto's Gathering of Manna in S.
common
in the
work of Moretto.
particularly
(9)
of Naples. T. Borenius, 'Vermeer's Master', Burlington Magazine,
Catalogue,
Thieme-Becker,
(10)
Steen
Two
Valenciennes,
193
Tome
No.
I,
xxxiv.
Kiinstlerlexikon,
in a private collection in
composition not unlike that adopted by Vermeer; the
arrives at a
Trautschold in
E.
Mary by Jan
renderings of the subject of Christ in the house of Martha and
both based on Quellinus. In one (now
exist,
Noted by
90.
the profile of Christ,
of interest
is
in
by generally
picture was governed
confirming
life.
still
how
Nijmegen. Steen
similarity, particularly
largely the formation
available material. In the other
of Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, H. de G.
by Martha and the
xlii p. 37.
Giorgio Maggiore.
example
of
of the Edinburgh
(in
the collection
51) Steen elaborates characteristically the part played
(These elements in the Valenciennes picture are credited to
Adriaen van Utrecht. Comparison excludes beyond doubt the suggestion of De Vries that the
An
Stirling-Maxwell picture was based on Vermeer.)
earlier
and more obscure chapter
in
marked points of resemblance to the picture by

Quellinus in a drawing by Rembrandt (Teylers Museum, Haarlem; Valentiner, Des
Meisters Handzeichnungen, 1, no. 396, as about 1636.) The group of Christ and Mary is
the history of the subject
reversed.
indicated by
is
The iconographic
by Rubens's picture
Hermitage (K.
der
K.
tradition
Dublin (K.
at
p.
179).
(Amsterdam, Prentenkabinet);
ham, dated
The
1645).
The
it is
which
earlier
works took up was decisively influenced
these
der K. p. 222)
and
his Christ in the
form of the subject
among
followed by,
is
House of Simon
in the
shown by M. Gheeraerts
Hendrick Sorgh (Chelten-
others,
influence of Quellinus might perhaps be detected in Metsu's
religious subjects.
(11)
H. Schneider, 'Erasmus Quellinus
Vermeer shows no knowledge of those

due
parts
te
Oud
Amsterdam',
Holland,
xlii
p.
54.
of the Valenciennes picture which were not
to Quellinus.
(12)
Cat. no.
Allessandro Allon's rendering of the subject (Kunsthistorisches

59a) has
been suggested
as
Museum, Vienna,
prototype of Vermeer's composition (W. Drost,
Barockmalerei in den germanischen Landern, Potsdam, 1926, p. 209). Martha's place in the action
and the position of the
table
(13)
The connection
(14)
At
least
is
is
somewhat
similar; there
is
no
positive resemblance.
suggested by Mr. Derek Hill.
one of Moretto's paintings reached Holland
the appearance of his influence
is
in the seventeenth century
not unknown. Rembrandt's
Emmaus
resemblances to Moretto's version in the Martinengo Gallery. Such motifs

spread in the north by drawings like that of the Martinengo composition
Moretto's Easter Feast in the Chapel of the Sacrament in the
Duomo
and
subjects contain
may have been

at
Copenhagen.
Vecchio
at
Brescia
suggests a connection with the mannerist genre painters of the Netherlands in the sixteenth
century, and thus with their successor, Jan Steen.

(15)
It
may be
the play of light

in
noticed that
which
a parallel to
casts a telling
the
uncommon
shadow upon
another Brescian picture by Moretto, in the
motif of the head of Mary, and
the foreshortened profile,
St.
Joseph
who
is
to be
of the Virgin in SS. Nazzaro e Celso. (Gombosi, Moretto da Brescia, Basle, 1943,
100.) Again, a direct
connection can hardly be supposed. Vermeer's
[83]
found
appears in the Coronation

pi.
34, 36,
style has affinities
with
the realism and attention to light characteristic of Moretto;
it
may be thought
no weaker than those which have
cations in favour of Brescia are
that the indi-
some critics to suggest

for him an apprenticeship in Rome or Naples. Such conjectures have no weight against the
positive evidence that connects Vermeer's formation with the Dutch school. Leonard
Bramer, the Delft artist who was among the witnesses at Vermeer's marriage, had travelled
to Rome and returned by way of Padua, Mantua ana Venice in 162829; he may well have
led
visited Brescia.
45
Plates
THE PROCURESS
56^
51^
(1429
in.
mm)
1302
Signed and dated 1656
Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
We
If
have no record of the conditions in which Vermeer's
we do
he served an apprenticeship
think that the eulogy which couples his

it
know
not
of
it
name wdth
and there
is
no reason
rife,
to
more than
Fabntius means
does not seem, although conjecture has been
says. It
was formed.
style
that the obscurity
hides any very exotic influence; wherever Vermeer's sources can be traced
beyond doubt
artists
of
indeed
it
is
his school.
Of
Vermeer's links with
wealth of evidence throughout
examined
common knowledge among
were
clear that they
in their historical context
close similarities ol matter to
it
is
his
we
contemporaries
career.
When
have
his pictures
are
seen that they present numerous and
works by other
Vermeer's interpreters appear to suffer
his
the
artists
of the time. Here
a certain embarrassment.
One
many
ot
of them,
grappling boldly with the difficulty, suggested that the explanation
is
Vermeer originated the motifs
achievement
and
and the preceding
that the present study agrees
differing
Vermeer
years.
16
his
Amateurs of the controversy
as
If
we
and
at this
point
it
is
necessary to
critical logic has hesitated.
relevant to any consideration of the
[84]
at least in
cannot with reason regard
one of the most inventive of Dutch masters

alternative
will notice
with the consensus of recent opinion
from the views of Dr. Valentiner.
examine the
is
of
widest influence were assigned in consequence to the time of The
his
Procuress
issue
in question; the great part
simply that
artist's
Yet the
temperament. Investigation
Urs Graf
Venal Love
(Woodcut)
must begin with our

1656 borne by The
Venal love
in
its
is
single piece
Procuress.
among
rendering
differs
the
and in
earlier phases,
of direct and undoubted evidence, the date of
17
commonest
particular of the school of Utrecht.
domestic characters
and
who
is
about three years
here exchanged for the
Vermeer's native
are in fact precisely those

earlier.
Beuningen Museum,
humane and
people the painting of the school of Delft. These
their milieu, transposed into
beyond measure,
Vermeer's
notably from the sumptuous and lascivious transactions of his
predecessors; the bravo of Utrecht
figures
subjects of northern genre painting
One
clarity
and dignified
of Pieter de Hooch's pictures of
of them, the famous example in the Boymans-van
anticipates
something of the counterpoint of Vermeer's
[85I
Jan Van Bronckhorst
The
Museum,
(Brukaulnil
arrangement. 18 Nevertheless
Procuress
Hie
Sibtu,
Procuress
Romania)
retains
Caravaggesque, perhaps the clearest appearance ot
work; the
subject, the hint
Groups of half-length
seen rather from below,

a
common theme
far to
cisely
is
figures arranged
make
similarly planned.
20
common
anywhere
in
behind carpet-covered
of
the
Vemieers
few months
Vers
all
convey
tables
which,
sharp horizontal division ot the picture, were
of the painters of Utrecht. 19
him, painted
to
flavour
nothing chaotic or voluminous here,
look for an example. Barent Fabntius.
known
it
definite
of candle-light which never appears again, and the
composition, although there

it.
It is
who
unlikely that
Vermeer had
can hardly have been un-
earlier a family portrait
which
possibly both compositions descend
source.
[86]
is
pre-
from
Pieter
De Hooch
The Empty
Glass
{Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam)
Vermeer
In later pictures
characteristic
painter's
The
use.
assimilated the device
Vermeer owes
several currents. His composition
of genre painting,
One
21
it
was
Procuress.
his
own
beyond
its
immediate
meeting of
was not only identified with the beginnings

with the theme of venal love.
particularly associated
monogram of Urs
far
his strength to his position at the
of the early appearances of the subject
bearing the
to
it
obstruction of space held peculiar advantages to the
temperament. The roots of this design stretch
sources; as so often,
and put
Graf,
22
87
in
presents
northern
art,
broadsheet
an exact prototype of The
W. R.
(16)
Pantheon,
(17)
und
Valentiner, 'Vermeer
October 1932.
Read and recorded
in catalogue
die Meister der Hollandischen Genremalerei',
of 1835. Attributed to Vermeer of Utrecht
until
1862.
(18)
Klassiker der Kunst, 1930, p. 16.
and others
(19)
which the same
in
E.g. pictures of
The view accepted
figures appear,
Concert
by
J.
is
that
of the
here of the date of this picture,
editor, Dr. Valentiner.
van Bronckhorst
at
colour scheme of primary red and yellow often appears in the

largely the formation of Vermeer's picture
A
How
Utrecht and Brunswick.
work of A. Bloemaert.
was governed by current usage
is
indicated by
the appearance, probably quite independently, of several similar features in a picture, T\\e
Choice of a Lover,
the
work
by N. Moeyaert,
inspired The Procuress.
in the
W.
Rijksmuseum.
Drost, op.
has indeed been suggested that
(It
W.
cit.
Martin, Frans Hals en zijn Tijd,
Amsterdam, 1942, pi. 85.)

(20) Rijksmuseum, signed and dated Sep. 30, 1655. It is possibly a chance that
arrangement makes an appearance in the work of Rembrandt in the same year,
Crawford's Titus
(21)
now
E.g. Jan
in the
van Scorel's family portrait
noted
form
theme of Christ
(22)
lander,
development of more than one great painter but

the first works of Vermeer.
151
this
design provided
house of Martha
vessels in
which
recapitulation of history, an involuntary consolidation of his ground,
in the early
as in
1.
rarely in so
LXXXIX,
p.
119).
The most famous of
Holbein's Lais of Corinth, follows the same pattern.
Cf
Paris
Bordone
the art
may be
complete
See also Lucas Cranach (Stockholm) and Quentin Massys (M.
Burlington Magazine,
Lord
in the
dated 1562. If
at Kassel,
earliest material, the
and Mary- and related subjects formed one of the chief iconographic
in
Boymans-van Beuningen Museum.
genre painting with some of its
developed.
a similar
J.
Fried-
courtesan pictures,
(Brera).
Plates
6A GIRL ASLEEP
34^ X 30^
Metropolitan
In
Girl Asleep, the Soldier
Reader Vermeer's matter

that current
among
his
is
mm) Signed
Museum of Art, New York
in.
(867
765
and Laughing Girl and the Dresden Letter
stated in a vocabulary not essentially different
from
contemporaries. In The Letter Reader the hands are
modelled with almost painful attention to
their
known
anatomical form; 23
the same uneasy linear definition of these details appears in the Frick picture.
Both
reveal the painter experimenting with a
manner which
is
the antithesis
Girl
Rembrandt
Asleep at a Window
(Drawing. Private
of that which he
by an unhappy
later
developed.
The
collection,
Soldier
jocularity, an ingredient
Canada)
and Laughing Girl
is
also
marked
of the painting of the time which
hardly appears again in Vermeer's work. Equally unlike his ultimate style
Rembrandtesque continuity of modelling
in
is
the
Girl Asleep.
Both the modelling here and the type of model, with her prominent peak,
are reminiscent
of Nicolaes Maes. Her pose, too,
is
characteristic
occurs not only in the picture in the National Gallery called The
but in the great Lacemaker
at Brussels
which Maes learned
it
Idle Servant
2*
and many others of the early works. 23
Vermeer may have derived the theme from any of them; 26

profited in the Girl Asleep
of him;
it
is
clear that
he
from both the humane gravity and the inventiveness
in the studio
of Rembrandt. 27
[89]
Nicolaes Maes
The Housekeeper
(1656. City Art
The
vista
opening into another room
often suggested in the
here
is
closer to
De Hooch's
Museum,
St. Louis)
also appears in
work of Rembrandt. But
De Hooch.
the form in
is
to
be seen
in
and The
this
form
Procuress.
in
The mood of A
Vermeer's own; the
it
Rothschild collection painted
example suggested the use of

appear in
which
it
is
it
is
used
ol his earliest works; 28
some
evolution continues throughout his years in Delft and
Girl Asleep
Idle Servant;
This feature, which became such an integral part ol
typical compositions,
in a drinking scene in the
The
19
There can be
it
little
appears fully developed

at
about the time of the
doubt
here. Like the motif
its
that
De Hooch's
from Maes
it
does not
Vermeer's work again.
Girl Asleep
girl
is
none the
less for
the
first
time recognizably
barely visible behind the furniture, inactive,
[90]
wrapped
Nicolaes Maes
The
Idle Servant
(1655. National Gallery, London)
up
in herself,
in the picture
to
be
even the barely perceptible intrusive note provided by the mask
on the
many more
familiar;
it
is
the
wall,
both belong to
his
The
world and no other. There were
on
becomes
lucid expositions of
it.
Cupid
of Cesar van Everdingen which
in the style
picture
the wall later
is
seen
again in the Frick music scene and in one of the pictures in the National
Gallery. 30
It
then becomes clear that the mask was specially added for the
purpose of the Girl Asleep.

sleep admits a fantasy
It
illuminates the
of love. 30
91
theme with
a typical
reference;
(23)
(24)
Compare
Compare
Hale, Vermeer, ed.
P. L.
Valentiner, op.
The
tit.
Coburn and
Hale, London, 1937, p. 196.
picture (no. 207)
is
dated 1655.
Some
such work
perhaps suggested the similar piece of Esaias Boursse (W. Heilgendorff, Berlin, Rotterdam,
1935 no.
8, pi.
124); the picture
belonged to Thore
who
attnbuted
on the
it
basis
of a
false
signature to Vermeer.
(25)
sources,
at this
1000).
The
is
of
original
Tlie
among Vermeer's
work of Rembrandt
Housekeeper by Maes, "dated 1656 and surely
Museum,
in the City Art
St Louis.
The motif appears
in the
time, in the drawing reproduced here (formerly in the Heseltine collection, H. de G.
The drawing
is
connected with the picture
acquaintanceship with the
window
portraits
found of the coalescence of an almost
of
classical
Stockholm: Maes
at
this phase.
formality
No
later reveals his
better illustration could be
which occurs
in
Dutch painting
in
the middle of the century than a comparison of the serene frontal arrangement of these
renderings by Rembrandt,
theme
version of a similar
Vermeer chooses
Maes and Vermeer
in the Girl Asleep
(Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett).
It
with Jacques de Gheyn's
will often
accumulation of meaning. In the drawings of a model resembling The

in
the Pierpont Morgan,
be noticeable that
motif with the longest history and the
instinctively the genre
Idle Servant
Dalhousie and Oppenheimer collections) Maes
richest
(formerly
may be
seen
evolving further themes of the same kind.
The most exact parallel to the figure of the Girl Asleep is to be found in the little
panel of A Woman Reading by Claes Hals in the Mauntshuis; the resemblance is beyond
coincidence. It would be difficult to place so nondescript a painter among Vermeer's
sources; his works are few and he is said to have abandoned painting when he took a tavern
in 1664 at the age of thirty-six. Nor does he imitate the specific features of the Delft picture.
Perhaps the precise origin of both compositions is lost; the Haarlem work indicates the
(26)
currency of Vermeer's theme.

(27)
Valentiner
(op.
tit.)
conjectures that
Maes
stayed at Delft
when he
left
Rembrandt's
studio for Dordrecht, perhaps in 1653 although a later date has been suggested.
There was
however, as Van Regteren Altena and Martin (op. cit., p. 65) have observed, much freer
intercourse between the schools of various towns than is sometimes allowed. There is also
some indication, considered below, that Vermeer had access to at least drawings by Maes
throughout
as
his career.
(28)
From about
(29)
Repr. K.
(30)
Vitale
der
K.
e.g.
K. der K. pp.
5, 10,
14 and
it,.
p. 33.
Oud Holland, Lin, p. 262. J. van Bronckhorst has also been suggested
Cupid. The picture is now lost. Perhaps here it has a hardly deliberate
Bloch
the author of the
1648 onwards,
in
double reference; sleep
is
also the discarding
of a mask.
[92]
"HHHKn^HH
Jacob Van Loo

Diana
(1648. Gematdegalerie, Staatliche
Museen,
Berlin)
8g
Plates
DIANA AND HER COMPANIONS

38^ X
Mauritshuis
The
Italianate subject
X 1050 mm) Signed
41 ^ in. (984
and
style
The Hague
of the Diana, with
its
size
conventional facture, have inspired general agreement that

picture, perhaps the
first
by the painter
such indications are not always

picture,
and particularly
in the
that
reliable.
we
and comparatively
it
is
very early
have. In the case of
Certainly there
is
Vermeer
something
in
the
explanatory use of tone, which distinguishes
from the three pictures which have just been considered. The
[93]
light
falls
it
gently
Jacob Van Loo

Young Couple in a Chamber
The Hague)
(Mauritshnis,
and broadly across the form, making the
modulation precisely apparent
subtlest
yet preserving most completely the unity of the whole. This comprehensive
breadth
is
hardly approached again by
versation pieces.
Some
distance
must
lie
Vermeer
between
until the time
it
of the con-
and the bare tonal
differenti-
ation of The Procuress or the heavy flourish of The House of Martha and Mary.
point
is
clearer
in
photographs than
when we
polychromatic richness of the original. Perhaps

fabricate a conventional Italianate
and
Venetian colour scheme. There
is
it
are
was the
The
confronted with the

painter's intention to
De Vries has suggested, 31

much in the colour of the
especially, as Dr.
none the
less
Diana, particularly in the combination of orange-pink and yellow, which
[94]
Delft School
The Minuet
(Private collection, New
points toward the early genre pictures.
who
dries Diana's feet,
seems that the dress of the attendant
It
and perhaps the model
appear in the Girl Asleep.
York)
who
The two works may
wears
it,
are the
well date from the same phase.
Possibly Diana and her Companions represents the culmination
wider ambitions.
pictures.
It
The Music Lesson
tell
painter's surprising
The
of Vermeer's
shares the fundamental uncertainty of style in
The head of Martha,
that
the story of
of the standing
its
same which
resolution,
nymph and
all
the early
the mirror in
and the development of the
independence.
picture was for a time ascribed to
Vermeer of Utrecht. The signature
was once altered to that of Nicolaes Maes;

Writers on the Diana have followed
Bode
I
95
in
it
is
now
completely obscured. 32
recognizing that the arrangement
is
based on
33
at Berlin.
It
rendering by Jacob Van Loo
in fact familiar
with more
attendant here
whose
direct quotation
from
than one of the
cloak
versions of the subject; the
artist's
across her back, baring her shoulder,
falls
a picture
seems that Vermeer was
which
now
is
at
Copenhagen. 34 This
is
not the
is
whole of the debt. The motif of VermeeHs chief figure has no analogy
either
work and
the memorable
van Loo,
it
can hardly be by chance that
fall
of
upon
light
a precise parallel to
it,
in
even to
the head, appears in a third picture by Jacob
genre-piece of a Young Couple
in a
Chamber?"
Delft picture
which
has points of resemblance to the Diana, a mutilated canvas called The Minuet,
was evidently suggested by the same work. 36

that
It
provides
further indication
even the more remote of Vermeer's sources were equally available to other
members of his
circle.
There were other currents
Rembrandt designed just such

that the
confirm Vermeer's choice of subject. In 1654
to
a
pose and action for his Bathsheba. 37
Diana had some influence on the
picture was a link
between the
of the decline; no doubt

little
panels
which became
world the
Italianism of the
Italianate
treatment of such subjects.

first
staple
3*
one of the
style
now
was
thought, similar figures in the manner of Jacob van
arrangement
From Vermeer's own
cast out.
again until, according to the habit of condensation
to the
of the mythological
first
product of the family.
and pastoral
The
half of the century and that
example contributed something
its
Venus of Frans van Mieris,
of the
later
appears
It
It
which
Loo
does not appear

is
typical
of
his
are seen at last ex-
tending their elegant limbs in the Finding of Moses which appears behind the
Dublin
(31)
Letter Writer, a picture
Op.
hanging on the wall.
at., p. 40.
(32) Transcribed in the Catalogue of 1895 an d reproduced in that of 1935.
Its
form was
evidently entirely typical.

