Johanna (Jan) Vermeer (vur MAYR) was born in the
Netherlands in
the city of Delft. His father was an art dealer, and through the early
contacts with artists Jan became interested in painting. The majority
of his work was portraits which he painted for people, and he only
painted about forty pictures during his lifetime.
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He usually only included one or two people in a
picture. He depicted
people doing everyday things, and most of the settings were indoors.
Women were his favorite subjects. He frequently had a window in his
paintings. In our featured work "The Lacemaker" you can see how her
handwork is probably illuminated by the sun streaming in through a
window.(See examples of handmade lace.)
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His painting "Officer and Laughing Girl" includes a map on the
wall. During that time maps were very expensive, and to own such a map
indicated wealth and education.
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Vermeer spent his whole life in the city of Delft. One
of his most famous paintings is "View of Delft". (If you click on the small picture
of the painting, you can see an enlarged view.)
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He married Catherina Bolnes and they had fifteen
children. Four of them
did not survive past childhood, but eleven of them grew up. The family
lived with Vermeer's mother-in-law Maria Thins for some time. It would
be very expensive providing for such a large family. Early on there was
enough money, but later when the government flooded their land to
protect the country, their farm was ruined. Vermeer himself was
devastated, lost his health, and died in a very short time. He left
Catherina a widow with ten children still at home. It was hard for her
to provide for them.
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Vermeer's paintings were not appreciated during his
lifetime, and it
was not until 200 years later that people realized the importance of
his work.
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