Master of ‘Genre painting’
Johannes Vermeer 1632-1675

It is said the Johannes Vermeer is one of the most intriguing figures in art history. This painter from the city of Delft produced some of the most important works from the ‘Golden Age’ of Dutch painting.
Johannes Vermeer, also known as Jan, or Johannes van der Meer, was born in October 1632 to Reynier and Digna Vermeer in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. He was one of two children and the only son. Reynier Vermeer, his father worked as a silk worker, he bought and sold paintings, and was also a tavern keeper. The family is thought to have been lower middle class, but evidentially through the hard work and conservative living, their circumstances may have improved.

Vermeer’s family owned a large inn close to the market square in Delft.  The locals knew the Inn as the “Mechelen” and this was where Johannes father, Reynier Vermeer sold paintings for a living.  After his father’s death, Johannes inherited the inn and as well his father’s art business and the debts that came with it.  It has been speculated that this may be how Johannes first developed his interest in art.

During the era when Vermeer lived, painters were considered craftsman and sold their painting to the working class for very little revenue.  History tells us that Vermeer may have made more money from selling other artists paintings than from selling his own work.  He produced on an average two paintings per year indicating that perhaps his art was a second income and not his main source of revenue. There are only thirty five to thirty six of his paintings known today. 

The Saint Luke’s Guild was an association regulating artists and painters. It was mandatory for every Dutch painter to go through six years of apprenticeship under a ‘master painter’. Johannes exact development as an aspiring artist is unsure and there is much speculation about it. The fee to join the painters Guild in Delft was six guilders, but if the father was a member, as was Vermeer’s, and the applying artist trained for two years with a master artist of the local Guild, the fee was three guilders. Records indicate that Vermeer paid the six guilders entrance fee indicating that he probably received his formal training outside of Delft.

In 1653 Vermeer was married to Catharina Bolnes, whose Catholic family was quite well-to-do, respected, and well known. After his marriage, Johannes did convert from the Reformed Church to Catholicism.  Together they had fifteen children, four of whom died in infancy, a large family both by Protestant and Catholic standards. All evidence indicated that Catharina and Johannes had a happy and loving marriage, despite the movie and book: ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring’.

Vermeer is now looked upon as a great Dutch Master Painter, although not until he was rediscovered at the end of the 19th century.  Art historians know very little about the details of his life, popular commentary has declared that he was a good citizen of Delft and a very loving father to his large family.

Vermeer was appointed the head of the St Luke’s Guild in 1662 and there is documentation that he was again nominated for this position in 1670. In a small community like these artists lived in, it can be speculated that his nomination as head of the painters Guild two years in a row, shows that he had earned the respect of his community of artists.

The economy in The Netherlands was becoming difficult in the late 17th century which took its toll on Vermeer’s art business.  At this time is when Johannes and Catharina moved in with Catharina’s mother Maria Thins. Johannes died three years later a poor man and in debt.  In the winter of 1675, Johannes Vermeer passes away unexpectedly at the young age of forty three. It is thought that the financial pressures of looking after a large family (15 children) during the hard times of the Dutch economy caused the artist a great deal of stress and worry.  Some think that the artist was the victim of a stroke.

The financial problems got worse after his death, the family’s financial struggles were due in part to the fact that most of the assets of his wife’s family were tied up. Catharina was left no choice but to appeal to the courts to declare bankruptcy and she was forced to sell nineteen of her husband’s paintings to pay their family debts. It is also stated that she may have used a few of his paintings to even pay the local baker and other local suppliers such as one who sold woolen clothing.

References:
A Biographical Dictionary of Artists by Sir Lawrence Gowing - ISBN 1861990731

Vermeer – The complete paintings by Norbert Schneider
Vermeer – Robert D’Adda
www.essentialvermeer.com

Vermeer and the Delft School - Metropolitian Museum of Art Series by Walter Liedtke - ISBN - 00300088485

Johannes Vermeer – the art
1632-1675

Vermeer’s first paintings were historical and ‘genre paintings’ Soon after becoming a master of the Guild, his subject matter and style suddenly changed.   He began creating scenes of everyday life in the upper middle class which were almost invariably interior settings of private homes, mostly his own. This style of subject is known as ‘genre painting’. In many of his paintings are subtle symbolism and art historians search the details of the work to capture the real meanings. 

The figures in his paintings take on a never-ending charm; there is a beautiful dignity, a calmness, and solemnity that had not been seen before.  One or two figures, usually women, were depicted in his paintings: women in love, reading, writing letters, playing musical instruments, or women working at the simple tasks of maintaining a home. His interior scenes reflected the more sophisticated side of 17th century Dutch life.  Several of his paintings include maps and globes, musical instruments, which point to the more higher-classed homes. In many of his paintings the same objects are used as formal props to support the beautiful ‘story’ of his painting. There is certainly a mood of true realism.

These years of Vermeer’s artistic maturity were relatively free of financial worries.  His mother-in-law, Maria Thins, was an enthusiastic supporter of her daughter’s family, undertaking much of the financial burden. She also was very supportative of Vermeer’s work and contributed to his development. There are questions as to whether Johannes ever used Catharina his wife as a model. 
Four paintings:’ Woman Reading a Letter by an Open Window’, ‘Woman in Blue Reading a Letter”, ‘Woman Holding a Balance’, and ‘A Lady Writing’ indicate that he most probably did, for the age of the models used in these paintings corresponds to Catharina’s actual age. There is also the fact that models cost money, and although the ‘Vermeer family’ at this time was not under financial hardship, it is doubtful that money would have been spent in such a matter. 

He had one wealthy patron, Pieter van Ruijven, a prominent Delft citizen who perhaps acquired about one half of Vermeer’s output. Interestingly, Vermeer’s fame was confined to Delft perhaps because his paintings were in the hands of just a few of its citizens.