Paintings 1670 - 1675
A Young Woman standing at a Virginal 1670)
Londen, National Gallery / www.nationalgallery.org.uk
The richly dressed lady playing a virginal stands in a wealthy Delft home with paintings on the wall, a marble-tiled floor, and a skirting of locally produced Delft blue and white tiles. The two paintings on the wall behind her cannot be identified with certainty, but the small landscape on the left is probably either by Jan Wijnants or Allart van Everdingen.
The second painting, attributed to Caesar van Everdingen, Allart's brother, shows the motif of Cupid holding a card. This figure derives from a contemporary emblem. It may either refer to the idea of faithfulness to one lover or, in conjunction with the virginal, to the traditional association of music and love.
As with most of Vermeer's work, the painting is undocumented. It is dated on stylistic grounds and on the evidence of the costume. This work can be related to another Vermeer in the collection, A Young Woman seated at a Virginal, from the same period.
Source:
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Lady seated at a Virginal (1674-1675)
Londen, National Gallery / www.nationalgallery.org.uk
In the left foreground rests a viola da gamba with the bow placed in between the strings. The virginal has a landscape painted on the inside of the lid, and the painting in the background is The Procuress by Dirck van Baburen or a copy of it. Whether or not the subject of The Procuress is intended to have a bearing on the meaning of the whole work is not clear. It is probable that a more general association between music and love is intended. A tapestry frames the scene at the upper left, and the skirting in the lower right is decorated with Delft tiles.
This painting has been dated on grounds of style to about 1670. It has been suggested that it and 'A Young Woman standing at a Virginal' are pendants, because of the similar size, date and related subject matter. However, their provenances before the 19th century differ, and Vermeer is known to have explored variations on a theme on other occasions. In the 19th century the two paintings were in the collection of the art critic Théophile Thoré, whose articles prompted the rediscovery of Vermeer in 1866.
Source:
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
The Guitar Player (1670-1671)
Londen, Kenwood House / www.kenwoodhouse.com
Together with the Lacemaker, this painting constitutes one of the best achievements by Vermeer, and certainly a towering success in his late maturity. By now, the artist had attained the mastery of light and colours, together with complete freedom of expressing himself technically by means of looser brushstrokes that are no longer bound to specifics of texture or materials.
The model is not drawn inward but looks to the outside world in full communication and radiance of her pleasure simply to make music. Never was Vermeer more able to liberate himself from all constraints and convey his artistic viewpoint in a more masterly manner. The landscape on the back wall seems to be painted in the style of Hackaert.
An old copy of the painting is in the Museum of Art, Philadelphia. The only difference separating this copy from the Kenwood, London, version is the coiffure of the guitar player, whose style points toward c. 1700. It would be interesting to clean this painting and possibly ascertain, by X-rays, whether the original coiffure is still extant and was overpainted at a later date. Otherwise, both paintings are almost equal as far as pictorial quality is concerned.
Source:
www.wga.hu
The Lacemaker (1670-1671)
Parijs, Louvre / www.louvre.fr
The Lacemaker shows a young woman dressed in a yellow shawl bent in concentration as she sews the threads of a dress. The work is the smallest of Vermeer's paintings, but in many ways one of his most abstract and unusual.
The girl is set against a blank wall, likely because the artist sought to eliminate any external distractions from the central image. As with his The Astronomer (1668) and The Geographer (1669), it is obvious that the artist undertook careful study before he executed the work; the art of lacemaking is portrayed closely and accurately.
Vermeer likely used a camera obscura while composing the work; many optical effects typical of photography can be seen, in particular the blurring of the foreground. By rendering areas of the canvas as out-of-focus, Vermeer is able to suggest depth of field in a manner unusual of Dutch Baroque painting of the era.
In The Lacemaker, the artist presents the various elements which compose both the girl's face and body as well as the pattern of the material she is working on in an abstract manner. The girl's hands, the curls of her hair and the T-cross which form her eyes and nose are all described in an abstract manner unusual for the era in which Vermeer worked.
In addition, the red and white of the lace is shown as spilling from the sewing cushion with physical properties suggesting a near liquid form. The blurring of these threads contrasts sharply with the precision of the lace she is shown working on.
Source:
en.wikipedia.org
Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid(1670-1671)
This painting exemplifies Vermeer’s essential theme of revealing the universal within the domain of the commonplace. By avoiding anecdote, he achieved a sense of timelessness in his work.
Powerful verticals and horizontals in the composition (particularly the heavy black frame of the background painting), establish a reduced backdrop that contributes to the simple atmosphere. There is a strong contrast between the two figures: the firm stance of the statuesque maid and the happy mistress trying to write her letter. The maid’s gravity is emphasized by her central position in the composition. In contrast, the mistress inclines dynamically on her left forearm. The figures are joined by perspective: lines from the upper and lower window frames proceed across the folded arms and lighted forehead of the maid, extending to a vanishing point in the left eye of the mistress.
The crumpled letter on the floor in the right foreground is a clue to the missive the mistress is composing. The red wax seal (rediscovered only recently during a 1974 cleaning) indicates the crumpled letter was received. Since letters were prized in the 17th century, it must have been thrown aside in anger. Another clue is provided in the large background painting, The Finding of Moses (God’s ability to conciliate opposing factions).
Source:
vermeer0708.wordpress.com
The Allegory of Faith (1670)
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art / www.metmuseum.org
One of Vermeer's most unusual pictures, this large canvas was probably commissioned by a Catholic patron. The subject was adopted from a standard handbook of iconography, Cesare Ripa's Iconologia.
Vermeer interpreted Ripa's description of Faith with the "world at her feet" literally, showing a Dutch globe published in 1618. The divine world is suggested by the glass sphere hanging overhead. The painting of the Crucifixion on the wall copies a work by Jacob Jordaens.
Among the several Christological symbols, the most prominent are the apple, emblem of the first sin, and the serpent (Satan) crushed by a stone (Christ, the "cornerstone" of the church). Dating from about 1670, the work strikes a balance between abstraction and haunting similitude.
Source:
www.metmuseum.org
Portrait of a Young Woman (1672-1674)
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art / www.metmuseum.org
Because of its near-identical size and its proximity in tone and composition, the portrait of a Young Woman is often considered to be either a variant or pendant painting of Vermeer's better-known Girl with a Pearl Earring. The subjects of both paintings wear pearl earrings, have scarves draped over their shoulders, and are shown in front of a plain black background. In addition, it is likely that the creation of both works involved the use of a camera obscura.
The sitter is depicted as having a homely face, with a wide-spaced and flat face, small nose and thin lips. This apparent lack of idealised beauty has led to a general belief that this work was painted on commission, although it is possible that the model was the artist's daughter. The picture encourages the viewer to be curious about the young woman's thoughts, feelings, or character, something typical in many of Vermeer's paintings.
Girl with a Pearl Earring and Portrait of a Young Woman are unusual for Vermeer in that they lack his usual rich background; instead the girls are framed by a background of deep black. This isolating effect seems to heighten their vulnerability and seeming desire to place trust in the viewer.
Source:
en.wikipedia.org
Summary
On this page you will find detailed information on the paintings of Vermeer created between 1670 and 1675.