(33)
Dated 1648. W. Bode, Rembrandt und
semblance
(34)
is
The
seine Zeitgenossen, Leipzig,
1906.
The
re-
in reverse.
figure
variations of the
is
peculiarly characteristic of the
motif appear
at different
Copenhagen
picture, a Diana; several
points in the composition. (Catalogue of 1922,
no. 344).
(35)
Another
Mauntshuis. Formerly Alfons

parallel
with Van Loo
may be
mixture of the international with the
Jaffe;
Archiv fur Kunstgeschichte,
noticed.
No
realistic style
[96]
painter
which
is
came
1914-15,
pi.
112.
so close to the precise
seen in Vermeer's Christ
in the
House of Martha and Mary, compare

certain analogy
Coats collection, Skelmorlie, where
in the
no. 38), Pieter de Hooch K. der K. p. 245
New
collection in
is
indeed
between the two compositions.
Formerly
(36)
(cat.
(Copenhagen). There
his Coral Glass Factory
York.
It is
(as
it
bore the name of Vermeer
by H. van der Burch).
Now
in a private
not quite impossible that evidence might emerge which
would
unknown juvenilia of Vermeer himself: a certain

much as any virtue, is suggestive.
The similarity of arrangement, and in particular of the detail of the
enable us to connect The Minuet with the

uneasiness in the picture,
In the Louvre.
(37)
as
hand, might suggest that Vermeer had knowledge of the picture.

better the essentially
No
comparison illuminates
different temperaments of the two masters.
Wallace Collection, dated 166(5?).
(38)
Plates 10-11
A LADY READING AT THE

32^
25-în. (832
X 645
mm
WINDOW
Traces of a signature
Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatlichc Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
In the
Dresden picture the
characteristic
form of Vermeer's work and
arrangement of genre subject matter both become evident.
we
which
see his
mature simplicity and with
it
no picture has
less
but they no longer account
it
is
the
first
girl,
set
their
plaster
still
many
for
in
all its
for the character
of the
result.
precisely defining her shape, a plain wall catches the light;
appearance of the basic feature of Vermeer's architecture. 39
device was not a
Caravaggio.
work
appearance of inventiveness than the Letter
Reader
Behind the
first
the curious element of deception,
of visual counterfeit. The sources on which he draws are

originality
the
It is
his
new
one,
The Haarlem
it
owes
its
The
currency in the seventeenth century to
genre-painters of the previous generation habitually
picturesquely tangled incidents against relieving expanses of bare
and Vermeer's treatment here
recalls
them unmistakably. There
are
other signs of the influence of Haarlem on the school of Delft which will
require to be considered.
But
this
immovable and unchanging element
in
owe much, as has long been recognized, to the

his own circle. As it takes on in succeeding pictures
Vermeer's compositions must
most profound influence

its
in
characteristic luminosity
it
recalls in increasing
[97]
measure the
wall,
bathed in
Carel Fabritius
Gerard Dou
The Goldfinch
Self-portrait
{1634. Mauritshuis,
light,
which
The Hague)
(Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)
,
bears the perch of Fabntius' Goldfinch. 40 That
masterpiece has
little
sometimes perhaps been made to account for too much. But there
gestion in
it,
almost alone in the painting of Delft,
of Vermeer's world,
at
least
of
its
descent. In
dates
Rembrandt and Paul
form
it
takes
its
is
thus
sug-
not of the closed perfection
immaculate simplicity and
peculiarity of Fabritius' picture itself
contact with
if
is
worth
its
light.
The
attention. In spite of his
Potter the Goldfinch traces a very different
place in the tradition of trompe
from the famous example by Jacopo de Barbari
Voeil
now
painting
at
which
Munich, the
representation of objects (often including birds) suspended against a surface
deceptively parallel to the plane of the picture, the tradition which Willem van
Aelst
was following
in Delft.
[98]
Gerard Ter Borch
Gerrit Houckgeest
Interior of the
Old Church
at
Delft
(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
opening, or the picture

purpose.
It
Vceil
elements in the Dresden picture.
what the curtain

itself,
41
represents,
the only answer
is
defining not only her presence but her distance.
It is
of the infinitely
complex solutions of such problems
which come
embrace Vermeer's
style itself.
The
meer's scheme becomes finally clear in such pictures
of their origin which

a sophisticated
gains
from
whether
that
its
may be
and familiar
as
deceptive frame
The
is
rudiment
in later works, solutions
place of curtains in Verthe Studio; the indications
The
painter
picture within
is
using
picture that
paradoxical and baffling kinship to reality

I
99
its
world and ours,
no more than
gathered here are of interest.
pictorial artifice.
To
covers an
it
ambiguity
its
subtly claims a place both in the letter reader's
to
Reading
But there are more palpable trompe

the question of precisely
Girl
is
as
old
the European tradition
as
Parrhasius outshone Zeuxis
much
legend very
disruptive effect
century
it
painters profited
of nature no
new
illusion
was beneath
covered by just such

clearly congenial to
and
forties
Throughout
Dou
Gerard
him and
in succeeding pictures,
his trompe I'oeil still-life subjects,
he painted.
it
46
narrow
later
folds
in
likely to
We
element
painters before him.
But of
as
framing in turn
no longer welcome
in
Dutch
a quality
it
in the school.
this curtain;
solemnity with
appears enclosing a
Houckgeest
Heyden turning from
now
artifice
in Budapest.
in the fifties;
47
it is
his kitchen,
It is
possible
the sharp and

his.
Vermeer's
in the
his
is
none
his
is
own
more
town.
and the trompe
overlooked.
It is
I'oeil
sur-
atmospheric prospects
The church
and the curtain
well-known view
art
commonly
is
window
well as the bolder handling of the
of counterfeit in
architectural painting
In a self-
imitated and his
the forms of the device
all
it.
44
The motif was
4 ''
have been familiar to him than the current use of it in
to paint the curious piece
It
Dou
form
in the
through
turned back in meditated disarray are precisely like
prising to find even Jan van der
fortified
use for
He was much
mind when he painted
development of the motif recalls
Haarlem
leans
from the
often encloses the condensed
use of the device no doubt spread the fashion for
Vermeer had Dou
No
in their pursuit
the school,
curtain as that in the Letter Reader.
self-sufficient trivialities that
that
Dutch and
landscape painter found
middle
"a
but in the seventeenth
it)
from the naturalism of Caravaggio. 43
their notice.
for such
little taste
Rembrandt, the deceptive curtain often appears
portrait painted in the
and
adheres to
still
a curtain that
had the Greek
their public
revolution than the
his
which Vermeer adopted; even
his cat
and
painters
of
illusion
The High Renaissance had
significance
more from
painters to
still-life
Dutch
42
was with the
It
certain disrepute
(a
gained
mind.
in
itself.
painters of Delft
part of their apparatus.
Old Church painted by
green, in straight folds and
beyond
it
Gerrit
column
occupies the centre of the picture, catching the sunlight. There are equally
strong suggestions of
Vermeer
in the
deceptive curtain in several forms,

further.
Among
the themes of
48
work of Hendrick van
but the relation between the
Dutch
is
the
He
artists
uses the
extends
painters only the massive single pillar
which he often painted, standing alone

affinity
Vliet.
in
measured space and
with the immobile and independent
ladies
of
whom
light, has
any
the Letter Reader
first.
Another
parallel
may be
noted, for links between

[
ioo
Rembrandt and Vermeer
are always
of
Rembrandt was
interest.
responsible for the most notable of
previous treatments of the subject of reading
more than one of
decorated
is
between Rembrandt and the

from the motifs
quite apart
There
his pictures.
suppose some contact certainly did.
it,
window. 49 The
50
The
no reason
is
to his version, but Nicolaes
Vermeer paid attention
gous,
at a
Maes with
curtain itself
to think that
whom we may
relationship, antithetical yet analo-
Reader and the works which follow
Letter
Dresden picture Ver-
that they share. In the
meer's peculiar sensitivity to the emotional implications of figure painting and
becomes apparent. There
the placing of figures in space

in
which the Rembrandtesque
certainly only
style suggests
Rembrandt and
domestic painting with
as
profound
awaken
stimulus was needed to
something of
endowed
his pupils
meaning
are pictures
the conventional forms of
Vermeer. 51 But whatever
as
nerve which was rooted in the painter's nature
might have been drawn from almost any source.
whole generation of artists,
form or another Rembrandt's humane understanding, was
imitating in one
him alone
grappling with a knot which Vermeer's temperament led
The Dresden
picture
Ter Borch had painted
is
perhaps the
profiles
of
first
hardly
clear sign
less
example, 52 but the figure of the
dissociated
from
own.
his first invention,
is
his
virtually evades
(39)
a solution
most
personal process.
Letter
characteristic
his
who was
by A. B. de
Vries).
picture (formerly in Vienna
may indeed show
is
Vermeer's
only one, for the
work, but an invention
of the genre problem in terms so simple that
it
it.
of Paul Potter
1923, followed
can be quite
Reader
has been suggested that Vermeer's light walls and clear contours
It
to the skies
It is
his
this
later fifties
indeed perhaps essentially
motif sustains him throughout
of a curious kind.
of
to cut.
enchanting simplicity and none
of the increasing refinement of genre painting in the
It
by Maes
manner and
his early
in Delft
The
and
from 1646
relation
now
to 1650
(M.
owe something
Eisler, Alt-Delft,
Vienna,
not supported by any definite resemblance.
is
again in the hands of the
Dutch
authorities)
which
been ascribed on grounds of a signature to

Vermeer (by Plietzsch, Martin, by De Vries, who has excluded it from his most recent
editions, and doubtfully by Bodkin and Goldscheider who reproduce it in colour, Vermeer,
London, 1940, p. 5;) it is an open-air adaptation of motifs from Rembrandt's portraits of the
fifties (cf.
Paintings,
Potter's influence has often
that dated 1645
and strongly suggesting the Delft school, published by Dr. Bredius,
1936-7, no. 238).
The
may have been
picture
remains uncertain.
I
101
painted in Delft but the
artist
it is
(40)
Mauritshuis, dated 1654.
(41)
Compare
Wilenski, Introduction
Dutch Art, London, 1929,
p. 283.
Cases in which
possible to discern the exact function of the curtain (e.g. in the pictures
by Rembrandt,
to
Houckgeest and Hondius) do not suggest
were
mirror, nor
W.
(42)
curtains
Martin, op.
commonly
it
ever to be understood
is
Romanesque illumination
p. 26. In
tit.,
that
covering
as
so used in Holland.
shown
the curtain, often
as
suspended from the border of the page, was associated with the iconography of the Evangee.g.
lists,
the
St.
Matthew
painting, e.g.
on
Hugo
Gospels (British
in the Lindisfarne
The medieval
the Lorsch Gospels (Vatican).
interest in
van der Goes' Adoration
Museum) and
the
St.
John
in
such devices persisted in fifteenth-century
(Berlin), in
which the rod
is
imitated in gesso
the panel, and Botticelli's St. Augustine (Uffizi, E. Michalski, Bedeutung der asthetiscken
Grenze, Berlin, 1932).

(43)
There
is
curious instance in
(Roberto Longhi, Proporzioni

(44)
c.
E.g. the Vanitas
Florence. 1940,
/,
among
the
gifts
by Longhi's Cecco
Narcissus
del Caravaggio.
pi. 58.)
of Dr. Bredius to the Mauritshuis (Cat. no. 654 as

by A. Hondius 111 which the curtain
1650). Michalski reproduces a Mountain Landscape
shadow across the picture.

(45) Rijksmuseum. (K. der K.
casts a
(46)
Cf. K. der K. pp.
16, as
p.
The
59, 144.
about 1645.) See
latter, like
also
K. der K. pp. 159, 144.
others of Dou's
still-life
panels (and per-
haps The Goldfinch which has marks of hinges), formed the door of a case enclosing
Such
a picture.
cases afforded not only protection but also further opportunity for deceiving the eve:
Vermeer's Gold Weigher was enclosed in one in 1696. (K. Bostrom, Kunsthistorische Mededelingen, 1949, 12.)
(47) Rijksmuseum, the last figure of the date is obliterated. The rod appears to cast a
shadow on the picture. Another form of the motif, in which the curtain is looped over the
rail from which it hangs, appears in a picture of The Great Church at Bergen-op-Zoom.
(Copenhagen Museum, no. 251, dated 1655. Dou's picture at Dresden dated i6>6(?) shows
a similar form.) In this
fifties
the
(formerly
Leon
shape
it
appears in a picture in Pieter de Hooch's style of the middle
Lilienfeld collection, Vienna, K. der K. p. 25) and,
works of the next decade (Copenhagen and J. Boehler
84 and 85) Jan Steen makes similar use of
(48)
and The Marriage Contract
H. van
Vliet uses the
at
111
more
elegantly, in
Munich, K.
his great essay in the style
of Delft
der
K. pp.
now
in the
House of Martha and Mary, Stirling-Maxwell

Brunswick).
Mauritshuis (no. 170, see also the Christ

collection,
it
collection,
in the
hanging curtain
(in a picture, for
Gottschewski, Hamburg, in 1935 and another
at
example, that was
at
Messrs.
Messrs. Asscher and Walker, London,
September 1929) and the looped-up form (Leuchtenberg Gallery, Munich, Cat. of 1857,
No. 161, dated 1659 and formerly Cook collection, 1914, No. 375, probably c. 1656, cf. the
dated Oude Kerk sold
at Delft
the
at Christie's,
two forms of
1.
was probably
E.g. the etching of Jan Six (1648)
Museum, Bayonne, and Ny

(50)
one of his pictures of
}i). In
Tlie
Nieuwe Kerk
the motif appear together. (Plautier-Sachswitz collection, exhib.
Leipzig, 1929, n. 24, the date of 1636

(49)
No.
6. 37,
Carlsberg,
Rembrandt's Holy Family
at
and the
misreading of 1656.)
oil
sketches connected with
Copenhagen, K.
Kassel (1646)
[
102]
is
der
K.
1.
it
(Bonnat
pp. 344, 338).
enclosed in
painted frame with
rail
from which
mirror;
it
a curtain hangs.
(The frame
Rembrandt
follows the one that
(Oxford, Dr. K. T. Parker, to
at
both
The
sides
of the
whom
full
certainly that
Maes made
Berlin grisaille of John the Baptist Preaching.)
shows both the curtain and the
is
of the picture rather than
the writer
is
drawing
after the Kassel picture.
indebted for knowledge of
extent of the painted frame,
now
Another, incomplete, study by Maes
original.
designed, in a drawing in the Louvre, for the
it:
in the British
is
the
copy
away
Museum.)
considerably cut
curtain appears, in heavier folds, in the free and very beautiful variation (formerly in
the Huldschinsky Collection, Berlin)

subject
now in
St.
Petersburg.
Maes
also
which Maes based on Rembrandt's treatment of the

knew (see note 5 1) the Emmaus of 1648; a curtain hangs
over the Copenhagen version of the composition.
Among
(51)
way between
Collection, Berlin, and the

that
Maes such works as A Mother Nursing her Child stand halfRembrandt and that of Delft (versions were in the Kappel
Lanz collection, Mannheim. The subject, framed in a niche like
the pictures of
the style of
of the Emmaus, was perhaps suggested by Rembrandt's Holy Family
interiors
which Rembrandt painted
(Gemaldegalene, Berlin,
in the Louvre).
The
Louvre panel and the Tobias pictures

and formerly Cook Collection), were in form and mood the true
in the forties, the
predecessors of the genre-painting of Delft. (Rembrandt's works provided the basis of
rendering of the subject,
now
Ferdinandeum
in the
at
Innsbruck, variously attributed to
Carel and Barent Fabritius.)

(52)
E.g.
and the work
Ter Borch's Maternal Care

in the
in the Mauritshuis,
Rijksmuseum reproduced
analogy in Ter Borch's
work of this time
here,
all
to the figure
The Reading Lesson
painted in the early
of Vermeer's
Letter
in the
fifties.
The
Louvre
closest
Reader appears in
picture of a girl holding a toilet
box (Pans, Georges Renand) published by S. G.

