Vermeer, Johannes

Vermeer, Johannes

(born Oct. 31, 1632, Delft, Neth.—died Dec. 15, 1675, Delft) Dutch painter. His parents were tavern keepers. He twice served as head of the Delft artists' guild but seems to have depended on his activities as an art dealer to support his family. He painted mainly interior genre subjects, depicting members of aristocratic and upper-middle-class society. About half of these paintings show solitary figures of women absorbed in some ordinary, everyday activity. His interiors combine a microscopic observation of objects with a meticulous depiction of the gradations of daylight on varied shapes and surfaces. His masterpieces (none dated) include View of Delft, Young Woman Reading a Letter, and Allegory of Painting, his most symbolically complex work. He manages to be unique within a typically Dutch genre. Few foreign influences can be sensed in his work. His work was not widely appreciated in his own time, and he remained in obscurity until 1866, when Théophile Thoré celebrated his work and attributed 76 paintings to him; later authorities have reduced the number to between 30 and 35, while proclaiming him one of the greatest painters of all time.