Who was Jan Vermeer

A. Jan - or Johannes - Vermeer was born on 31 October 1632, in the town of Delft in the Netherlands. Remaining in the town all his life, he was buried there on 15 December 1675. He was one of the masters of Dutch art in the 17th century, painting mainly interior genre subjects, but with a style and technique so pure that his work is now considered far superior to any of his contemporaries.

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Most of the details of his life remain a mystery. It is known that he was born in his parents' tavern in the marketplace, that he married in April 1653 and had eleven children, that his wife and children were Catholics (in an overwhelmingly Protestant country), that he suffered from financial difficulties throughout his life and died in debt, and that he was chairman of the local artists' guild in 1662-3 and 1670-71. It is strongly suggested that he trained under Carel Fabritius, a very talented pupil of Rembrandt, and might possibly have had his own pupils, although there is no evidence for this. And that's about it. Some claim that he was an invalid, based on the fact that most, if not all of his work has the aura of a housebound artist, but this is speculation.

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It is surmised that he had something of a reputation during his lifetime, indicated by the record left by Balthazar de Monconys, a Frenchman who went to Delft especially to see him in 1663. De Montconys found him living in some comfort. However, it is known that on occasion he had to pay his debts with paintings, and on his death he owed an enormous amount to a baker, who held on to two paintings as security.

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After his death he remained in obscurity for over 200 years, and his work was attributed to other painters. However, in 1866 the art historian Th�ophile Thor� rediscovered him and attributed 76 paintings to him. Other scholars later reduced this number to 56 and then to 34, and today it remains around 35, depending on the authority.

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Q. What was special about his work
A. Vermeer's work can be described as still-lifes with people, and his rendering of the relationship of the human form with its surroundings was unprecedented at the time. His art shows an understanding of matter that is so sensitive as to be almost scientific, while the colours are so subtle and lifelike as to be almost photographic. It is this combination of precision and mellowness that makes his work so unusual. Vermeer somehow manages to be unique within a typically Dutch genre, and he seems unmoved by the foreign influences taken on by other 17th-century Dutch artists. It is generally believed that he used a camera obscura to help him recreate so precisely the scene in front of him.

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Q. What's a camera obscura
A. Invented in the 16th century, it was an arrangement of lenses and mirrors in a darkened tent or box. The view seen by the lens is reflected on to a sheet of paper, and the scene can then be traced. A certain amount of distortion occurs, and artists usually correct this. Vermeer, however, appears to have liked the effect this gave, and the distortion can be seen in a number of his paintings.

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Q. What did he paint
A. He must, given his output, have painted very slowly, working and reworking the piece until he achieved the desired effect. The result was that he probably only completed around three paintings a year. His best-known work is the View of Delft (c. 1660), but other notable works include A Girl Asleep (c. 1656); Officer and Laughing Girl (c. 1657); Young Woman With a Water Jug (c. 1658-60); and Allegory of Painting (c. 1665), which shows him at work in his studio.

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Q. Where can his work be seen
A. Amsterdam, Berlin, Boston, Brunswick, Dresden, Frankfurt, The Hague, New York, Paris, Vienna and Washington DC. And in the UK: London (National Gallery and Kenwood House) and Edinburgh.

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For more on Jan Vermeer go to:
http://artchive.com/artchive/V/vermeer.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vermeer/

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By Simon Smith