The Hague, 1959, 1, pi. 77, as c. 1648-9) to whose courtesy the writer
is
indebted for knowledge of it. The painters of Leiden under Ter Borch's
influence are among the most remarkable of Vermeer's immediate predecessors. In pictures
by Quinngh Brekelenkam, for instance, a steady light floods an interior whose further wall
is decorated with a map (e.g. works in the Zatka collection, Budweis, and L. D. van Hengel,
Arnhem, both dated 1655, and a portrait, at Benedict and Co., Berlin, in 1928, dated 1652)
a circular
Gudlaugsson (Ter
Borch,
and the foreground
was
at
is
occupied by
Van Diemen and Co.,
any influence of Vermeer's

Frans van
Concert,
Miens
although
a still-life
in 1932).
Such
of musical instruments (an example dated 1655

affinities
make
it
however,
difficult to trace
with certainty
at
The Duet by
Schwerin, dated 1658. (The picture bears no resemblance to Vermeer's
connection has been suggested.) The governing influence on the de-
Letter Reader. Possibly,
velopment of Van Mieris remained,
as
it
is
the related Toilet at Berlin
Borch.
103
reflected in
makes
clear, that
of Ter
Anthonie Palamedesz
Merry Company
(Formerly Porges
Plates
collection, Paris)
12 1 j
SOLDIER AND LAUGHING GIRL

19 X 17 in. (483 X 432 mm)
Frick Collection,
The
New
York
subjects of the Soldier, the Girl Interrupted
and the drinking scenes
at
Berlin and Brunswick follow closely the genre convention of the time. Ver-
meer
little
is
never quite
as ease
it;
incongruously on the careless
tion and his diffidence

sistencies
with
his impersonality
which the
air
and
his
detachment
subjects affect.
become more evident they
give
rise to
As
scenes, painted ten years or so earlier,

[
his delibera-
curious incon-
of style. The subject of this picture has an evident relation to
rudimentary version of the soldier appears in one of
sit
De Hooch.
his earliest military
and the evolution of the figure may be
104]
Dirk Hals
Backgammon
Players
(Formerly Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna)
De Hooch
clearly traced in
succeeding works. 53 Often
woman
hood and more than once he
in a linen
shrouded
as
seats
him opposite
serves to enclose a composition,
here in shadow. There are several versions of the group
markable example
is
at
(a
re-
Dublin) from any of which Vermeer might have de-
much the form which it takes in the Frick picture. 54 De Hooch

himself doubtless owed the notion to the painters of Haarlem; such cavaliers
were a part of their common stock. 55 The device of enclosing the composition
rived
it
in very
with
darkened figure outlined against the
them;
among
the
artists
Other elements
who
used
it
light
is
was J. van Velsen
in the Soldier and Laughing Girl
the painter; his architecture and the light
[105]
equally characteristic of
who worked
were of more
which floods
it
in Delft. 56
lasting use to
appear here in their
Pieter
De Hooch
Backgammon
Players
(National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin)
mature form. The enclosing wall
windows on
pattern to
little
left
receding obliquely towards
which he held throughout
his
it
of the picture and the
make up
but
left
predecessors
lit
it
would not be
the unvarying
work. This consistency in
evidence about the painter; the light in his interiors
from the
rustic
the
parallel to the plane
falls
almost invariably
easy to find a genre picture
very definitely in any other way.
The
itself yields
interiors
by one of
his
of Rembrandt,
and hoary, radiant with piety and learning, and those of the meanest
followers of Frans Hals and
same and Vermeer adheres

the particular
to
Dou
it
share an architecture that
conservatively.
The opening
theme of De Hooch seem, although one of his
to have held hardly
more
interest for
him than
[106]
the
is
essentially the
vistas
which were
variations
shadowy
is
lost,
57
spaces that Ter
De Hooch
Pieter
The Card
Players
(Private collection, Switzerland)
Borch was popularizing

but none
less
as a setting for
so than Vermeer,
elegant society.
expended
originality
Few Dutch
on innovation
for
painters,
its
own
sake.
The convention of form which Vermeer took up was of about thirty years'
standing; the works of Rembrandt and the style which Dou derived from them,
the painting of
cabinet
pieces
Haarlem under the influence of Frans Hals and the courtly

of the
architectural fantasies
thirties,
58
well
as
of the perspectivists
as
all
reflections
contributed to
of the proliferating
it.
One
can trace in
Vcrmeer's clear and rigid rectangle of space another sign of his acute eye for the
essence of the varied elements in his tradition.
The more
elaborate of his
last
works tend towards the pattern propagated by the painters of Leiden. But
[
107
there
no doubt
is
which he adopts
that in the form, as in the figure motif,
in the
and Laughing Girl one origin predominates, the school of Haarlem.
Soldier
owed
Perhaps he
it
Vermeer's pattern
Delft painters
to the
same immediate example,
vers-
close to a picture called
is
may have drawn
the suggestion from
little earlier.
develop
De Hooch
The torm
it.
Hie Card
many
Players. 59
The
number of
sources; a
about the same time or
their contemporaries arrived at similar solutions at

60
of Pieter de Hooch.
that
elaborated the structure in later works but he did not
was one ot the many
ot Hie Card Players
ments which he lighted on during
remarkable period of
his
arrange-
fertile
vitality.
would
It
indeed be hard to imagine the unique potentialities of this hollow cube of lighted
space
if
we had
not Vermeer's mature pictures to help
E.g. K. der
(53)
K. pp. 4
(as c.
Valentiner published
in
work,
which the
soldier possibly
The
curiously bent
(54)
becomes
Girl
common mark
if
the
The
1648), 10, 17, 18, 19, 26.
the earliest of the courtyard scenes
which were
De Hooch
owes something
hand of the
his
use of the group in one of
most remarkable works
signature
is
one of those
Vermeer
to
us.
(loc. cit.
and K.
soldier, often visible in
the
as that in
of
be
K.
der
Haarlem
of De Hooch's influence. E.g. Brekelenkam's
(Pannwitz collection, probably based on such works
is
that can
p. 261).
pictures, later
Soldier
and Laughing
Van Gelder
collection,
Uccle, rather than on Vermeer's rendering. Another of Brekelenkam's variations
W. M.
Moser's collection, Brooklyn, in which the soldier
is
interest.
relied on,
is
standing, Christie's, 17.
in Dr.
44.
3.
no. 78). Metsu's Smoker, formerly in the Czernin collection. Vienna (H. de G. 203), evidently
belongs to the same phase.

E.g.
(55)
Dirk Hals' Backganunon
Players (formerly Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna),
Pot's Convivial Party (National Gallery).
E.g. his Music Party in the National Gallery, dated 1631.
(56)
The
painter was a master
was well known
in Delft in 1625.
The
of Utrecht
Tlie Concert, signed by Gysbrecht van der Kuyl, collection of Sir George
(e.g.
device descended from Caravaggio;
Leon, Rotterdam, 1935, no.

(57)
No.
(58)
Several Delft
5 in
it
to the school
3).
the 1696 auction.

artists
practiced in this style. E.g. Gernt Houckgeest's Interior with a
Gentleman Making Music (formerly A. Kay collection, Edinburgh, dated 1(6)33).

Christ
iti
the
House of Mary and Martha by
Hendnk van Steenwyck
the
Cf
Younger
also
in the
Louvre, dated 1620.
Now
(59)
p.
^2
as
in a private collection in Switzerland (formerly Pereire collection),
about 1655. The date, however,
ed to the
Soldier
and Laughing
Girl.
is
matter of conjecture.
The evidence
suggests that the
of the two works, but since neither can be dated with certainty
is
clear that
Vermeer and De Hooch were working

[
108
The
picture
is
De Hooch was
it is
in close contact
K.
der
K.
clearly relat-
the earlier
not quite conclusive.
It
between 1656 and 1660
or later and no doubt both

indication that
material to the
is
in the figure
De Hooch
younger
artists
in this
Where
artist.
motif of the
were
by the
affected
most personal and
Soldier
There
relationship.
original phase
connection between them
a definite
and Laughing
Girl,
it is
however, no
is,
of his work owed anything
clear that
is
discernible, as
Vermeer was the
it
debtor.
when De Hooch responds to Vermeer's influence, the impact and the attenown style are unmistakable.
Among parallel developments there may be noted Isaak van Koedyck's Empty
In the sixties,
uation of his
(60)
Glass, dated
1648 (Van Aalst collection, Rotterdam, 1935, no. 63a,) and
Backgammon
by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (165 1, in 1935 at Messrs. A. S. Drey, Munich) which
seems to be related both to the Haarlem school and to De Hooch. (A variation of the subPlayers
ject
was exhibited
at
Stockholm, September 1938 no.
16,
dated 1653.)
Plates 14-15
A STREET IN DELFT
2l4
I7jin. (540
438
mm)
Signed
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
16 1 j
Plates

18 X i6| in. (457 X 410 mm)
The
Maidservant has
on the
surface
some resemblance
Vermeer's predecessors, but both the plan of the picture and the refined
representation belong to his maturity.
bare
map of the
incidence of
light.
convincing and complete that

change,
how
unexplained in
it
this
The
is
head of the Laughing
The
in the
Girl.
detail
of
life
is
optical vocabulary
style
rendered here
becomes
not always recognized
is
how
at
at
left
arm,
this
as
deep
is
the
how
109]
confident manner and the
comparison with the passage
Edinburgh picture demonstrates, draws from

I
as a
the base of the nose and across the
wide gulf between

maid's
of
once so
head for instance the accent of the cheek,
unexpected the omission of drawing

expanse of shadow. There
The
of
to the painting
its
contour neither form
Gerard Dou
The Cook
(Louvre, Paris)
nor supporting
detail;
the record of tone
the Dresden Letter Reader.
of necessity
relies
the pentimenti
The
Vermeer
more on
which
rarely
The
its
is
bare of the structural modelling of
other arm, equally independent of convention,
defining outline, and round
occur in the painter's work.
as a
simple precursor of Chardin and of Corot.
of
uniform progression,
commonly been counted among
his
in
in fact little reason in the
and elegant decline. For
all
61
who
It is
early works.
two
Few have
have seen
perhaps largely
whichever direction,
Valentiner to the extreme, in dating the picture

is
are visible, strangely,
Maidservant has been a favourite picture of those
in the interests
There
it
that
it
has
followed Dr.
years before The Procuress.
view of Vermeer's development
as a
steady
the weight and continuity of modelling in the
[no]
Maidservant
its
beauty
lies as
much
which contradict them.
in the elements
It is
perhaps only the radical change of method, approaching an abdication of the
demands upon
traditional
painter here to
make
mediacy which
lies at
painters to
know and
his single frontal assault
understand, that allows the
on the problem of physical im-
We may
the heart of his development.
imagine
mood
boldness does not quite agree with his tempera-
of confidence,
a liberation; the
ment and
possible to prefer the tender yet inflexible system of tone against
it is
which he balances the magnetism of the Lacemaker. In the Maidservant he

a
common
subject of genre painting in previous decades, following precisely
Dou. 62 The
the pattern of Gerard

material of
commonplace
But the vision
emerges
that
development.
He
which he handles the
lustrous simplicity with
things pays another distant tribute to Carel Fabritius.

is
his
Vermeer's deliberation and
as
treats
own.
his reserve
complicate greatly the study of his
often reverts to his sources or appears to repeat himself, and
meaning which
often foreshadows elements of his
are
fruition until a later phase. His colour, his subject matter,
paint are so deliberately contrived that they
accustomed
who
to artists
may
not to
even
his
come
to
handling of
well mislead the historian
readily reveal themselves. Nevertheless his technical
evolution yields certain useful historical criteria and one in particular concerns
us here. In the early pictures Vermeer's touch
pose.
Even
the
in
is
never without descriptive pur-
each fleck of paint palpably constitutes leaves or
Street
mortar. But in succeeding pictures the pointille loses

tion; the
function of representa-
its
touch which has embroidered the sleeve of the
Letter
Reader gains
its
independence. Granules of light are scattered irrespective of the textures on
which they
There
lie.
is
no
plainer sign of Vermeer's direction, his
movement
of withdrawal from the substantial world. At some point, probably

a little after
the completion of the
glittering, barely relevant
germane
fullest
to
Street,
paint revealed
its
the device, so
hardly used except in
is
its
form.
There
is
no doubt
that the Maidservant dates
from
after this crucial
develop-
ment. By
how
ed in
very picture. In the Maidservant light collects into pearly globules.
this
long
we
surface of the bread

skirt,
time
capacity to provide a
commentary of light. Once discovered,
the essence of Vermeer's thought,
at a
where
it is
is
can hardly
lost
gathered
at
under
tell;
the development
a separate crust
of incandescence. 63
the waist, the points of paint
[III]
may have been
lie like
achiev-
On
The
the
jewels, lending
the cloth an independent and immaterial lustre.
Vermeer's
development,
full
the phase, that
more
is
to say,
as a
broader view of
we may compare
the ladv's bodice.
Her
shows
skirt
thev do not appear in Vermeer's
The
to suggest, to
it
Street.
with the Berlin drinking
so conspicuous here appears again in
is
just such forms as that
work
again. Perhaps the
of the Maidservant;
two
pictures
use of Vermeer's pointilles continues with increasing

later
works; they are absent only in the modest
jewelled subjects of the pearl pictures are

the natural world
of the
were not
becomes
flattened
set.
Finally
even
economy and
style in
which the
concession to
this
and elaborated into the symbolic, lucent
Some reflection of the Maidservant can perhaps be

by De Hooch in his style of the early sixties. 64
works.
last
cerned in pictures
(61)
The resemblance
(62)
E.g. Tlie
(63)
The view
Cook
is
the
in the
theme of E. de Goncourt's famous passage
Louvre (K.
that passages
of
this
der
K.
it
so conspicuously
(Journal 1887).
kind might appear without incongruity side by side
was doubtless
student of the
more
p. 76, also
Maid
with a Glass
Plates
(Rotterdam 1935, no.
18-20
A GIRL DRINKING WITH A GENTLEMAN

25^ X 30I in. (648 X 768 mm)
Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
[112]
who
pro-
speculative flights
criticism.
(64) See K. der K.
dis-
p. 118).
with the linear manner of the Edinburgh picture can be discarded; Van Meegeren
pounded
Vermeer
For
far apart.
refinement in
facets
was enough
conversation piece in which points of paint have a similar
first
independence. The clotted paint which
painted
it
picture must belong to
of the View of Delft rather than that of the
precise indication of its date
scene, the
The
47).
of
Jacob Duck
Merry Company
(Hermitage, St Petersburg)
Plate 21
A GIRL INTERRUPTED AT MUSIC

14-^ X 16^ in. (368 X 419 mm)
Frick Collection,
It
at
has long
Brunswick
been recognized
are related.
66
New
that these
In fact the
two
pictures,
it
from the
a little apart.
Reader to that of
Girl Drinking at Berlin.
moreover, evidently represent scenes of fashionable
than the domestic milieu

Letter
pictures and the drinking scene
Brunswick picture stands
considerable development of style separates
Both
York65
life
rather
which remains almost unchanged from the time of the

Young Wonicn with
[ii3]
Water Jug and the dresses which
f
1
t
Judith Leyster
Pieter
The Rejected Offer

{1631. Mauritshnis,
De Hooch
Drinking Party
The Hague)
(Louvre, Paris)
appear in them belong to rather different dates. 67
Brunswick piece was planned,
it
must belong
in
It
its
seems
final
that,
form
whenever the
to a time several
years later than the Girl Drinking. Nevertheless the three are closely linked.
rooms we
see are similarly arranged: in
and the pictures
at
two of them the same theme
Berlin and Brunswick are based
colour, a brilliant orange-pink. In these three pictures
elegant anecdotes
which
his
is
The
enacted
on the same dominant

Vermeer embarks on
the
contemporaries were elaborating under the influ-
ence of Ter Borch.
The theme of the

first
sight an
interruption in the Frick and Brunswick pictures has
incongruous look in the world of the painter of the
[114]
at
Letter Reader.
Gabriel Metsu
An
(Kunsthistorisches
It
Wine
Offer of
Museum, Vienna)
Haarlem and there
rather recalls the ruthless conviviality of
The
the circle of Frans Hals originated the motif.
ladies
similar pressing attentions; just such a cavalier intrudes
Dirk Hals/'
there
is
cult to
One
no reason
to
add
still
is
further to the
no doubt
of Jacob
upon
The
quality of the picture,
would have been congenial
which he
particularly interesting.
list
is
enjoy
the Flute Player of
of Vermeer's sources,
dealt
with
in
several
its
Although
it is
diffi-
to him;
forms,
reticence and the light, direct yet
its
theme, the theme of venal love
might have attracted
his
Certainly there are few closer parallels to the motif of interruption

It
Duck
that
avoid reference to the most beautiful of such works, Judith Leyster's
Rejected Offer. w
gentle,
appearance of the theme
is
tempting to think that Judith Leyster

I
5]
may have
as
attention.
he uses
it.
suggested the quality of
which Vermeer's
those preoccupations over
bend;
ladies often intently
at all
events her picture enables us to understand the associations of such subjects in

the painting of the time.
Among
the
ruption makes
artists
of Vermeer's
appearance in
its
own
generation the motif of the inter-
music scene by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
painted in the year before Vermeer's Procuress. 70
wick picture appears
in a drinking scene
by
The
general plan of the Bruns-
Pieter de
Hooch
dating from about
the time of The Card Players. 71 Metsu's version of the arrangement
seen in
is
picture called The Collation at Brussels; he often uses the motif of interruption. 72
The elements which Vermeer

them
general currency. Yet in
Some
assembles in these three pictures were clearly in
contribution becomes apparent.
his peculiar
writers have discerned points of weakness in these works. 73
Although
the painting of accessories meets with approval, fault has been found with heads,
hands and draperies. In the Brunswick picture the cavalier
on
clared to be execrable and the dress studied
upon
the lap
is
However we view such judgments
admired.
notice that there
is
something
ill
at ease in
In the Frick picture the treatment
gives place in the

arise.
The
work
at
We
life.
to
With
a stroke
embody
this
profound
define an issue
still
not
Brunswick
listic style.
It is as
is
quite
are far
fulfilled.
removed from
Substance and intimate
his
of
art.
subject and
figures
its
at
Brunswick,
had
the
left
that
may have
outcome of an impulse
open, to
we
we
arrangement seem
execution of the picture
work was
earlier versions
The
for these incon-
measure of his genius he proceeded
The
earlier phase; the
likely that the
which the
becomes
was badly served by
Couple with a Wineglass
discover the lines of Vermeer's solution.
been prolonged.
style
method,
which have sometimes been suggest-
depth of feeling in the matter of his
belong in essence to the
this
resistance to the naturalistic description
whose unexpectedness
turn to the later work,
still-life
emerges the
detail
that they indicate simply that the painter
to overlook his
When we
to
handling of these figures.
must seek other causes
sistencies than the external circumstances
is
that rests
to the point to
must always have been summary. Where
much, and where the human
To suppose
generally de-
Berlin to a naturalistic minuteness inconsistencies
evasively general, even primitive.
models
artist's
it is
painter, in displaying his faith in his impeccable
protests too
ed.
the
is
The hand
a lay figure.
see
satisfy
on
the
to
an ambition
canvas
at
the particular, tangible beings of the naturadetails
have drained away. Within the sharp,
simplified contours
matter
is
these figures, so far as their
concerned, are rendered with the barest economy.
surface nor even,

light
which map them out
when we examine them
and shadow,
features with
something
like
commentary supplied by
still
irony
One
this villainous
memorable about
context. Certainly
assimilation
On
it,
artist
which
defeats
the lap
lies a
him
forget
here.
it;
One
hand which
here
is
new
were devoted
to the
way he was
to
quite unlike anything in Vermeer's
is
it
Its
foreshortening leaves
entirely convincing.
is
entirely
it is
easy to understand in the
and
effortlessly
Its
linear
complete.
The
kind of representational consistency, one which omits
He
has replaced the natura-
concept-painting of his school with an unsubstantiated visual record.
Vermeer's inconsistencies are hardly perceptible except by
To
finally
the painter's as if
detail suggests the
painting of the time. 74
insignificant, yet as a record
has discovered a
is
later pictures
everything that holds the Berlin picture together.

listic
which
The economy
whose eyes meet
an effect which
the receding surfaces unexplained. Yet

is
confirmed by the
is
wall, in the picture
into Vermeer's world.
Vermeer did not
work or indeed any other
shape
might indeed
be released from the oppressive charade. Her direct look has some-
thing edged and
all
theme
on the
particular emerges, that of the girl
in appeal to
early
the painting
We
necessary irrelevance.
as a
of artifice, or design rather than of visual impression.
that
follow.
nothing but
are
bare scheme of tone which seems to carry the figments of
have expected a quality of the sardonic, the quality which
incorporated
The heads have no
volume; they
closely,
human
his
contemporaries
had given
it
was probably evident
a classic definition to the style
work of unknown authorship

an imitation than
Metsu,
also in
of Metsu and
source of the Brunswick picture.
London,
Tlie Duet, in
and even that
his picture
which the
It is
it
De Hooch. An
seems more
75
There
figures take
possible that
is
is
elaborate
likely to
be
a picture
by
Metsu drew on the same

his version has a
work and one might perhaps form
group of similar pictures which seem to represent
assimilation of Vermeer's influence that
standards.
up the positions of
preceded Vermeer. But
spaciousness quite absent from his earlier
round
own
even in these pictures he
called Refusing the Glass
those in the drinking scene at Berlin.

sources,
that
his
usually overlooked.
[ii7]
76
a stage in his
(65)
The usually reliable histories of the pictures given by De Vries may in this case be
The picture passed from Woodburn to Francis Gibson, Saffron Walden, and
corrected.
thence (1859) to Lewis Fry, Bristol. In 1900

(66)
P.
Johansen.
Oud
it
was
at
Lawrie and Co.
Holland. XXXVIII 1920, p. 185.
The dress in the Berlin picture was worn betore 1660. The fashion which is seen
work at Brunswick does not appear until 1663, or later. The writer is indebted for this
(67)
111
the
information to Dr.
(68)
G. Gudlaugsson.
undisturbed
appears
over)
S.
Duck's Merry Company
E.g.
ill
Petersburg). Tlie Flute Player of Dirk Hals (Han-
(St.
picture
at
Haarlem.
Cf.
Duyster's
also
Conversation
(Copenhagen).
(69)
Mauritshuis, dated 163
1.
Her
Stockholm has been remarked
Flute Player at
foreshadowing Vermeer. (Van Regteren Altena, Proceedings of Anglo- Batavian

(70)
Copenhagen.
much as
The
very
(71)
which
(Cat.
of 1922, no. 304, dated 1655.) The lady holds
in the Frick picture (the
resemblance
Louvre,
p. 33 as c.
Paris. (K. dcr
has been illustrated
of Vermeer. Their
famous examples
K.
may seem
hardly of a quality to bear comparison with the works
(73)
of their early date:
as a
London and at Buckingham

may be borne in mind.
E.g. in Tlie Flute Player (Kassel,
E.g. the observations
at
book of music
in reverse).
is
in the National Gallery at
H. de G. 174) and the picture
as
III.)
16556.) This picture and Tlie Card Players
interest lies in the probability
nearer the time of Vermeer's pictures,

(72)
Society,
H. de G.
Vienna (H. de G.
146), Tlie
Meal of Oysters
corrective the
Palace, painted
(St.
Petersburg.
81).
of an American painter
first
published in 1913. Hale,
op.
cit.,
pp. 120, 190, 192.

