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A photo of Johannes Vermeer by Txllxt TxllxT –

Top 10 Sensational Facts about Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer also known as Jan Vermeer was born on October 1632 and died on 15 December 1675. He was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague.

Nonetheless, he produced relatively few paintings and was not wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death. In the article are the top ten sensational facts about Johannes Vermeer.

1. Vermeer worked with the precision of a doctor

Vermeer worked slowly and with great care. He frequently used very expensive pigments. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.

Hans Koningsberger, a Dutch author of over 40 fiction and non-fiction books, also a prolific journalist wrote that almost all Vermeer’s paintings were set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft. That they showed the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portrayed the same people, mostly women.

2. He was nicknamed The Sphinx of Delft

Thoré-Bürger photo by Nader –

Relatively little was known about Vermeer’s life until recently. He seems to have been devoted exclusively to his art, living out his life in the city of Delft. Until the 19th century, the only sources of information were a few registers, official documents, and comments by other artists.

Therefore, Thoré-Bürger named him “The Sphinx of Delft”. John Michael Montias added details on the family from the city archives of Delft in his Artists and Artisans in Delft: A Socio-Economic Study of the Seventeenth Century (1982).

3. Vermeer inherited the art of painting from his father

Vermeer’s father, named Reijnier Janszoon, was a middle-class worker of silk or caffa. He was the son of Jan Reyersz and Cornelia Goris. As an apprentice in Amsterdam, Reijnier lived on fashionable Sint Antoniesbreestraat, a street with many resident painters at the time.

In 1615, Reijnier married Digna. The couple moved to Delft and had a daughter named Gertruy who was baptized in 1620. In 1625, Reijnier was involved in a fight with a soldier named Willem van Bylandt who died from his wounds five months later.

Around this time, Reijnier began dealing in paintings. In 1631, he leased an inn, which he called “The Flying Fox”. In 1635, he lived on Voldersgracht 25 or 26. In 1641, he bought a larger inn on the market square, named after the Flemish town “Mechelen”.

The acquisition of the inn constituted a considerable financial burden. When Reijnier died in October 1652, Vermeer took over the operation of the family’s art business. He then also started painting however in his history of painting Vermeer did not paint many portrait pictures.

4. He was forced to convert to Catholicism to marry Catharina Bolenes

Johannes Vermeer ad Catarina Bolnes photo by Johannes Vermeer –

In April 1653, Johannes Reijniersz Vermeer married a Catholic woman, Catharina Bolenes (Bolnes). The blessing took place in the quiet nearby village of Schipluiden. Vermeer’s new mother-in-law Maria Thins was initially opposed to the marriage.

She was significantly wealthier than he, and it was probably she who insisted that Vermeer converts to Catholicism before the marriage on 5 April. The fact that Vermeer’s father was in considerable debt also did not help in discussions on the marriage.

Leonaert Bramer, who was Catholic himself, put in a good word for Vermeer and it was this that led Maria to drop her opposition. According to art historian Walter Liedtke, Vermeer’s conversion seems to have been made with conviction.

5. He painted the Allegory of Faith

The portrait photo of Allegory of Faith by Johannes Vermeer –

His painting The Allegory of Faith, made between 1670 and 1672, placed less emphasis on the artists’ usual naturalistic concerns and more on symbolic religious applications, including the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Walter Liedtke in Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art suggests that it was made for a learned and devout Catholic patron, perhaps for his schuilkerk, or “hidden church”

6. It is unclear where and with whom Vermeer apprenticed as a painter

A self-portrait photo of Carel Fabritius by himself –

There is some speculation that Carel Fabritius may have been his teacher, based upon a controversial interpretation of a text written in 1668 by printer Arnold Bon. Art historians have found no hard evidence to support this.

Local authority Leonaert Bramer acted as a friend, but their style of painting is rather different. Liedtke suggests that Vermeer taught himself using information from one of his father’s connections. Some scholars think that Vermeer was trained under Catholic painter Abraham Bloemaert.

7. Vermeer became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1653

On 29 December 1653, Vermeer became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke, a trade association for painters. The guild’s records make clear that Vermeer did not pay the usual admission fee. It was a year of plague, war, and economic crisis; Vermeer was not alone in experiencing difficult financial circumstances.

8. The influence of Johannes Vermeer on Metsu is unmistakable

The light from the left, the marble floor. A. Waiboer, however, suggests that Metsu requires more emotional involvement from the viewer. Vermeer probably competed also with Nicolaes Maes, who produced genre works in a similar style.

9. Vermeer was among the 35 painters that were accused of counterfeiting in 1671

A self-painting portrait of Jan Lievens by himself –

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In 1671, Gerrit van Uylenburgh organized the auction of Gerrit Reynst’s collection and offered 13 paintings and some sculptures to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. Frederick accused them of being counterfeits and had sent 12 back on the advice of Hendrick Fromantiou.

Van Uylenburg then organized a counter-assessment, asking a total of 35 painters to pronounce their authenticity, including Jan Lievens, Melchior de Hondecoeter, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, and Johannes Vermeer.

10. Vermeer died of a short illness in 1675

On 15 December 1675, Vermeer died after a short illness aged 43. He was buried in the Protestant Old Church on 15 December 1675. In a petition to her creditors, his wife later said that Vermeer was not able to sell any of his art during the ruinous war with France.

Catharina Bolnes, his wife, attributed her husband’s death to the stress of financial pressures. The collapse of the art market damaged Vermeer’s business as both a painter and an art dealer. She had to raise 11 children and therefore asked the High Court to relieve her of debts owed to Vermeer’s creditors