Guided tour · One artist · Delft · 1632–1675

Vermeer

Thirteen of his rare paintings, in the order he made them: quiet rooms, letters and light.

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Works

13

Time

about 20 min

Collections

4

About this tour

Johannes Vermeer lived and worked in Delft. Only about 35 of his paintings are known, and thirteen of them are in the open collections of four museums. Here they are in the order he painted them. At every work, look first, then discover.

We begin in Delft, around 1656. Vermeer is in his twenties.

The 13 works

1. 

   Work 1 of 13

   A Maid Asleep

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1656–57 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   Look through the open door. Who is in the room behind?

   Nobody. But X-rays indicate that Vermeer first painted a man standing in the doorway. He painted him out.

   What is left is a quiet scene: a young woman dozing at a table. Is she asleep, or dreaming? Vermeer leaves it open.

2. 

   Work 2 of 13

   The Little Street

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1658 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

   This street seems empty at first. Can you find the people?

   A woman sews in a doorway, two children kneel on the pavement, and in the passage a woman bends over a washtub.

   Ordinary houses were an unusual subject. This is the Vlamingstraat in Delft: Vermeer's aunt lived in the house on the right.

3. 

   Work 3 of 13

   The Milkmaid

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1660 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

   Only one thing moves in this kitchen. What is it?

   The thin stream of milk. Everything else is still.

   Look at the bread and the other objects: Vermeer made the light play over them with hundreds of small dots of colour.

4. 

   Work 4 of 13

   Young Woman with a Water Pitcher

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1662 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   Look at the gilded silver basin on the table. What can you see in it?

   The colours of the carpet, reflected in the silver.

   She opens the window with one hand and holds the pitcher with the other: a moment in the middle of a movement. Her white linen hood is painted in shades of blue.

5. 

   Work 5 of 13

   Young Woman with a Lute

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1662–63 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   She is tuning her lute. But where is she looking?

   Out of the window, while her fingers turn a tuning peg. Is she waiting for someone?

   Behind her hangs a large map. In Vermeer's quiet rooms, the wide world is often there, on the wall.

6. 

   Work 6 of 13

   Woman Reading a Letter

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1663 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

   What colour are the shadows on the wall?

   Light blue, not grey or brown. Vermeer looked at light very precisely.

   She is still wearing her blue night jacket. Its glowing blue was made from lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone.

7. 

   Work 7 of 13

   Woman Holding a Balance

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1664 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   What is she weighing?

   Nothing: the pans of the balance are empty. She stands as if waiting for them to come to rest, in a moment of perfect balance.

   Behind her hangs a painting of the Last Judgement, when souls are weighed. Pearls and gold lie on the table.

8. 

   Work 8 of 13

   A Lady Writing

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1665 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   She looks straight at us. What hangs from her ears?

   Large pearl earrings: a few touches of white and grey, and they shine.

   Her yellow jacket with white fur appears in several of Vermeer's paintings. A jacket like it is listed in the inventory of his house after his death.

9. 

   Work 9 of 13

   Study of a Young Woman

   Johannes Vermeer · about 1665–67 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   Who is she?

   No one knows. Most likely it is a 'tronie': not a commissioned portrait, but a portrayal of an intriguing person, often in fanciful costume.

   Like the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring in The Hague, she turns towards us out of a dark background.

10. 

    Work 10 of 13

    Girl with the Red Hat

    Johannes Vermeer · about 1669 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

    Two lions are hiding in this painting. Can you find them?

    The carved lion heads of a chair. Their highlights are soft, blurred dots of light, like a photograph slightly out of focus.

    That is why some think Vermeer used a camera obscura, a box with a lens. The painting is only 23 by 18 centimetres, on a wooden panel.

11. 

    Work 11 of 13

    The Geographer

    Johannes Vermeer · 1669 · Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

    Vermeer dated very few of his paintings. Can you find the date on this one?

    Top right, under his name: MDCLXVIIII. That is 1669, in Roman numerals.

    The man has looked up from his map, dividers in hand, towards the light. On the cupboard stands a globe of the earth.

12. 

    Work 12 of 13

    The Love Letter

    Johannes Vermeer · about 1669–70 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

    Look at the paintings on the wall behind the two women. What could they say about the letter?

    A ship at sea. In Vermeer's time, love was often compared to the sea, and the lover to a ship.

    We look in through a doorway. The maid has just handed her mistress a letter, and she looks up, expectantly.

13. 

    Work 13 of 13

    Allegory of the Catholic Faith

    Johannes Vermeer · about 1670–72 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

    Something hangs from the ceiling. What can you see in it?

    A glass ball that reflects the room. Unlike the solid globe at her feet, this delicate glass may reflect Vermeer's vision of Heaven.

    The woman stands for the Catholic Church, her foot on the world. Vermeer had become a Catholic before he married.

The end of the tour

Thirteen of about thirty-five.

Quiet rooms, light from a window on the left, and people caught in a moment. Vermeer died in Delft in 1675, only 43 years old. He was almost forgotten for two centuries, until a French critic rediscovered him in the 1860s.

Questions at the end

Start this tour in Auriaan

Works from these collections

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Rijksmuseum
• National Gallery of Art
• Städel Museum

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