It may be compared with what
made of the passage.
(74)
Glass
(75)
National Gallery, Hoogstraten, Pieter de Hooch, Vermeer himself and
de Witte (Cleaned
p.
244) included
it
1947, no. 76) have
Pictures.
with
by no means
of the
clear.
Emmanuel
been suggested. Valentiner (K.

Chicago,
in the
der K.,
group ascribed to
in the Gallery Catalogue (i960, pp. 96100) has
The evidence
was possible before 1654

Certain features and notably the use of reflections, for example
marshalled arguments for C. Fabritius.

is
all
a related picture, Tlie Terrace in
Hendrick van der Burch. N. Maclaren
that
so brilliant an imitator as the painter of Refusing the
marble
dress in the
floor,
that the style
do not enter genre painting
in this
form
until the
de Hooch, K. der K. pp. 79, 72. Given a certain archaism of scale and handling,
the picture is not inconsistent with this date. The alternative is to regard the picture as
sixties, e.g.
among
the chief sources of the Delft genre style; while not impossible this remains
present showing unlikely.

the
first
is
whom
nevertheless necessary to seek
curious and feeble
Fleischmann in Munich in
and Laughing
The woman
of Jacob van Loo
some
in Refusing the
in the school.
work by Ochtervelt (Art Institute of

work by Brekelenkam (Cologne, 10. V. 1916, at Messrs.
1929) combines elements drawn from them and from the
Imitations of Vermeer's three pictures include a
Soldier
It is
there are gaps in present knowledge.
apparently another indication of the influence
Chicago);
on
points of connection with Ludolf de Jongh, suggested in
edition of this book, are hardly conclusive.
such painter, of
Glass
The
Girl.
r
us
The pose of Vermeer's gentleman
(76)
equipped with
a violin
St Petersburg (H.
characteristically
is
vacuous and
in Tlie
Duet he
is
(National Gallery no. 838). But by comparison with the rendering in
de G. 151) the change of atmosphere
clear.
is
With The
Duet, the Letter
H. de G. 186) and The Sportsman's Return (Rijksmuseum, H.

might be included in the group. The riddle presented by the masterpiece of the
Writer (Wallace Collection,
de G. 180)
The
painting under Vermeer's influence,
Probably
The
it
depends from such works
foreshortened head
is
Child (Rijksmuseum), remains unsolved.
Sick
as the Girl
uncommon
in
Metsu's
Asleep and the Soldier and Laughing Girl.
work
appears again in a later picture
(it
derived from Vermeer, the Dublin Letter Reader) but, like other features of the picture,
characteristic
of Maes, and of Vermeer under
Sick Child are unlike
Metsu's later manner.
his influence.
It is
however
it is
The freedom and
fluency of The
Metsu was
apt to practise
clear that
several styles concurrently.
Plates
222
THE CONCERT
X
28
24^
Isabella Stewart
in.
(711
Gardner Museum, Boston
(Present location
Plates
X 629 mm)
unknown)
24 q and 37
THE MUSIC LESSON

X
28^
24!
in.
(724
Buckingham
The
works
contradictions
625
Palace,
mm)
Signed
London
which have intruded upon the consistency of
are here assimilated.
Henceforward they
are, as
earlier
they have hardly been
before, an essential part of Vermeer's subject; to reconcile
them becomes per-
haps the profoundest purpose of his pictures. In these two the surprising stroke
is
brought about. The reconciliation
is
accomplished in the
device of pictorial design; the whole plan of the pictures
is
first
based on a
place by a
distaste for
physical closeness and direct contact. In The Music Lesson, instead of
matter, the chief object of the painter's scrutiny
is
human
the great perspective. 77 But
the mirror foreshadows the incorporation of the paradox into the painter's
style
itself.
The
picture
is
not
at
first
sight
[119]
one of the most compelling of
Gerard Ter Borch

The Admonition
.
Vermeer"s works. There

sentation, as if
common
pletes:
forms.
only
at
it
is
showed
Its
indeed a kind of prosaic tiredness about the reprethe furthest ebb of the painter's confidence in the
significance
one point,
is
in
its
design and in the scheme which
in the reflection,
is
Vermeer's fantasy
fully
it
com-
extended
in style.
It
is
not easy to be sure
haye the domestic

in
air
notably
these pictures
were painted. The scenes
of Vermeer's most characteristic works. The dresses seen
them were evidently
ly dated. ~"
when
in general use in the household; they
cannot be precise-
Traces remain of the encrusted pigment typical ol the early works,

the carpet
which appears
in The Music Lesson.
But there
are equally
positive affinities with the later phase. Concurrently with the painting of the
[120]
Gerard Ter Borch

The
Toilet
fashionable conversation pieces
more
other
this
private,
properly his own.
have
And
it
seems that Vermeer
more oblique
in the passage
direction,
of
his
if it
does so
it is
his object in
the direction
style
which
work. Behind the head in the mirror an
often said that the Music Lesson indicates the
But
pursued
which was
of the reflection in The Music Lesson
beginning of the deliberate and marvellous
latter half
also
hardly in the usual sense.
way
To
in
we
distinguishes the
easel
is
visible. It
which Vermeer worked.
complete the story
we
is
79
should
probably need to discover the nature of the box which stands immediately
behind the
easel in the reflection,
where we might expect
to see the painter
himself. Possibly his intimates understood the reference.*"
However
personal his purpose here,

[
Vermeer draws
121
further
on
the resources
Theodor Van Baburen

The
(1622.
Procuress
Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston)
of the time. The general scheme of composition

parties
Similar
round the
still-lifes
virginals
were
a subject
recalls
of the genre painters of Haarlem.
of musical instruments often furnished the foregrounds of
both schools. But the chief source of The Music Lesson,

contemporaries, was the painting of Ter Borch.
the device of the enigmatic lady
Delft
De Hooch
possibilities,
and
often
made
in later years
characteristic form. 81
who
To him
turns her back
as
the genre school
upon
owed
the spectator. In
he followed more and more closely Ter Borch's
Very possibly Vermeer's debt goes
between
of Vermeer's Leiden
use of such figures, though not of their dramatic
Borch's early uses of such figures were

delicate interplay
Leiden and such
toilet scenes in
further.
Among
which the theme
Ter
is
lady and the reflection of her features in a mirror.

[
122]
a
82
Follower of Mattheus Stomer
Roman
Charity
(Prado, Madrid)
The Concert and The Music Lesson present elements of the

of Vermeer's maturity; they
its
delicate symbolic
also
we
Brunswick
hang on the
painter's themes.
right,
is
Utrecht
can discern
walls.
So
picture
artist
introduce that studied obliquity of theme, with
as
is
wit in the choice of the paintings which
a certain
They provide
it
his later
the Girl Asleep as well as in the drinking scene
at first sight
which can be
identified.
Theodor van Baburen
no doubt the picture
barely noticeable embroidery of the
with The Concert. Here, hanging on the
that
I
It
is
a little less
version of the composition, as has often

the original,
and the design
accompaniment, which provides the matter of
works. In such earlier pictures

at
style
Procuress painted
than forty years before.
been remarked,
is
Vermeer owned,
123]
by the
in the
Rijksmuseum;
has recently
emerged
collection. 83
from an English
was almost fortuitous.
If
its
that
its
appearance in The Concert
has any profounder purpose than the romantic
it
landscape which hangs beside
whom
might seem
It
it
Vermeer does not urge
subject was legible might have gathered
from the
centres
on Baburen's musician
interest
with which the living figures take their places in
a sardonic reflection
have been sure whether to credit

picture
unfolded,
is
Lesson, in
the appearance of disfront;
he could hardly
own fancy. The second

which so much of the artist's
we may
and
illustrates perfectly,
be sure deliberately, the
theme.
perverse extremity to
full
lascivious play that
The scene is decorated with a different subject,

reference. The subject is captivity; although only part
antithetical
lascivious
connoisseur to
to the artist or his
it
removes the doubt. The Music
thought
upon
it.
which
the captive
is
reduced
is
veiled,
century connoisseur would have failed to recognize in
it
alike
is
only in
its
seen and the
no seventeenth-
Roman
Charity. 84
Evidently the picture was one of the Dutch works inspired by the composition
that
Rubens
inscribed,
originated in the
thirties.
On
85
the lid of the virginals
Vermeer
has
and surrounded with an unparalleled richness of minute embellish-
ment: Musica
Letitiae
legend of the instrument,
it is
The
Doloris.* 6
Comes Medicina
also the
inscription
is
not only the
epigraph of these two pictures and their
oblique yet memorable celebration of the pleasures and sorrows of love.
Ter Borch's subjects influenced the whole of the genre school. But
pictures a lady
who
head framed in
mirror or
on
us
a picture
on
turns her back
the form to Vermeer's example.
manuel de Witte's
it
from De Hooch
is
possibly
rare
who
note the value of
used
as
it
similarly.
owe
one of
Em-
in the
89
In the
the Glass,
9"
mirror and
a tilted
Metsu employs the device

it,
the wall. 87 Several painters must
and beautiful domestic
exactly imitated.
is
often discovered at the virginals, her
notable occurrence of
by the painter of Refusing
Vermeer's motif
use
is
Many
its
Dublin
interiors;
tern of a tiled floor.

sixties seated at
The
artists
who
88
it is
in
he may have taken
background of a picture which
known
as
Soldier at a
Window,
of Vermeer's immediate followers
decorative dislocation of perspective;

Letter Reader.
does Pieter Janssens Ellinga with delicate

91
in later
are to
More
than one of them
effect, to reflect the
bold pat-
be seen in the genre paintings of the
mirrors drawing sometimes recall not only the form but the
vitreous impressionism of the passage in Tlie Music Lesson? 2 His contemporaries
were evidently aware of the beauty of Vermeer's

imitators; possibly
it
glass.
Tlie Concert also
suggested two pictures to Jan Steen.
[124]
93
had
its
perspectives of Carel Fabritius, evidently influential in Delft, have disappeared.
The
(77)
Some
perhaps be gained from Daniel Vosmaer's view of the town through
may
idea of them
Van Hoogstraten's
a wide arcade (dated 1665, Rotterdam 1935, no. 95),
strolling in similar
however, have
colonnades and Card's View of Delft
whose perspective box at London will

is dated 1662 which must be very
two
artists
at
Vermeer owned a picture by Van Hoogstraten,

be well known, and another of Van Hoogstraten's
a specifically personal value.
close to the date of
boxes
the
pictures of ladies
London. Vermeer's perspectives,
were
On
in contact.
The Music Lesson. Very probably
the sides of the National Gallery
box Van Hoogstraten
inscribed and illustrated the three objects of painting: Gloriae Causa, Lucri Causa and Amoris
the pursuit of fame and riches
The profoundest motives of painting,
Causa.
love of
were thus
art,
The
deceive the eye.
of
identified with the contrivance

association
is
a perspective so
no
than
less
convincing
as to
of interest in connection with the perspective scheme of
The Music Lesson; the picture stands mid-way between the open ambitions of the early
works and Vermeer's oblique
tribute to
fame
Gelder (Kunsthistorische Mededelingen, 1948,
were intended
Lesson
nation
possible,
is
The
(78)
changed the
that
in
dress
them,
to
It
Letter
by the Woman
Reader yet
has been suggested that the bodice
Letter
Reader and the Laughing
But
Girl,
if style
is
development
well
as
The evidence
reconstruction of his room.
appears that
He was
and 17
ft.
when Vermeer
about 6
in.
who
of vision.
noted
is
result.
with a Water fug
The Music Lesson and
that the pictures

a
man
illustrates,
as
who
it
far wall.
Few
which
were painted
is
close
though
in a sense that contra-
could be wished.
between
15
accurate
fairly
measurement of the
and 16 inches.
On
this basis
to paint the picture his eye
similar calculation excludes the possibility that the
pictures so small as The Music Lesson
naked eye. Canaletto
is
known
at the
to
as
wide an angle
would be
It
when
London,
it
often
of extreme
diffi-
of vision with no other guide than the
n.d.) has recently
observed that he
bore the name of Van Mieris
patron, Consul Smith, in Venice (with
which
was purchased
it
for
may
in the collection
George
III
well
of
his
by Richard
was suggested by such an example;
in his
knowledge. The proximity of the picture which of all
in the
unlikely that Canaletto's procedure
common
a technical task
is
have had recourse to the aid of optical projections. Nicol-
Virginals,
have seen The Music Lesson
time the camera was
embrace
gives rise to the apparent exaggeration of perspective that
works of Vermeer and Canaletto.
son (Vermeer's Lady
It is
pendant
was so here and Dr. Valen-
suggests that the diagonal
culty to record with conviction so great an angle
Dalton).
its
was about 47 in. from the

from the nearest corner of the table, 13 ft. 2 in. from the lady
sat
in.
down
wears un-
been painted, with any arrangement of mirrors, from the position of the
depicted.)
It is this
in the
ft.
from the
Studio could have

artist
in
and thus
was ever
squares of the marble floor in The Music Lesson was
floor.
clear that another expla-
Vermeer's perspectives often yield enough information for a
(79)
H. E. van
later years.
represented in the style of five years or
worn
confrontation of details (op.cit., pp. 314-15)
dicts his thesis, the painter's
it
may now be
keeping with the gravity of the
illustrated
is
of the Dresden
together. This remains uncertain.

tiner's
of
continuity of Vermeer's domestic subjects, and the difficulty of dating the
later. It
of the
peepshow boxes.
and one more
by reference
pictures
more
for use in
in the masterpiece
has suggested that such pictures as T\\e Music
3)
previous history of painting most profoundly foreshadowed his

[
125
method may
indicate
no
more than the consistency, whether or not under his guidance, of his patrons taste. There
no phase in the history of Vermeer's pictures on which one would be more glad of light.
It
(80)
was
surface of some
common
ous instances are
Compare K.
(81)
at
listed
practice to include in the centre of a subject, reflected in the
object or in a mirror, a miniature view of the
still-life
is
by W. Martin
work: numer-
artist at
Don, Leiden, 1901).
(Gerrit
and H. de G. 127
der K. pp. 133, 134, 136, i38-(dated 1675)
(in
1947
Messrs. Slatter).
(82) E.g.
cavalier
Borch
Tlie
who
Toilet
(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, see
in a picture in the
Haarlem
jects (as in the curious Rider published
1947,
by
S.
also
is
were among Ter Borch's
figures
G. Gudlaugsson, Kunsthistorische Mededetingen,
Signed and dated 1622. The picture's quality and the pentimenti which mark
no doubt
that
Rijksmuseum
it
was Baburen's
of inferior
original version. In the variant,
on
the composition has been curtailed
clear that this
is
not the piece which appears in
Vermeer's representations in
Virginals.
Boston.)
at
It
may be
observed,
whom
who
owed something
herself
Arezzo,
times
we
rise
to a
a link
Rome
memory of the
find a tenuous and soli tan* link
together to mind,
from
the writer
Sir
is
matter of sentiment
as a
that in Baburen's Procuress, a figure derived in
leave
of
darker tone;
it is
at the
follow the signed picture. (Formerly in
fact precisely
1949; later with Roderic Thesiger, to
is
and the Lady Seated
Concert
Tlie
the possession of Col. Sloane-Stanley. and thus perhaps

ii.
it
quality, in the
the right-hand side, reducing the
design to a conventional symmetry, and the robe of the procuress
now
J.
sub-
earlier
2).
(83)
25.
foreshadowed by Ter
Draughts Players, Kunsthalle, Bremen. Cf.
style (Tlie
Duck, formerly Liechtenstein, Vienna.) Such
Hamburg). The
also Kunsthalle,
presents his back to the spectator in Tlie Concert
Hans Sloane;
Christie's
indebted for assistance, and

as
much
as
any relevance,
from Michelangelo's Cumaean Sybil
aged Eve in the choir of
S.
Francesco
at
between two masters whose names must some-
between the imagery* of Vermeer and
that
of Piero
della
Francesca.
(84)
The
to painters
and their patrons by the
the text for a discourse

to the
from Valerius Maximus
subject originates
on the
fact that the writer
meaning of Vermeer's web of symbolism and
Roman
had
it
was evidently commended
picture in
didactic superiority* of painting.
significance of an incidental association of

in the
(V, iv);
Charity appearing in
this
illustration.
mind and made
It is difficult
We
need attach only the
name of the protagonist

name of Cimon, was also
ideas to the fact that the
broad perspective, the
of the ancient Greek painter supposed to have discovered perspective
that
be discerned none the
less a distant
it
to put limits
and private analogy between the
art.
man
There might
in Tlie Music
by the lady before him, and the artist himself.

The work by M. Stomer in the Prado, reproduced here by way of example,
Lesson, held captive

(85)
evidently not that

girl's
(now
is
which Vermeer represents. In his picture, among other difterences, the

rests upon the back of the prisoner, as it does in the Rubens
hand, just discernible,

in the
Rijksmuseum). Vermeer's example,
was perhaps by Honthorst or

before Croesus
his school.
if
he had any
(Compare
specific original before him.
the similar figure in Honthorst's Solon
of which there are versions lent by an almshouse to the
drecht, reproduced
by Moes and Martin,
II, pi.
40,
[126]
and
museum
in the collection ot
at
Dor-
O. Nottebohm.
Antwerp.) Allowance must be made for the
fact that these passages in
Vermeer's pictures
both cases suffered with time; the subjects were originally rather
have
in
lucid
flat
pattern with
which Vermeer
later renders the pictures
on
clearer.
The very
his wall develops,
with
the other elements of his mature style, only in The Music Lesson and subsequent works.
The
(86)
spacing of the lettering
distorted in the interests of legibility; the
is
deviation from his objective standpoint indicated the significance

to
its
which the
artist
rare-
attached
meaning.
(87) E.g. Ochtervelt's

(88)
Music Party (National Gallery, no. 3864).
Rotterdam, 1935, no. 128,
now Boymans-van Beuningen Museum,
and Ottawa,
National Gallery.
K.
(89) K. der
p.
130.
It
is
uncertain which picture was the earlier.
Witte's other genre-piece (formerly L. Fry, Saffron Walden, dated 1673)

tive; in this case
Metsu (perhaps the family
The form of De
is
equally deriva-
provided
portrait in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin)
the source.
(90)
Robinson, Fisher
(91)
E.g. the
reproduced
Berlin),
in Pieter de
the
also
M. v.
1922: Messrs. Sabin.
famous pictures
at
p.
Empty Room (Brockhaus
Frankfurt (and a variant of the latter
193, as in the possession
A Man
collection),
Briere-Misme, 'A Dutch
Intimist,'
P.
Bottenweiser,
Reading (A. de Copper
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Nov. -Dec. 1947, Fig.
motif, together with similarities to the
Louvre Card
Players (K. der K. p. 77 as
Brunswick
c.
picture, appear in
8).
De Hooch's work
The
in the
1665, see also K. der K. p. 195.) Hoogstraten places
mirror reflecting the floor in his Peepshow in the National Gallery.

(92) E.g. in Refusing the Glass.
straten (C.
(93)
There
is
a similar feature in
another perspective by
Geldev
as
Hoog-
Blathwayt collection).
The Music Master (Wallace Collection and National Gallery). The date of the
National Gallery picture, doubtfully read in the 1929 catalogue

1671,
tures dates
a
of
The Messenger (Oslo) and The Smoker (published with these pictures by C.
collection),
Munich and
Hooch, K. der K.
is
evidently illegible.
It
has
been suggested
as
1656 and by Dr. H. E. van
that the style
of dress
in these pic-
them, and thus The Music Lesson and The Concert, before 1660. In the case of such
painter as Jan Steen such a deduction remains very doubtful; fashion can indeed rarely give
us a
dependable terminal date. Moreover the appearance of one
might demolish
The Concert
is
all
clear in a
Cook
by Vermeer
number of pictures by Metsu, among them The Music
389 in the National Gallery, also H. de G. 161 and Christie's 22.

formerly
lost picture
arguments based on the borrowings of other painters. The influence of
collection,
H. de G. 160, which seems
pendant).
127]
vii.
to reflect
Lesson (no.
1938 no. 68,
as
well as
both The Concert and
its
joj
Plates
VIEW OF DELFT
X
38^
46^
in.
(978
175
Mauritshuis, Tire
The
Signed
Hague
direction that style and thought take in these central pictures
apparent in the two landscapes. In the
not immediately declare
its
Street there
commentary of light. The wavy
no
But
it
equally
is
of paint which does
fleck
in the View of Delft the
the substance on
hindered by any obvious explanatory purpose
in the Street
is
descriptive intention.
become disconnected from
pointille has
mm)
provides
which
it
un-
lies;
a glittering, irrelevant
which described the cobbles
calligraphic stroke
counterpart of the linear drawing in the Soldier and Laughing Girl
abandoned and the drawbridge of the View of Delft is described as are the
forms of The Music Lesson. It is defined by the shapes that intervene between its
is
beams. In front of
it
Buckingham
ture at
the points of paint
Palace and the scheme of colour
blocks of a slaty blue which

is
on the barge
is
as
seem
tones of the Street are
to refer to the
less
is
in the clouds relics
work
that
tains a
recalls
it
is
94
The
pictures
same phase of the
is
reminiscence of Pieter de Hooch;
picture
The
is
as are
a little like that
"
style displays
Girl.
Like
it
the Street con-
courtyard scenes are fur-
% The composition of the

alley.
of a drawing of uncertain origin
at
Amsterdam. 97
They
connection with Vermeer's optical procedure for they have
common, of the camera

slice
The
based on the accent-
suggestion of the effect, the only experience of the instrument that
undramatic
as it
persist. In these respects the
many of his
seen in Vermeer's
landscapes were apparently painted from first-floor windows.
attract attention in
a
of picturesque convention
flat
must be placed near
painter's thought.
precisely recorded, the pattern
again the Soldier and Laughing
nished with such figures
pic-
on
similarly based
ed indentations of a contour quite unlike that which the developed
and
on the
unlike the deep tone of the early pictures
the positive colour of succeeding works.
together; both
recall those
obscura often to be seen
at
public resorts.
The
is
now
bluntly
of life presented, the ruthless revelation of the physical insigni-
ficance of people beside the world
which they
although such views of townscape and canal are
from the time of Buytewech, both
inhabit,
both
common
in
recall
Dutch
it.
painting
98
are surprising in the context here.
[128]
And,
Even
Saenredam, Vermeer's chief predecessor in refined detachment, can show-
nothing
like his
freedom from the descriptive preoccupations of
In these pictures Vermeer's terms of reference remain
him wherever he
as painters often do, with
tecture; indoors
and out he
He
goes.
own. He
his
them,
seeks a constant archi-
same square and
faces the
their time.
carries
And
stable walls.
the
View of Delft presents us with our most memorable image ot the remoteness
which
is
the essence of Vermeer's world. In the reflecting expanse of this
canal
we
look upon the very symbol of that cool zone, penetrable only by the
light,
which
(94)
tion, for
separates the artist
ot
lite.
Yellow pigment has perished from the greens of the View
which the yellow
uncommon
not
from the matter
lake
mentioned by Van Hoogstraten
blue pigment which
The Brunswick
suggestion
is
now overwhelms
to be
which
the elements with
often advanced, in explanation of the coolness with

a
which
similar effect
is
often
is
due to an init
was mixed.
from the emergence of traces of blue. The
picture has suffered particularly
of Vermeer's works, that
in certain
somewhat
work of Vermeer, seems
noticeable and occasionally appears in the

stability in a
of the time.
in the painting
such deteriora-
of Delft:
doubtless responsible,
is
now
cold underpainting,
which the
flesh
is
rendered
unduly apparent, formed
preparatory stage in his procedure. This has not been confirmed by microscopic examination.
The
coldness
National Gallery
which some
may
find disturbing in such
in fact well
be deliberate; the
works
effect
is
in
as
the Lady Standing in the
agreement with the
painter's
The View of Delft owes some of its present warm and comfortable tone to varnish.
(95) The signature might be held to tell against this view; the monogram initial resembles that of The Procuress and the Letter Reader. Evidence of this kind is however doubly
doubtful in view of the number of such signatures on pictures, especially landscapes, for
style.
which Vermeer's authorship
is
no longer claimed
(e.g.
Thore's nos. 52. 54. 55, 59. 61).

at the time of his death in the
Twenty-six pictures, by Vermeer or reputed to be. were
possession of J. Coelenbier, a landscape painter as well as a dealer,
and brushes to hand. Such an inscription
been added simply to authenticate

(96)
The
For example,
known
any of his works, bears
who
certainly
had palette
on the Frankfurt Geographer appears
to
have
fact.
Washerwoman (Toledo. Ohio, K.
picture seems to have a relation to the
pictures, or indeed
of
Tlie
as that
Street.
der
K.
p. 40.
Although none of
a date earlier
than 1658
compare
De Hooch's
it
seems that
also p. 41).
courtyard
this
phase
development began rather earlier; Jan Steen's Delft portrait group in a similar
setting, which was evidently influenced by the painters of the town, is dated 1655. Dr.
his
Valentiner suggested that the Toledo picture
coherent view ot
there
is
little
his
doubt
demonstrated in
his
development the
that
it
contains
reminiscences of the
other works of the time.
arguments; the view that Vermeer
is
showed Vermeer's
in the
influence, but
on any
can hardly have been painted until later and
Street
It
will
common
129]
kind which can be clearly
be unnecessary to refer again to such

sense an inventive painter does not
only do violence to the evidence,
housewife
who
it
diverts attention
bends over the tub in her yard has
work by A. Bloemaert (drawing
in a
Engleson collection
at
from the essence of his
long history
Leiden Prentenkabinet for
in the
originality.
The
genre motif. She appears
as a
a picture in the
Malmo).
Rijksmuseum Prentenkabinet to Carel Fabritius.

Here our perception is blunted by photography: Maxime du Camp (Revue de
October 1857) found something brutal in the View of Delft. The arrangement of the
(97) Attributed at the
(98)
Pans.
Mauntshuis picture,
where
town
view
(e.g.
uncommon
across the Vrjver
elsewhere, was often adopted in representing
shows
The Hague,
to the best advantage the Stadhouderliik quarter
drawing by W. Buytew ech.
now
Plates
in the Municipal
of the
Museum).
33-36
A COUPLE WITH A WINE GLASS

30=* X 26t in. (781 X 673 mm) Signed
Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick
Plates
YOUNG WOMAN WITH

18
i6|
Metropolitan
The Woman
in.
with a Water Jug
the picture at Brunswick, the
most profoundly
original turn.
is
impeccable,
ventional
is
still
of
A WATER JUG
X 410 mm)
An. New York"
linked both to the earlier and to the later

it
belongs to the time whose masterpiece
moment
Here
tonal divisions are clearer than ever.
shining metal
(457
Museum
phases of Vermeer's work. Evidently

is
3&-3g
at
which the
painter's style
took
its
the lustrous handling and neatly accented
There
is
indeed a certain display of them:
never so prominent again. Vermeer's method, elsewhere so

falters
summary and
when
a far
the crucial detail
is
reached.
from confident one. but
it is
The head
at least
is
con-
without any
obtrusive expression. There remains a certain uneasiness. Elsewhere abundant

signs ot the painter's
mind we may
development
are to
be seen. With the Brunswick hand in
notice the unconventional drawing ot the
[HO]
ami which holds
the
water jug.
The
other arm passing behind the
meer's innovation in another aspect.

as it is decisive.
Analogous passages
jour effects; this picture has
parison with
it
Woman
be found in
as
unsubstantiated
De Hooch's
a distant relation to his style.
De Hooch
contre-
But com-
supports his statements with
convention of the time, the convention to which Vermeer
adhered in the
hand
cavalier's
and the
scriptive line
no doubt
frame, displays Ver-
statement of tone
are often to
conveys the difference.
linear detail in the

still
It is
window
of
detail
Here de-
in the Soldier and Laughing Girl.
The
are finally cast off.
life
around
with a Water Jug to the space
relation of the
though not calculated with
her,
quite the profundity that became invariable, recognizably suggests the pattern
of the
later phase. In
one corner there
pearl pictures, the necklace
drawn from
of the work seem nevertheless to mark
Vermeer
common
Hooch's
deals here
with
seen the characteristic symbol of the
is
it
its
as
the school of Gerard
an appealing
were of
Dou
artifice, to
this
fifties.
in Leiden.
Dou's
turn from their
it
Many
is
is
riveted
ladies are
work
indeed often made, with
a subject indicates at least a
and the painter
is
free
essential
his motifs
is
remote
incongruity
again clear.
no smile on her audience; her shape
picture.
De
to arrange a curtain or a case-
immovably by each arm
which confine her within the

contact,
type.
of the themes of
work. But in the connection the
with a Water Jug bestows
hidden. She
its
was particularly associated with
between Vermeer's temperament and the sources of
The Woman
inconsistencies
the most primitive of
kind and
ment. Vermeer's other version of such

relationship with his
The
household occupation of the type which was
subject of genre painting in the

plein-airisme
decorated box.
to the
The anchors
window and
secure her, she
from such embarrassments
as his
itself
the table
is
beyond
encounters with
the roving eye of the lady in the pictures at Brunswick.
(99)
The
history of the
has been noted.
thus recorded
The
Woman
with a Water Jug
may be
traced back a
little
by De Groot, Metsu
62);
it
farther than
Vernon sale, 21, iv. 1877, as by Metsu (and is

was bought by M. Colnaghi and sold to Lord
picture appeared in the
Fowerscourt (kindly indicated, with other points, by Mr. E. K. Waterhouse).
[131]
Plate 40
A LADY WITH A LUTE

X
20^
Metropolitan
Of
the changes in Vermeer's style one
forward each picture forms
velopment
it
X 457 mm) Signed

Museum of Art, New York
18 in. (514
is
common
is
immediately apparent; hence-
broad and definite pattern of tone. Such
and
feature in a painter's evolution
was no more than incidental
de-
in Vermeer's case
to his search for the decisive tonal interval, the
bare statement of light which, pursued in the detail of representation, constituted the baffling vocabulary
resorted to an optical device

for
use. Certainly the
its
of the
some
last
works.
contrast of tone
may be
as
If,
imagined, he
would have been
depth of tone in such pictures
as
necessary
the Lute Player
is
intimately connected with the profundity and completeness of his vision.
His scheme,
tion,
overlapping of dark on light and light on dark in alterna-
a sharp
which Tintoretto had given
the irresistible pattern
is
century painting; Vermeer was very familiar with

tively
meagre version of it which
that Vermeer's
him an
is
But beside the compara-
it.
visible in the Soldier
to seventeenth-
and Laughing
Girl,
method, disengaging him from the claims of matter,
altogether
the mantle of light
more
and confident hold,
inclusive
which
half-reveals
it.
if
not on
Henceforward, even
it is
now
clear
permits
life, at least
when
on
the contrasts
involved are shallower, the lack of differentiation and the distribution of

insignificant tonal incident
which sometimes mark the
earlier
works
are never
seen again.
who
Vermeer's ladies
hold
making. They turn away; there
draw
their attention.
front us.
The
fact
mental preference,
is
They
or a guitar are not occupied with music-
a lute
some momentary
is
are never discovered playing
of interest for
his distaste for
it
way
but also the
resources of his school.
The common
is
as a
illustrates
and they never con-
not only Vermeer's tempera-
anything obtrusively purposeful or demon-
strative in his subject,
predecessors
distraction in the air to
in
which
it
governed
his use
role of such musicians in the
work of his
victim of the perennial theme of interruption. Such
usual role in the painting of
Haarlem and when wine
is
of the
is
their
brought to one of
Metsu's ladies she turns from her lute in precisely the attitude which Vermeer's
sitter takes
up. 100 In
one picture Vermeer supplies the

[
132]
intruder, the servant in
"
.7
%Mi
->
R|3 i
1*1
;kt.^>
|y\*
1
?
'
/'
--^Jjlfe
W*fc^
W^fc
-^
to."
3?
';
1
'[
-T'W
,vnli
f*\i
,
jf^'
i*
- jt'tfp ?)
f?
'
BH
'
k
^
;?>
Gabriel Metsu
The
Luteplayer
(Gemaldegalerie, Kassel)
The Love
he produces
Letter; for the rest
interruption from
which the egregious
away, leaving only, in the lady's

a tribute to tradition
and an
a vestigial
cavaliers
lateral glance, a
artifice to
form of the motif,
scene of
have long since been refined

reminiscence which
is
at
confine her lively nature within her
once
own
world.
similar glance
is
the
are several resemblances.
neatly with the nape of the
hand
is
theme of the Woman
The bobbin of
girl's
with a Water Jug.
Indeed there
the map-stick in each picture
fits
neck. In the Water Jug the contour of arm and
half-obscured, an arrangement naturally avoided by the conceptual
draughtsman, and characteristic of Vermeer's freedom in

[
133
this
respect,
which
reaches an extreme in the Lute Player. In the design here a flavour of perversity
lingers;
it
has an element of recapitulation.
The
the painter's grasp but of this the Lute Player
stylistic
solution
is
now
within
us nothing for the picture
tells
is
ruin and the original surface of paint has long disappeared.
(ioo) Kassel,
of the
pi.
H. de G.
earlier phases
lxii)
and the Concert
Honthorst) which
is
146.
Such groups originated
of the school. E.g.
in the
a Musical Conversation
of
in the collection
more complex compositions

by Jan Lys
Plate 41
HEAD OF A YOUNG
X
Metropolitan
WOMAN
X 400 mm) Signed
15^ in. (451
Museum
of Art,
New
York
Plate 42
A LADY WRITING A LETTER

i&jj
in.
15!
(460
391
mm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Plate 4
YOUNG LADY WITH

2i|
17^ in. (549
Gem'dldegalerie
A NECKLACE
451
Staatliche
[134]
II,
George Leon (Rotterdam, 1935,
Sir
signed by Gysbrecht van der Kuyl.
17^
(Belvedere
mm)
Signed
Museen, Berlin
1922,
as
by
4446
Plates
A LADY WEIGHING GOLD

X
l6|
X 375 mm)
14I in. (419
Vermeer returns
Out of her shape he
career.
Amsterdam, the
separate us
of
artifice
not the
from the
style itself.
The
movement of
his
Dresden give place
girl at
Letter
world. But the devices that
much
so
works
in later
subjects of the pictures
life
Reader throughout his
evolves, sometimes as directly as in the Reader at
remote inhabitants of
rapt,
symbolic meanings. In
to
of the Dresden
to the pattern
become
richer; they gather
of distantly related, barely perceptible
as
connection between the
this picture a
to the isolating
who
lady,
seems
be weighing pearls against gold, and the painting that hangs on the wall
behind her, turns the incident into
a fanciful allegory
Elsewhere these references are more open;
them from
gather
it
clear that
is
Here
it
we
are intended to
the Gold Weigher. Such subtle parallels have,
noticed, a deep significance for the painter. Yet there

visible subject.
of the Last Judgment. 101
His purpose
seems that the object of the allegorical play
beyond measure the nature of
lady and her
this
is
has been
no weakening of the
concerned with the forms
entirely
is
is
as
to enrich
commonplace
act:
that
with
we
a
see.
depth
she takes
on
something of the character of St. Michael, the weigher of souls in the part of the
Last
Judgment which
is
hidden. Others of Vermeer's allegories are
beyond design whose keys
const-ued: they are of a kind

recesses
readily
are buried in the
of his nature.
Whether
or not his
contemporaries clearly
sixties
less
De Hooch and
meaning was within the

the
felt
magnetism of
grasp of the time, Vermeer's
his later
work. In the middle
Pieter Janssens Ellinga both painted imitations of the Gold
Weigher and the pictures related to
it.
"2
It
is
curious
how much
of the de-
velopment of De Hooch's work may be traced in the paintings with which he
Amsterdam
decorates his subjects. His removal to
on the wall behind one of

great master
when he
his
music party
in a
in
It
by the appearance
was
another direction; in the
late sixties
chamber of Amsterdam Town Hall he
serted the School of Athens in the place for
Conspiracy of the Batavians.
signalized
drinking scenes of the Rape of Ganymede by the
of the town. But he turned
set a
is
which Rembrandt had designed
symbolic concession to
I
135]
taste, a
inhis
denial of his
own
and
tradition,
it
in the last fifteen years
heralded the elegant arrangements which occupied him
of his
to the exclusion
life
of the motifs whose develop-
ment he had shared with Vermeer.
(101) Apart
century,
details
it
from the deliberate
might almost be
of the Gold Weigher
In neither case
H. Rudolph
centres
is it
taste.
fiir
is
still-lifes
it,
as
does more remotely the
it
often seems that the reference
his text (Ps. 62. ix)
further,
iconography of the Magdalen
to the Vanity less
of
must have been the more congenial
to
and barely perceptible, overtone
tradition.
is
melancholy of
in the
spilling
its
jewels with the
Mary by Rubens at Vienna). Even this

Vermeer followed, more closely than any artist of his time,
(e.g.
the Martha and
the patterns of genre painting established in the sixteenth century.

his subjects, the figures
seen in the Studio.
still-life
Vermeer's pearl pictures, arising from the association of the casket
depends from an old
of the seventeenth
of the subject. Several
Wilhelm Pinder, Leipzig, 1938.) In pictures whose symbolism
of the Psalmist;
There
of Vanitas many
any precise connotation of the theme was intended. (Compare
on the motif of the balances
Ecclesiastes than
Dutch
recall
likely that
in Festschrift
allegories
said the majority, retain reminiscences
The
first
appearances of
ofJan van Hemessen and the Master of the Female Half-lengths,
in fact, almost invariably, representations
are,
of the Magdalen. (Cf Van Hemessen: Berlin and
Worcester, Mass.)
(102)
Bredius
De Hooch:
Gemaldegalerie, Berlin (K. der K.
Museum, The Hague. With
noted that the Munich
p. 75, as c. 1664). P. Janssens Ellinga:
regard to the history of the Gold Weigher,
it
may be
which the picture figured as a Metsu (5. xii. 1826, no. 101)
was that of the late King of Bavaria: it was bought by the Marquis (later Due) de
Caraman, then French Ambassador at Vienna. (T von Frimmel in Burlington Magazine, xxii,
sale in
p. 48.)
Plates
47-48
WOMAN IN BLUE READING A LETTER

i&i
15! in. (464
X 394 mm)
[136]
Plate 4g
HEAD OF A GIRL
1
8^
X 400 mm) Signed
(464
I5-! in.
Mauritshuis, The
Vermeer
well protected;
is
And when some
mour.
he proceeds to enclose
theme of a
two
In the
assimilated.
who
girl
tilted a little
of
little
life
Hague
or personality ever pierces his ar-
disturbing experience does penetrate within the shell

it
covering of
in a pearly
looks over her
left
at
is
resolved.
last
sharpness
its
is
on the memorable
variations of increasing refinement
shoulder into the painter's eyes, her head
back, the motif which intrudes into the
Frick music scene
style until
The
103
work
Brunswick and the
at
four pictures record an almost
continuous development, bridging the transition between earlier and
later
of the evolution. There can be
little
and
styles
illustrating typically the essence
doubt about the order
in
which they were
painted. This fragment of experience
seems to have presented a difficulty characteristic, in the entanglement of

technical and personal issues, of those
its
around which
his
mature
style forms. In
solution of optical impersonality he contrived to scan the face of
record
it
Style
and history have shown, perhaps, something of the way by which
torial fabric itself.
There
which
the pigments
Girl
U)4
The
first
light
and dark:
stage
is
it,
and
it
will
is
There
when we
it
authenticity
which compels our eye
presents us,
fall
of
light
on
as
the
the disposition of
is
nothing tentative in
rediscover
it,
see.
The
of
mixture of white
it.
There has been
difference
is
rather in
with the raw material of that
in the finished
particular forms.
we
a sharply contrasted pattern
there evidence of line or design.
the fact that
but the oblique
much
be clear that the solid painting on which the
might have been accomplished by applying
no correction, nor
in the pic-
arranged rather differently from the surface that
lead solidly to a toned canvas.
this
by X-rays. In the radiograph of the
of painting evidently consisted of

it
visible surface so
them predominantly
in
are least penetrable
(page 158)
picture was based
welcome evidence
additional and
is
Radiography records not the
of paint which underlie
Head of a
and
while remaining himself detached, unimplicated.
solution was reached.
layers
life
work. Nothing
And from
it
is
recorded
there emerges an
impression of a specific person, of the depth of her eye for instance and her
abject, patient
mouth, more
positively
even than from the picture
[137]
that
we
know.
No
other
artist's
method
reveals this
the radiography of painting has indeed never
impersonal shape.
ful as this strange,

light,
recording,
as it
Very possibly
seems,
We
own
its
shown
form
are in the presence
objectivity:
in itself as
wonder-
of the
world of
real
objective print.
this first stage in the
scription of the incidence of light
immediate and perfect
painting of the Girl was a direct tran-
on the screen of the camera obscura. The
artist
evidently proceeded, in finishing the picture, to mediate between objectivity
and convention.
He
modulations and
transitions,
The
paint
instance,
overlaid the sharpness of the optical pattern with delicate
conveying the semblance of continuous modelling.
so thin that radiography renders
is
it
the light that rounds the right cheek,
all
mildness with which the head
now endowed.
is
invisible:
all
to
it
we owe,
for
the substance and the even
Yet the essence remains.
We
have only to seek the farther surface of the nose or the precise shape of the
know
nostril to
comprehension.
was
that
it
And
was never
Vermeer's
conventional
tern
which
veils. Finally
later
he
their virtue. Progressively
it is
there.
left
These forms
are never truly within our
development was the

the optical record
seen in
realization that such
more and more bare of
the unexpected sharpness of the pat-
all
Head of a Girl. Indeed, if by some chance there was only

judge by, it would seem that this picture dated from the time
underlies the
the radiograph to
of the Red Hat.
The
design of the pictures, the Head of a Young
in the Metropolitan
Museum
and
The Hague,
at
Woman and
like
the
Head of a
every statement of such
boldness in Vermeer's work, owes something to precedent. There

flavour of archaism in
it;
105
the
girl in
van Scorel and the beginnings of the

ery of the
first
picture
is
of
Girl,
is
indeed a
the Mauritshuis recalls the pattern of Jan
portrait tradition
interest. Its
of Holland. 106 The drap-
deep and narrow concave
folds are
one
of the very few deliberately rhythmical passages of drawing in the painter's work
as
we know
ily a line
it.
The
turn in his development seems to have liberated
which we can recognize
as
from the same hand
as
momentar-
the House of Martha
and Mary.
(103) Vermeer's typical sitters never look out of the picture except over their shoulders
in this oblique fashion. (There
with a Flute.)
The
device
is
is
most
a single exception, a last miniature liberation, in the Girl
characteristic
of him. The personal impact
is
deflected:
these ladies never confront us.

(104)
The
writer
is
indebted for
this
radiograph, and the generous permission to publish
[138]
it,
Coremans of
to Dr. P.
that
it
on the
casts
showing
film,
Museums.
the Central Laboratory of Belgian
ments of the Head of a Girl white lead
is
by
far
as light areas in
where no
pigment
original
now
the pig-
The shadows
the positive print reproduced here, thus
correspond to the incidence of solid light tones with a lead

patches,
Among
the least penetrable by X-rays.
basis.
The
irregular blackish
remains, indicate damages to the picture which
have been masked by restoration. The bands of light which cross the print vertically and
horizontally represent the stays of the
(105)
The
Antique Clothes, uncommonly
Portrait in
similar picture
(106)
wooden
Cf
stretcher to
name
three items bearing Vermeer's
last
which the canvas
is
fixed.
the 1696 catalogue were: 'A
is
'Another, also by Vermeer' and 'A
artistic',
by the same'.
Jan van Scorel's portrait in the Doria Gallery (1526) and that by
Jacob Cornelisz van Oostzanen, in the Boymans-van Beuningen
Museum
master
his
(15 11).
The head
formerly in the Boughton Knight collection, evidently by Sweerts, which has been attrib-
uted to Vermeer, can hardly have any connection with his work. Sweerts was in Brussels in
1656 and died. in India in 1664. His pictures, like those of

theless
ences and has obvious

liarity
Emmanuel de
Witte, are never-
of interest in the consideration of Vermeer. His manner was based on similar influof Vermeer's
comparison with
affinities;
Plates
demonstrates clearly the subjective pecu-
5032 and 60
AN ARTIST
52^
43-L in.
IN HIS STUDIO
(1324
Kunsthistorisches
The two
it
style.
largest
of Vermeer's
later
1099
mm)
Signed
Museum, Vienna
works
are
both equally
allegorical.
of them represents the Catholic Faith: in the other, painted rather
Vermeer
celebrates
widow made over
Vermeer's
husband
which
in
is
depicted
to her
The
Vienna that
we know. The
this studio
Clio, and around her
is
own
the triumph of his
mother
art.
'a
Painter's Art'.
allegory
is
On
No
doubt
in fact typically
on the
table lie the
meaning
in
its
years before.
essential subject
107
the choice of her
of the allegory
is
among
her
the glory of painting,
[139]
at
sisters
its
the
Painting thus ap-
place with the ancient muses; the idea

it
sisters,
similarly
was
is
full
of
some ten
Here, however, the particular object of attention
Muse of History and
said
was the picture
emblems of her
Vermeer's time and Metsu had illustrated

108
it
1676
by her
complex. The model in
books of Polymnia and Euterpe and Thalia's mask.

proaches Parnassus to take
earlier,
February 24th,
piece of painting
One
is
significant.
undying fame; the
the
The
fact
Job Berckheyde
The
(i6?jg.
Painter's Studio
Hermitage, St Petersburg)
confirms our impression of Vermeer's temperament.' 09 But the visible emblems

are
no
and
his
but
more
than
model seem
more impalpable
aura of intact divinity,
none follows
Virgin.
110
the
to
beginning
of
the
meaning.
painter
belong to separate worlds; not only the furniture
division
lies
between them. The
which reminds
girl
has a radiance, an
us that of the studio pictures of the time
so closely as this the traditional iconography of
At the heart of the allegory there
representations of painting and
its
is
painted which so deeply affects his
St.
patron provide Vermeer with
own
form
that,
between painter and
art.
general pictorial arrangement that

[
Luke and the
personal reference; the earliest
doubtless far from deliberately, symbolizes the barrier
The
This
Ho]
Vermeer adopted
here, and retained
as
was
the staple composition of later works,
a familiar
how
one. Consideration of
part invention ever played
his
immediate sources demonstrates again
in
the development of his style. This design was evolved
room, the picturesque
followers; the shape of the
furnished and the curtain that shuts
it is
The
previous decade.
Ter Borch.
painters;
his
characteristic
In
Lys of
selet.
of detail with which
appear in their paintings of the
and
it
in 1659
remains the basis of the
never looped into the grandiose, pendulous curves
tapestry
is
of their
style.
of thirty years
113
his
one respect Vermeer departed from the practice of the Leiden
The
simpler pattern of the hangings

teriors
111
and
which Frans van Mieris devised under the influence of
elaborate studio scenes

112
all
clutter
Dou
by
which Job Berckheyde dated
developed
fully
in
it
Visit to the Studio
shows the arrangement
little
But, with
which sometimes enclose the Haarlem
was well known
that
in an engraving
by
Gilles
Rous-
Vermeer may well have been equally
these affinities,
all
in-
Similar diagonal folds frame a picture by Jan
earlier.
Lady Painting
curtain in the Studio follows the older and
aware of the profounder treatments of such subjects, the studio pictures of
Rembrandt and
in the school
his school.
of Rembrandt in the previous decade.
drawings by different hands.
model and the room

subject
is
curtain.
in
114
In both of
which they
them
known
to us
from two
the arrangement of painter,
foreshadow
are seen
framed in one case by the angle of an
One
It is
his;
to the left the
the other by a
attic roof,
of the drawings, and perhaps not by chance,
is
apparently from
hand of Nicolaes Maes. Some such example may have contributed
the
form which the subject takes
The
in
design very closely analogous to his was current
picture
is
in Vermeer's Studio.
certainly not the self-portrait
which appeared
I696 113 but the question of whether or not Vermeer
remains
a favourite subject
well
to recognize
fail
not deliberate.
another of the
of speculation.
him, and
The only
details to
it
which we
which we may
It
is
which
this artist sets
to
do
so.
There
about
is
his
he
is,
the auction
represented in
his best friend
it
might very
are allowed to discern are, in
attach as
much meaning
improbable that Vermeer
simple sense, information here of the
him
If
is
at
cannot be supposed that the mystification was
features
those of the Italianate mask.
unlike
to the
way
something
in
as
[Hi]
It
any
would be
ingenuous manner
canvas to suggest that his purpose,
nearer to dissimulation.
choose,
yields, in
which he worked.
in the stolid,
we
as usual,
in
was
The
condition of the Studio
Vermeer's technique
is
from perfect but the development of
far
is
patterns of small rectangular dashes of
replaced by the
less
His
traceable nevertheless.
flat
pointille
which
paint
be pursued,
'
contradict
it.
The
such folds
as
it.
Through
took on for
conveyed
shape, are
is
No
Wherever modelling
scattering of irrelevant light to
the
damage which the
The
folds
doubt
Studio has suffered
of the
stiff silk
The
1949) and
J.
garment, just
in lights that, at the crucial point, the shoulder,
this inscrutable delicacy,
form
which we can
subject of the allegory
was
identified
still
by K. G. Hulten
G. van Gelder (Oud Holland, LXVI, 1951,
who
1)
have the
that they allow us to
discover intact
other pictures, was once the very essence of the Vienna Studio.
(107)
we
contemporaries such disconcertingly tangible
his
character of a disconnected shorthand, disowning the

read.
may be
Representation involves an interplay ot statement and the
discern the painter's method.
still
there
manner which was soon
intention remains the same.
palpable continuity* there
reticent retraction of
can
they are
the risk of inconsistency, with a deliberation quite absent from
at
the earlier phase.
approaches
persist until
Even here
obtrusive facets of the final works.
detected the beginnings of the stylized and -elaborate

to
evolves into the
117
(Konsthistorisk Tidskrift,
pointed out
a similarity to
the Clio in Le Sueur's Hotel Lambert decoration (Louvre, 1645). Several of the following
references are
owed
to Professor
Van
Gelder.
(108) Writers often celebrated the place of Painting
(Het Gulden Cabinet, 1661,
mne
muses,
p. 14)
nurses of the
as true
the rest/ Vondel, in a
St.
wrote:
arts,
'Now
there
is
among
the muses. Cornells de Bie
peace, Pictura goes to Parnassus; the
expect her and will give her a rightful place
Luke's day oration
at
Amsterdam
in 1654,
among
put similar lines into
mouth: "O noble love of painting, O tenth muse, we greet you beside the other
muses of Parnassus.* The frontispieces of the nine books of Van Hoogstraten, dedicated to
the muses, and the illustration (an artist drawing Urania) to the legend Gloriae Causa on his
painter's
peepshow box, have

represented
Cookson.
as in
An
a similar
theme. Metsu's pictures shows the
Le Sueur's decoration. (H. de G. 226, 228b,
inferior,
unsigned version was in the Rothschild
artist
depicting Erato,
in the collection of Clive
sale,
Sotheby.
19. iv. I937-)
model as
Neurdenburg (Oud Holland, LIX,
Fama; Vermeer's meaning is in fact not far removed from this. The ideas of History and
Fame are closely related (compare Van Hoogstraten, Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der
Schilderkonst, Rotterdam, 1678, p. 69) and more than one allegory of painting in the follow1942) previously identified the
(109) E.
ing century
is
open
which engages the
to
both readings.
It
may
not be without significance that the
attention of the painter in the Studio
(no) The devices employed
in pictures
is
detail
the laurel wreath.
of the Virgin and
St.
Luke
to differentiate the
spheres of painter and painted are often of interest. In the Peringsdorfer Altar by A. Kraft
[142]
(Nuremberg) the
them.
Among
artist
looks
model through the frame of a doorway which
at his
other renderings of the subject which
studio pictures of the genre school
that
is
may be
by D. Baegert (Landesmuseum, Munster). In the
Netherlands the subject was established in the sixteenth century in
shown
form, the form
in an
Antwerp drawing
among
Catalogue, V, p. 69, no. 22);
separates
considered in relating to the
later
constant and unvarying
Museum
in the British
renderings that of
M.
(perhaps by J. de Beer,
de Vos
is
known
well
191; Antwerp Cathedral, 1602). The arrangement was often adapted to

secular themes (e.g. Joos van Winghe, Apelles Painting Campaspe, Dusseldorf, no. 797).
(in) Hermitage, St. Petersburg. There was evidently a tradition of representing the
(Albertina, no.
Compare
painter in such studio pictures with his back turned to the spectator.
his
Studio (in a
161
1),
W.
published by
(112)
The
the Painter in
Swedish collection) by the obscure Leiden painter Jan van Spreeuwen

Martin (Burlington Magazine,
Bloch
(113) Vitale
VIII, p.
Lady and The Connoisseur's
Artist Painting a
13).
Visit,
both
at
Dresden.
connected
(Friedlanders Feestbundel, 1942) has published a picture
with the engraving, and perhaps

engraver's manner. (A version
by
de Vos
S.
although the
original,
its
also exists;
(b.
style
Oud
strangely close to the
is
Holland, LXI, 1946, p. 122.)
It
was previously attributed to Judith Leyster; the subject was apparently unconnected
with her.
(114)
One drawing was
(illustrated) as
Sammlung
Graphische
formerly in the collection of Mrs. Morrison, Sotheby 22.
by Rembrandt. The
Munich
at
former to Nicolaes Maes
other, the less finished
(Schmidt,
160;
pi.
that attached to
is
it
and more suggestive,
v.
is
1922
in the
H. de G. 479). The attribution of the

of the Prentenkabinet at
in the archives
Amsterdam.
(115) B. Nicolson (Vermeer's
the
low
Lady
however, conceivably have been the

glance to represent
painter.
its
at the Virginals,
was
price given that the picture
a small one.
Girl with a
The
Red
Hat:
London,
No. 3 in
it
n.d., p. 12) reasons
from
the 1696 catalogue may,
might well be taken
catalogue refers to the item
as
at a
cursory
'uncommonly well
painted, with rich accessories'.

(116)
The manner,
a little like that
of Emmanuel de Witte, in which Vermeer represents
the painter's hose provides an example. Another, foreshadowing
subsequent works,
(117)
The
what
which renders the
more
of
fully the style
chandelier.
fact that the crucial passages
have been
slightly
retouched, perhaps
at
is
the
a De Hooch signature. The detail of the face has been somewarmer tone than would agree with the pearly grey of the
shadows. The form of the mouth is altered, its corners are drawn up; the fingers
when
the
work
received
redrawn
hesitantly
original
the pattern of brush strokes
value of the picture in the study of Vermeer's style of representation
reduced by the
time
is
in a
of the hand that holds the trumpet have suffered similar treatment.
map
encroaches on the
of the nose)
it
above the right
wrist)
Where
and on the hair
(to
the retouching
the
left
of the
tip
Such an imposition of line upon Vermeer's record of

the original form must have reached an extreme of delicacy
particularly clear.
is
tone contradicts
(just
its
nature;
which only the passage above the ear and the wreath now allow us to judge. The painter's
hand which has been referred to and the plaster mask on the table-so unexpected a piece
of modelling that
many
spectators altogether
fail
[H3]
to construe it-convey
something of the
state in
ments
is
which the picture
left
the
artist.
The impulse
to adjust
it
to conventional require-
easy to understand.
Nicolaes Maes
The Lacemaker
(Drawing. Boymans-van Beuningen
Museum, Rotterdam)
Plate 53
THE LACEMAKER
o|
8^
in. (251
X 210 mm) Signed
Louvre, Paris
The method, which from
the time of Hie Music Lesson
onward
has been
progressively clarified and crystallized, here reaches the culmination, jewel-like,

[
144]
immaculate and
baffling,
very detachment conveys, resolved

is
was
The
a style
whose
the delicate tension of feeling
which
are familiar.
at last,
The
the burden of the painter's work.
vided
we
with which
subject, the
theme of all Vermeer's predecessors
a favourite
particularly indebted to
any one of them
it
result
is
making of
had pro-
lace,
in the genre school. If
was
Maes;
to Nicolaes
drawings of the motif by Maes dating from perhaps ten years earlier
we
form of the foreshortened head.
the
terms
translates the suggestion into
bowed, preoccupied pose, which

most congenial
agreeable to his
of all themes from the
is
to him, here reveals
its
a little
is
approach her so
(118)
Reader onwards
peculiar advantages. The Lacemaker
Drawings
935-6, no- 2 3)
is
so absorbed, enclosed in her
own
It is
perhaps
lacy world, that allows us to
close.
in the
collection: a picture
J
unexpected.
temperament. The
Letter
bends intently over her pursuit, unaware of any other happening.

the fact that she
and
Without such precedents the boldness of
11 *
Vermeer's treatment of the subject here might indeed seem
Vermeer
in
find a
similar arrangement, giving just such a value to the disposition of fingers
the
he
Boymans-van Beuningen Museum and formerly
in the
of the subject (H. de G. 66, collection of Mrs. Denniston, Chicago,
dated 1655.
54-55
A LADY RECEIVING A LETTER FROM HER MAID
Plates
39^
Dalhousie
X 29^
X 759 mm) Traces of a

Collection, New York U9
(1010
in.
Frick
Plate
signature
56
A GIRL WITH A FLUTE

7h
7s
20
mm
National Gallery of Art, Washington 120
Plate 57
A GIRL WITH A RED HAT

9^ X
7^
in.
(230
181
mm)
Signed

I
H5
Some of Vermeer's themes develop from

progression that
it
seems that
can have been
little
aspects of his
work,
Letter Reader,
almost in their entirety.
that for instance represented
given the peculiar conditions of his

small;
each picture
comes
maining
as
the
way
be recognized,
to
to us.
in
normally
The
of
which
may
beauties
it is
is
accustomed obliquity of meaning are

7
is
and
to the
it is
here that
perhaps better understood
pictures evolve out of
Girl with a Flute
as
we
she
is
alone
among
re-
evolution of the incident which

is
particularly lacking.
Some
well have disappeared. 121
Vermeer's most personal
style
all
its
and
his
were record of an
should suspect his hand. But the picture
one of the
which
beautiful piece
is
one another
body of the work
to seek. 122 If there
the latter part of Vermeer's work. There
more
retains
so evident in the earliest works.
is
first,
and indeed the
those attempts to enlarge the limits of his art of which there
smaller and
end each
the largest of the mature genre pictures. For
also the least characteristic;
assistant in his studio,
heavier personal
style, a far
prolific painter,
Our knowledge of Vermeer's
Frick Letter
production was very
fancy certain gaps in the
treatment of a similar theme
some
possess
by variations on the Dresden
appears in the Frick example and Tlie Love Letter

earlier
we
Possibly
certainly entirely comprehensible,
is
which Vermeer's
we may
lost.
activity, that his total
quality of an isolated feat
Nevertheless,
It
carries, for all the restraint
weight than any work by
some of the
picture to picture in so uniform a
is
plainest,
more than one
of
in
something of the same character in a
is
is
none the
less far
from
typical.
The
the painter's sitters in boldly confronting us;
also singular in the fact that
we
cannot be sure that her picture was ever
work
quite finished. 123 Perhaps this was a
that the painter, in stepping subtly
outside his field, was compelled to leave by his standards incomplete. In the
Red Hat the oblique arrangement
is
restored and the wonderful definition
is
accomplished. Similarly, in The Love Letter even the unsubtle theme of the Frick
picture was to be incorporated into Vermeer's world.
(119) Following Nicolson's observations
on
the prices (op.
at., p.
12) the Frick picture
can hardly be identified with no. 7 in the 1696 auction. No. 7 might be expected to be a
little smaller then No. 6 which is probably the Buckingham Palace picture, a description
which
precisely
fits
not in typical form.

after 1665.
it
The Love
De
Letter.
The appearance of the
was engraved
The fragment of a
signature
is
said to
be
visible,
though
Vries observes that the style of hairdressing indicated a date shortly

picture has remained
in the Petite Galerie Lebrun
(II,
no. 87).
[146]
unchanged
at least since
1809
when
Doubts of the authenticity of the Girl with a Flute and the Red Hat have recently
(e.g. by Van Thienen and Swillens); these seem quite unjustifiable. Had these
(120)
been expressed
pictures not existed
no
insight could
have imagined them,
at least until
the radiograph of the
Mauritshuis head showed that the style of the Red Hat had played an essential part in
Vermeer's method.
The Red Hat
is
certainly the picture
which appeared
the Lafontaine
at
sale in 1822.
We may imagine
(121)
sition
a picture in
which
writer or
recipient
a table, a
sits at
compo-
of which the Washington and Frick pictures are repetitive variants and Dublin's an
oblique and abstracted sophistication. Perhaps Metsu's pictures in the Wallace Collection
and
it
at
Montpellier (H. de G. 186, 24) and the Duet in the National Gallery (no. 838) reflect
more
directly;
Music Lesson or
Metsu's
Letter that
we may
suppose that
it
Certainly
a little earlier.
letter pictures in
belonged to the time of The Concert and The
it is
from
from The Love
phase, rather than
this
Dublin derive.
may be
pair of pendants
envelope held
we
involved;
woman's hand.
might expect to discover the beautiful
detail
of
Unfortunately conjecture has proved
itself
the least useful of methods in the study of
Vermeer. The uneasy arrangement of the Frick
a sealed
Letter
may
in a
indicate that the
theme had not
received the continuous attention which was given, for example, to that of the Lady
Standing at the Virginals.
The
(122)
linear definition
of the
no
lady's profile,
may be remarked. Moreover,
expression of the servant,
than the strangely mobile
less
the
most convincing elements of
more typical works, notably the letter picture in the

The modelling of the ermine trimming where it turns away
the picture reproduce details of
Washington National
from the
light
is
was responsible
Gallery.
however
precisely in the
for the picture,
The note of red which
his hands.
manner of the
whatever transformation
is
Girl with a Flute; possibly
may have undergone
it
seen between the edges of the jacket
is
of interest;
appears in the Gold Weigher. This scarlet band, curving roundly over the belly,
rather as
is
They
of a warm-toned though impersonal core within the cool forms of these

sometimes suggested
It is
that the panel has
been
cut.
Even
arrangement can hardly have been characteristic of the painter.
which the
girl
is
to the curious
definition,
is
placed
may
hand which
well have been visible. But
is
seen to the
in the similar details
left.
original stretcher. Losses in course
it is
(The nearest
of the Frick
Vermeer's pictures are uncut; only the

its
is
it left
it
also
discovered
the Venetian red of the under-skirts of the Maidservant and the lady in The
Music Lesson and the same colour in the painter's stockings in the Studio.
(123)
Vermeer
since
its
More of
difficult to
parallel to
Letter.) It is rarely
Kenwood Guitar
of time may well
in
original
the table behind
its
form, and
17^
in.
(502
451
[147]
on
explain the present slight descrep-
Signed and dated 1668
Louvre, Paris 124
linear
Player seems to remain unlined
58
mm)
its
possible to be sure that
THE ASTRONOMER
192
form the
imagine any addition
ancy between the dimensions of The Music Lesson and The Concert.
Plate
are indications
pictures.
and
Plates 59
61
THE GEOGRAPHER
20J
8^- in.
Frankfurt
St'ddel Institute,
The
The
later
Procuress
seem
am Main
of Vermeer's two dated pictures was painted twelve years
and seven years before
show some
to
X 464 mm) Signed
(530
of
affinity
Half
his death.
with
style
work,
this
dozen other pictures

Astronomer and
T)\e
pendant; together they form the group which provides the

present
painted
list.
is
far
Such evidence
we
as
after
last entries in
its
the
have of the order in which they were
from conclusive. Some of them have
broad and sombre richness
not quite characteristic of any earlier period; The Astronomer and The Geographer share the quality with the picture in
painter's uses
of
his optical substitute for
on massive
the light and shade
from form. The incomparable

effect.
Further light on
this
Tire
Love
Letter.
It
is
modelling, the Red Hat. In
all
make
liberated
draperies
simplicity of the
phase
decorative elaboration, the quality

12 ^
which appears the boldest of all the
may be
sumptuous pattern
Dublin
a similar
gathered from the emergence of a
which appears
most marked
approaches
Letter
three
of
in the bright enamelling
and the pictures
in the Allegory
at
the
National Gallery, London.
These
last
stand rather apart from the rest of the group. In tonality and sub-
ject they represent
development
one of those reversions which occur
to provide a
warning
of the
These
letter pictures at
six
which there
Astronomer and Tlie Geographer in the

his
conclusion. Vermeer's
his final years. In the
activity
widow
is
last
was cut
well
the costumes,
date
as
from
short:
his
little
reason to place
life.
reached
style
earlier.
after
its
recorded to have stated that he earned
Yet
The
we
natural
in
little
context the fact would be easy to understand.
with subjects which were the
particular he can hardly have

ars in their studies
and the Guitar
seven years of Vermeer's
In The Astronomer and The Geographer

habit,
is
the painter's
Allegory
styles, as
Amsterdam and Dublin can
are the only pictures
have no sense that
The
to the student.
same phase and the
Player evidently belong to the
at intervals in
126
Vermeer
common
dealt,
according to
his
property of his school. In

7
been aware of the numerous pictures of the schol-
by Rembrandt and
his circle.
Among
these
it is
interesting
to notice that the nearest precedent for the arrangement ot Vermeer's versions
[148]
is
"~"^w:i
:.
Rembrandt
Faust
(Etching. Reversed)
again to be found in drawings
by Nicolaes Maes. 127
It
these figures can be credited to Vermeer's invention.

precisely the position of Faust in
resemblance
to
its
we
source. Vermeer,
the intensity with
is
The Geographer
Rembrandt's famous etching
128
whose
cast
of thought was
owed some of the
which the problems of
as
takes
and
can for once trace Vermeer's radiant and contemplative
of any painter, yet must have
to
does not appear that even
it,
in the
moment
unlike Rembrandt's
very foundation of
up
as that
some of
figure painting presented themselves
him, to the example with which the master confronted his generation. But
perhaps significant that only here,
and the limitations
it
imposed
confirm the relationship which
as
the tension of his
at last relax,
his
do we discover
whole development
[
149]
own
pressing
a
suggests.
it
problem
direct link to
Nicolaes Maes
Scholar in his Study
(Drawing. G. Abrams Collection, Newton, Massachusetts)
We
have
Astronomer.
curious evidence of the currency of Vermeer's motif in The
Another Astronomer,
now
in an
American
sometimes been ascribed to him, shows the scholar in

signature
visible
on which the
the
attribution rests only the
name of Metsu would be among
of the work would
call to
an inscription of greater
credited this version of
mind
130
Possibly both derive from a
which
very similar pose.
first
letters
has
Of the
are said to
be
those
which the general appearance
but elsewhere
the picture bears the trace of
interest, a date
unknown
collection, 129
of 1665. Whether or not
authorship
common
is
it
can be
evidently the older of the two.
source; material to complete the history of
the motif has disappeared.
[150]
(124)
An
important notice of Vermeer by C. Josi (1821), which has
includes a reference to The Geographer:
compas a
(S.
la
main pour 7
louis, et, a la
Nijman en 1798, Vhomme
achetai chez
'J'
vente de
M.
de Lange, en 1803,
Sulzberger in Kunsthistorische Mededelingen, 1948,
the history of The Astronomer as hitherto recorded;
it
been remarked,
lately
3.)
An
il
addition
fut porte a
may
tenant un
36
louis.'
be made to
also
appeared in the Leopold Double
sale,
Paris, 30.v.i88i, no. 17. The dated inscription of the Geographer is a later addition. (The
form given to the artist's name follows that which is used in the signature of the Studio.)
The original signature is that on the panel of the cabinet. The date of The Astronomer was
once read (by

(125)
De Groot and
A striking feature
Vanzype)
as
of The Love
1673.
Letter
is
numerous
the veining of the marble floor; a similar quality appears in
drawing the decorative bravura of these curling strokes would
In a
Caspar Netscher (compare the embellishment of

writer in the British
Museum
map and
who
Wallace Collection, dated 1664);
it
was seven years
may be
that they
his
details
of the
mind
call to
the
Allegory.
name of
carpet in the drawing of a letter
for pictures painted in 1664-5).
between Vermeer and Netscher
which renders
the bold flourish of the brush
There
are other affinities
junior (see the Lacemaker in the
were
in contact in the
middle
sixties.
The tendency of Dutch
taste, in
however damaging
the consistency of Vermeer's style, liberated certain unexpected
of his
qualities
has the kind of

(126)
to
talent.
life
There
is
which Netscher was
The marbling of the
which
Sung
no reason
virginals
a leader,
towards elegant elaboration,
of the Lady Seated in the National Gallery
painter might discover in the leaves of bamboo.
to think that the later inscription
tended to mislead: the picture
may
on the Geographer was
well have been painted in 1669. This,
London,
as his
in-
biographer
which Van
Leeuwenhoek qualified as a surveyor. In Verkolje's portrait (dated 1686) Van Leeuwenhoek
appears with a globe and compasses similar to those which Vermeer, like other painters,
points out (Dobell, Antony van Leeuwenhoek
1932),
was the year
in
incorporates here; both globes, apparently precisely alike, are of the celestial type. Vermeer's
Dobell observes,
sitter, as
lapse
is
not recognizably like Van Leeuwenhoek.
Nor
is
he, given the
of time between the pictures, particularly unlike him.
(127) G.
Abrams Collection, Newton, Massachusetts.
(128)
H. 260,
(129)
De Young Museum,
resemblance
is
c.
1650-5.
San Francisco, formerly E. John Magnin collection. The
again in reverse.
It is curious how many confusions in the study of Dutch genre painting have
from the number of artists whose names share the same initial. The signature on the
Diana was once altered to that of Maes, while that on The Music Lesson was long supposed
(130)
arisen
to
belong to
F.
van Mieris. In the discussion of the
ed to conversations with Dr.
De
Vries.
[151]
De Young
picture the writer
is
indebt-
Plates 62
and 63
THE LOVE LETTER

18^ X
5^
in.
(464
X 400 mm) Signed
work Vermeer does not
In his mature
often deal with action and anecdote.
Yet they are not entirely abandoned; however foreign to
movement of the world
habitual subjects of genre painters, the lively

fascination that
passes
easily forgotten.
But the
recorded with
release
pictures that
we
Love
little
Vermeer's
characteristically
is
a startling brilliance
the painter's artifice
the
is
invoked
have none
is
more
ment was
retains a
Vermeer's development
at least, as
is
near to being
ambiguous. The movement of life
and then the whole perverse complexity of
to soften
and
deflect
elaborately or
more
its
impact.
Among
the
curiously calculated than
Letter.
facility rarely
extended to inventiveness. In the consideration of
works the paradox becomes
his later
Once
climacteric, the suspended animation of his pictures
its
let loose.
is
not
is
temperament the
his
even
clear that
when
on
already exercising a considerable influence
their evident refine-
his associates
Vermeer
himself remained dependent on earlier pictures for the fundamentals of his
One
motifs.
of
his lost pictures
room 131 but whatever
has disappeared
modify the impression
slightly
The Love
Letter
is
it
is
that Pieter de
of the doorway
for evolving the device

typical compositions
seems to have contained
throughout
as a
doubtful
if
Hooch was
it
could more than
It is
in
which
clear that the paradoxical quality
himself imitated
(131)
No.
(132)
5 in
it
of
his
appears in
compo-
of Delft which can hardly have been due to the influence
of Vermeer's picture; 132 possibly the device was in general use.
Hooch
a feature
highly personal one. There are examples of similar
sitions in the painting
another
primarily responsible
genre motif.
But the form
his career.
a vista into
it
of
this
arrangement
is
It is
nevertheless
Vermeer's own.
De
133
in a picture of an elegant incident involving a parrot.
the 1696 auction; the catalogue entry has
been quoted.
door, of which neither hinge nor top or bottom
is
visible frames the scene in
which has the appearance of belonging to an earlier phase of the school.

the Louvre called The Slippers which has a curious history has been ingeni-
Refusing the Glass,
(A picture in
ously identified by Plietsch
The Love
(133)
Letter
have
as a
as a
pastiche of about 1800.)
The
casually disposed slippers in
genre motif a history extending back to Jan van Eyck.
H. de G. 118; Rotterdam, 1935, no.
bears can hardly be original; the picture
is
53.
The date of 1668 which the

work of the seventies.
evidently a
[152]
canvas
now
Plates
6467 and 70

X
28
23^- in. (711
591
mm)
Signed
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
Plates
68-69

X
I9|
16^- in.
(502
425
mm)
Signed
Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, London
Plates
7173
ALLEGORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

X
44-I
34^ in. (1130
Metropolitan
The work
in the
Museum
of Art,
Dublin collection appears
household incident that
we
have.
It is
mm)
New York
883
be the
to
Vermeer's
latest
rendering of
evasion of the require-
final
ments of convential genre painting, the culmination of the process which

begins with the Dresden Letter Reader. There
petty description.
These
figures,
is
no invention, no anecdote, no
the maid, descendant of
all
the immobile
standing figures in earlier pictures, and the lady, close relative of The Lacemaker,
are the elementary, universal figures
familiar.
The
painter
is
at ease
we
of Vermeer's world with which
with them. In their presence he
able at
is
are
last
to
look upon the scene without fear of the unpredictable claims of life.
Nothing
picture
is
is
recorded but the unarguable, unfeeling
an extreme example of Vermeer's method.
the incidence of light and
of descriptive
line,
shadow mapped out with
own,
the National Gallery.
of
light; in style
Nowhere
less
the
work
in his
is
regard for conventions
designs of symbolic facets in
the possibility of that abstracted artificiality
that
of
of continuity, of understanding. Indeed the mosaic of tones
discovers patterns of its
to the period
fall
It
has sometimes
which
been thought
is
which we can discern
reached in the pictures in
that the
Dublin
Letter
belongs
of the pearl pictures but the positive, inflexible method here
a different phase,
more complete
is
control of the material, a classic
hardening of thought. There are technical indications, the firmness of accent,

the points of light
that the picture
we know,
which
lie
so flatly
should be placed
upon broadly modelled forms,
among
the works
the painter's career. 134
[153]
to
confirm
which concluded,
so far as
The Dublin
Letter,
with the Studio and the
very probably identified with pictures

painter's
widow
works.
later
after his death;
135
it is
clear
work by Jacob
one
side
work by
of a picture by Pieter de
P. Janssens Ellinga.
appearance,
its
of
138
here.
139
Woman
figure
is
Of
furthest
from
notably the famous
an Altar
at
is
Night
Twelfth
work of Metsu
some
baroque source.
Allegory
is
foreground
his circle.
at
We
was not
Kassel.'
at
the
made
same time.
among
the works
40
in the
142
work of Jan
The motif was
use of
No
it
may none
the
less
this
his invention. Similar
in the
doubt
it
Steen,
evidently
fifties.
141
It
was
was drawn from
not the most memorable of Vermeer's works.
The
still-life
have had some influence on the imagery of
have two other pictures from the time of the Allegory; in one
of them the tapestry hanging, similarly painted,

the pair in
it
indeed not unlike that of the lady
his characteristic style. It
reflected in the
143
precedent for
of Gabriel Metsu, and the devotional
current in Haarlem; Jan Miense Molenaer
in the
writing at her table
Vermeer's subject matter, otherwise so circum-
more congruous circumstances
positions appear in
The
sits
Vermeer's motifs the massive and abandoned pose of
all
Italianate
who
of the
reflections
where the influence of the ubiquitous Cesare
his associates in the religous paintings
gesture of Metsu's
Other
appear
Letter
painted in the early seventies and in
unexpected turn. There was
scribed, takes an
136
were among the
three
and the
Studio
in a lady
Hooch
all
the disposal of the
at
137
In the Allegory of the Faith,
Ripa makes
that
O&htervelt.
Dublin picture may perhaps be detected

at
enough
may be
Guitar Player,
been
to have
from both the
Details derived
together in an interesting
known
Kenwood
London,
are
still lies
more modest and more
convey more of the character of the
painter's
in the
same
folds.
These,
characteristic; fortunately they
thought in
this last phase.
(134) The paint has been somewhat flattened by relining; otherwise the picture is in
good condition although there has evidently been some interference with the eye on the
darker side of the lady's head.

(135) If reliance can be placed, as seems possible,
found no pictures
in the painter's studio
must have been painted

with the Studio;
its
after that date.
on
the testimony of de
Monconys, who
works
when he visited him in 1663

De Vries has pursued this reasoning
(see n. 2), these
in
application to the Dublin Letter appears to have escaped him.
discounts the French traveller's evidence.
[154]
connection
Van Thienen
(136)
Landesmuseum, Bonn.
(137)
De Hooch:
Errera collection, Brussels (K. der K. p. 95). P. Janssens Ellinga:
Nov. -Dec. 1947, fig. 7).

A Dutch translation of the
Iconologia
Formerly in the Schonborn-Buchheim collection, Vienna (H. de G.
21); the
Schloss collection, Paris (Gazette des Beaux Arts,

(138) A.
J.
was published
(139)
picture
Barnouw
in
Oud
Holland, 1914, p. 50.
in 1644.
doubtless itself an allegory of the Faith.
is
Dated 1668 (H. de G. 494). Similar motifs appear
(140)
(H. de G. 100), the National Gallery,

at
The Hague
(H. de G. 828).
teaching a cat to dance

the kind
which
is
An
London
Museum
children
in the
have thin and
figures in the Allegory alone
Rijksmuseum
Rijksmuseum of some
unkind picture
related. All these
in pictures in the
(H. de G. 855), and the Municipal
Italianate folds
among Vermeer's
of satin drapery of
works.
(141) Feast in an Inn (Mauritshuis), dated 1653.
of an
(142) Distantly related figures appear in the picture
Museum
artist
painting Erato (see n. 108)
The figure ofJustice which

Erasmus Quellinus included in the ceiling decoration of Amsterdam town hall in about
1656, though rather similar, can hardly have been the origin of the motif. Some such picture
as the Cleopatra by Andrea Vaccaro (Prado) is a more probable source.
(143) Compare the serpent crushed under a square tombstone in front of the Muse
Urania in the frontispiece to the ninth book of Van Hoogstraten's Hooge Schoole der
and
in the
Musk Party
in the
Metropolitan
(dated 1659).
Schilderkonst (1678; in the printed etching the detail
Plates 74, 76
is
reversed).
and 78
A LADY STANDING AT THE VIRGINALS

20
18 in. (508
X 457 mm) Signed
National Gallery, London^ 4
Plates 73, 77
and 7g
A LADY SEATED AT THE VIRGINALS

20^
18 in. (514
X 457 mm)
Signed
National Gallery, London
These
last
pictures, polished
development and even convey

before.
They
are characteristic
addenda to the
painter's history,
summarize
his
a little
more of
his
meaning than
of
method;
we
discover again the curious
his
duality of his attitude to his material.
One
[155]
motif
is
has
emerged
entirely traditional.
The
Jan Miense Molenaer
Lady
at
the Virginals
.
seated lady follows closely a familiar design, the design
which had served Dirk
Hals and provided Jan Miense Molenaer with the pattern for his portrait of
Judith Leyster and her children.
graphy of
St. Cecilia.
own.
the
It is
theme
last
ot the
that
^ The
we
Dresden
45
design deriving directly from the icono-
other, the
see
motif of the standing
of his typical invention, the
Letter Reader.
There
vide a fruitful ground of inquiry. There
which does not contribute

conveys.
From
this
is
women
[156]
Vermeer's
evolution of the
and these pictures pro-
hardly a detail in either of
to the pervading emotional
standpoint these works
final
is
matter for investigation in the
is
background of Vermeer's manner of painting
lady,
mav
them
meaning which each
contain surprises tor those
who
have become used to references in the literature of the subject to the dull
pictures in the
London National
who owned
Theophile Thore,
The
Sphinx.
reference
the story was
less that
is
An
(144)
addition
Christie's,
11.
vii.
to frame his
1845, no.
5),
sale (1st day,
Dou
older, presented the Saint looking
for the seated figure in
Hie
Dulwich
(before 1665).
other,
two dominant types.

form on which
showing her looking up in
(as in
the Honthorst school-piece
the keyboard was of
down
Concert.
in strict profile, in the
The
often surrounded by angels
children, and of the Lady Seated at the Virginals.
(147)
at
at
in the E.
Solly.
provided the design of Molenaer's picture, where the angels are transformed into
in precisely the
(in
it.
W. Lake
name
from the collection of E.
current imagery of Saint Cecilia
moment of illumination,
enigmatic answer to
try at
of the Lady
Rijksmuseum. Cf. the picture by
Mola
that Vermeer's role in
to the recorded appearances at auction
The
at Kassel),
own
figured under the painter's
(146)
Vermeer drew
the
and
(145)
One, the
But we may fancy
of merciless examiner than victim, condemned to
may be made
It
both these pictures, called Vermeer the
appropriate.
his peril to resolve a riddle,
Standing at the Virginals.
Gallery. 147
The
alternative types appear, for example,
forms which Vermeer adoped, in two studies drawn on
the collection of the Earl of Leicester).
W. R.
Valentiner, op.
cit.,
p. 311.
Plate 80

9
7^- in.
(244
197
mm)
Baron Rolin Collection, Brussels
157]
(in
1970)
a single sheet
by
HEAD OF A GIRL
Radiograph of central part
INDEX OF ARTISTS
Aelst, Evert van,
Aelst,
70
Duck, Jacob, 113, 115, 118 (68), 126

Duyster, Willem Cornelisz, 118 (68)
(10)
Willem van, 70
(10),
98
(82)
Allori, Allessandro, 83 (12)
Eeckhout, Gerbrand van den, 109

Baburen, Theodor van, 24, 49, 50, 52, 62, 122,
(102), 154, 155 (137)
Adam, 50
Barban, Jacopo de, 98

Beer, Jan de, 143 (no)
Elsheimer,
Beich, Joachim Franz, 70 (9)

Berckheyde, Job, 140, 141, 143 (in)
Beyeren, Abraham van, 70 (16)
Bloemaert, Abraham, 88 (19), 130 (96)
Everdingen, Cesar van, 91

Eyck, Jan van, 152 (132)
Ensor, James, 32
Fabritius, Barent, 86, 88 (20), 103 (51)

Fabritius, Carel, 24, 25, 30, 31, 36, 40, 48,
Sandro, 102 (42)
Borch, Gerard
ter,
118
Ellinga, Pieter Janssens, 124, 127 (91), 135, 136
123-4, 126 (83)
Baegert, Derick, 143 (no)
Botticelli,
(60), 116,
(70)
(10), 75, 84, 98,
101, 103 (52), 106-7, 114, 120, 121, 122, 124,
126 (82), 141
Fromentin, Eugene, 72
Boursse, Esaias, 92 (24)
Bramer, Leonard, 84 (15)

Brekelenkam, Quinngh van, 103
(52),
70
102 (40), 103 (51), in, 118

(75), 125 (77), 130 (97)
Francesca, Piero della, 19, 63-4, 79 (24), 126 (83)
20, 30, 32, 34, 48, 78 (5), 99,
(28)
Gheeraerts, Marc, 83 (10)
108 (54),
118 (75)
Bronckhorst, Jan van, 86, 88 (19), 92 (30)
Gheyn, Jacques
Brugghen, Hendrick ter, 21

Burch, Hendrick van der, 97 (36), 118
Buytewech, Willem, 128, 130 (98)
Giotto, 63
de, 92 (25)
Giorgione, 63, 64, 71 (24)
Hugo van der, 102

Goudt, Hendrik, 71 (19)
Goes,
(75)
(42)
Graf, Urs, 85, 87, 88 (22)
Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio, 23, 70
125 (79)
Caravaggio, Michelangelo da, 21, 2}, 24, 27, 62,
(9),
Haid, Johann Jakob, 70 (9)

Hals, Claes, 92 (26)
Hals, Dirk, 105, 108 (55), 115, 118
69 (6), 81, 82, 86, 97, 100, 102 (43), 108 (56)
Cezanne, Paul, 63
Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon, no, 112 (61)
Clausen, Sir George, 65, 71 (25)
Coelenbier, Jan, 129 (95)
Corot, Jcan-Baptiste-Camille, no, 112 (61)
Cranach, Lucas the Elder, 88 (22)
Crespi, Giovanni Battista, 70 (9)
(68),
156
Hals, Frans, 106, 107, 115
Hemessen, Jan van, 136 (101)

Heyden, Jan van der, 100
Holbein, Hans the Younger, 88 (22)
Hondius, Abraham, 102 (41, 44)
Honthorst, Gerard van, 126 (85), 134
(100), 157
(146)
Hooch,
Dali, Salvador, 72 (26)
Degas, Edgar, 24, 28

Dou, Gerard, 24, 37, 40, 68
(6),
(6),
102 (45, 46, 47), 106, 107,
70
10,
108 (53, 54), 108-9 (59). 10 9 (60), 112, 112

114, 116, 117, 118 (71, 75), 122, 124,
(15), 98, 100,
in, 112
Pieter de, 21, 29, 30, 31, 33, 40, 48, 69
85, 87, 90, 92 (28, 29), 102 (47), 104-8,
(62),
(64),
126 (81),
131, 157. (145)
159
127 (89, 91),
128,
129 (96), 131,
H3
135-6. 136 (102),
Pot,
("7), 152, 152 (i33).
Hendnck
Gerntsz, 108 (55)
Potter, Paul, 25, 98, 101 (39)
154, 155 (137)
Hoogstraten, Samuel Van, 118 (75), 125 (77),

127 (91, 92), 129 (94), 142 (108, 109), 155 (143)
Houckgeest, Gerrit, 35, 99, 100, 102 (41, 47),
108 (58)
Poussin, Nicolas, 19
Jongh, Ludolfde, 118
Rembrandt van Rijn,
Quellinus, Erasmus the Younger, 80, 81-2, 83

(9,
(75)
10, 11), 155 (142)
20, 25, 30, 31, 34, 35-7,
58, 78 (5), 83 (10, 14), 88 (20), 89, 90, 92 (25,
Koedyck,
Kraft,
Isaak van, 109 (60)
Adam,
27), 96,
143 (no)
Kuyl, Gysbrecht, van der, 108 (56), 134 (100)
(37), 98, 100-1, 101 (39),
102 (41),
(114), 148, 149, 151 (128)
Renoir, Auguste, 18, 65

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 70
La Tour, Georges de, 69 (6)

Leonardo da Vinci, 69 (7)
Le Sueur, Eustache, 142 (107, 108)
Leyster, Judith, 114,
97
102-3 (50), 103 (51), 106, 107, 135, 141, 143
(9)
Rousselet, Gilles, 141
Rubens, Peter Paul, 71
15-16, 118 (69), 143 (113),
(21), 81, 83
(10),
124,
126 (85), 136 (101)
156
Loo, Jacob van, 93, 94, 96, 96
Saenredam,
(33, 34, 35), 118
Lys,Jan, 134 (100), 141
Maes, Nicolaes, 29, 30,
Sorgh, Hendrick Martensz, 83 (10)

Spreeuwen, Jan van, 143 (in)
31, 33, 36, 40, 48, 89, 90,
Steen, Jan, 22, 51, 68
91, 92 (24, 25, 27), 95, 101, 103 (50, 51), 119
(76), 141, 143
(114), 144, 145, 149, 150, 151
14),
(127, 130)
(3),
71 (21), 81, 82, 83 (10,
102 (47), 124, 127 (93), 129 (96), 154, 155
(140)
Steenwyck, Harmen van, 70 (10)

Steenwyck, Hendrik van, the Younger, 108
Steenwyck, Pieter van, 70 (10)
Steer, Philip Wilson, 65, 71 (26)
Stonier, Mattheus, 123, 126 (85)
Manet, Edouard, 20
Massaccio, 20
Massys, Quentin, 88 (22)
Master of the Female Half-lengths, 136 (101)
Meegeren, Henricus Anthonius van, 66, 112 (63)
Metsu, Gabriel, 20, 22, 30, 31, 33, 40, 62, 68 (1),
68 (3), 70 (14), 83 (10), 108 (54), 115, 116,
Tintoretto, 83 (8), 132

Torrentius, Johannes, 25, 70 (n)
134 (100), 136 (102), 139, 142
(108), 147 (121), 150, 154, 155 (139)

Michelangelo, 126 (83)
Miens, Frans van, 30, 96, 97 (38), 103 (52), 125
Utrecht, Adriaen van, 83 (10)
Vaccaro, Andrea, 81, 83 (7), 155 (142)

Velazquez, Diego de Silva y, 20, 50, 65
Velsen, Jacob van, 105, 108 (56)
(79), 141, 143 (112), 151 (130)
Moeyaert, Nicolaes Cornelisz, 88 (19)

Mola, Pietro Francesco, 157 (146)
Molenaer, Jan Miense, 154, 155 (141), 156, 157
(H5, 146)
Moretto da Brescia, 79,
Verkolje, Nicolaas, 151 (126)

Vliet,
82, 83 (8, 14),
83-4
(58)
Sweerts, Michiel, 22, 139 (106)
117, 118 (72), 119 (76), 124, 127 (89,93), 131

(99), 132, 133,
Pieter, 129
Scorel, Jan van, 88 (21), 138, 139 (106)

Seurat, Georges, 32
(75)
Hendrick van, 100, 102
(48)
Vos, Marten de, 143 (no)

Vos, Simon de, 143 (113)
(15)
Neer, Eglon van der, 78 (5)

Netscher, Caspar, 151 (125)
Vosmaer, Daniel, 125
(77)
Weyden, Rogier van de, 68 (6)

Winghe, Joos van, 143 (no)
Witte, Emanuel de, 118 (75), 124, 127
Ochtervelt, Jacob, 118 (75), 127 (87), 154, 155

(136)
Oostzanen, Jacob Cornelisz van, 139 (106)
139 (106), 143 (116)
Wynants, Jan, 53
Palamedesz, Anthonie, 51, 104
Parrhasius, 100
Zeuxis, 100
160
(88, 89),
i.

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Dresden
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The Hague
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Amsterdam
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27
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28.
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29.
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39.
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4i.
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Washington
43-
YOUNG LADY WITH

Berlin
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44.

Washington
45-

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4 6.

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Amsterdam
48.

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The Hague
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Paris
54-
A LADY RECEIVING A LETTER FROM HER MAID

New
York
55-
A LADY RECEIVING A LETTER

Detail
FROM HER MAID
5 6.
A GIRL WITH A FLUTE

Washington
57-
A GIRL WITH A RED HAT

Washington
5 8.
THE ASTRONOMER
Paris
59-
THE GEOGRAPHER
Frankfurt
6o.
AN ARTIST
IN HIS STUDIO
Detail
6i.
THE GEOGRAPHER
Detail
62.
THE LOVE LETTER

Amsterdam
63.
THE LOVE LETTER

Detail
64

Dublin
65

Detail
66.

Detail
67.
A LADY WRITING A LETTER WITH

Detail
HER MAID
68.

London
69.

Detail
70.

Detail
7i.

New
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72.

Detail
73-

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74-

London
75-

London
76.

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Detail
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 9999 03415 917 6
8o.

Baron Rolin Collection
(in
1970)
Brighton Branch Library
40 Academy
Brighton.
Hill
Road
MA 02135-3316
BAKER & TAYLOR
Lawrence Gowing's
sensibilities
the text
new
classic
with
available again,
is
study has long been treasured for the painterly
new foreword by
Sir Ernst
on Vermeer written by Lawrence Gowing
essay
Now
he brought to Vermeer's greatly loved body of work.
Gombrich,
in 1991, a
new
select
bibliography and fresh reproductions of Vermeer's paintings.
on art which are destined to remain valid, even

on which they were based has meanwhile been
Lawrence Gowing's monograph on Vermeer
revised or expanded
"There
when
are writings
the evidence
belongs to
This multi-layered reading oT the oeuvre surely
this class.
remains unaffected by the progressive expansion of our knowledge that

has occurred in the intervening years." Professor Sir Ernst
Gombrich,
from the Preface

"Gowing's
text remains the single best substained piece
of critical
writing in English that exists on Vermeer." Svetlana Alpers
"A
of important
series
new
scholarly studies published over the past ten
years has dramatically increased our
knowledge of Vermeer's
working methods. Lawrence Gowing's
classic
study of the
paintings remains, however, unsurpassed in both
Vermeer's
and
lyrical interiors
the
"Brilliant analysis
first
poetic evocation of
detailed descriptions of the visual
its
techniques through which he created them."
Comments on
its
and
life
artist's
Ann Jensen Adams
edition:
Must
surely rank as
one of the most profound
interpretations of a painter ever written." Burlington Magazine

"It
is,
as
we would
expect, a painter's approach, but
recognition that any

nature of the
artist
artist's
himself
aesthetic understanding."
work
...
is
it is
widened by the
governed by the psychological
piece of first-rate scholarship and
John Berger, Apollo
Lawrence Gowing (191 8- 199 1), art historian, painter, and teacher,
wrote on the work of many painters. The author of Cezanne: The Early
Years, he was curator of the landmark exhibition mounted in Paris in
1988. His
last
books were Cezanne: The
Basel Sketchbooks
and
Paintings in
the Louvre.
Cover
painting:
A Woman
in
Blue Reading a Letter (detail)
Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

Berkeley 94720
ISBN 0-SE0-5La?b-e
780520"212763
Printed in
Hong Kong

Vermeer by Lawrence Gowing (Art Ebook)

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I

Boston Public Library

University of California Press

University of California Press

Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

Published by arrangement with Giles de

1952, 1970, 1997

with Section 77 of the

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Originally published London: Faber and Faber, 1952.

Includes bibliographical references and Index.

Vermeer, Johannes, 1632-1675.

even when the

contributed to our perception of these masters. Lawrence Gowing's

monograph on Vermeer of 1952 belongs

Burckhardt's Recollections of Rubens, works of

doubt the intensity of

with appearances. Thus Vermeer's

and objective record of

to earlier observers like the cool

emotional complexity. This multi-layered reading

of the oeuvre surely remains unaffected by the progressive expansion of our

occurred in the intervening years.

two such events

of Vermeer, which must here be mentioned. The

the publication in 1989

assessment of this remarkable contribution in

which has been included

have Gowing's reaction and

review he wrote for the Times

experience Vermeer's ultimate apotheosis in the 1995-6 exhibitions of

Washington and The Hague, which not only

puzzled Lawrence Gowing,

enormous crowds but

form of a scholarly catalogue,

problems of attributions inevitably were once more

volume. Sadly, he did not

Red Hat and

The two problematGirl with a Flute, also

mind. Like the

authors of the catalogue, he finally accepted the authenticity of the

questioned the second.

gratefully, that in the last years

accomplishments the production of

close to his heart. His

mercially available as a video, but for

media, the old Latin tag

London, December 1996

JOHANNES VERMEER OF DELFT

NOTE TO THIRD EDITION

be reissuing Lawrence Gowing's Vermeer

updated edition. Jenny Gowing,

Lawrence Gowing told her he considered

most important work.

more remarkable when one takes

into account the

multiplicity and outstanding quality of his

Supplement about Vermeer and His Milieu:

he wrote for the Times Literary

Web of Social History by J.M.

ownership of pictures since 1970 have been incorporated and

shortly before his