| Johannes Vermeer (Dutch: Jan Vermeer van Delft) (1632—1675) was a Dutch artist, painter of domestic interiors and the portrait genre. Along with Rembrandt and Frans Hals, he is considered as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.
Biography:
Very little is known about the life of Vermeer. He was born (at least, he was baptized) on October 31, 1632 in Delft, in a family of an entrepreneur. Jan was the second child in the family and only son of his parents. His father came from Antwerp; in 1611 he moved to Amsterdam and worked as a silk weaver. In 1615, he married and relocated to Delft and became the owner of an inn. He continued to be a silk weaver and was also registered in the Guild of Saint Luke in Delft as a dealer of artworks.
Education:
Authentic information about the apprenticeship years of Vermeer is not found. It is known, that on December 29, 1653, Jan became a member of the Saint Luke’s Guild. According to the conditions of guild membership, the member anticipated six years of serious training by a painter, who is also a member of the guild. Jan Vermeer was known to Leonaert Bramer and Gerard ter Borch. On the basis of this fact, assumptions were made that Vermeer probably completed training with one of them. Apart from this, it is extremely widespread but an authentic hypothesis does not exist, that the artist was trained by Carel Fabruitis, who in turn was pupil of Rembrandt. Certainly, Pieter De Hooch, the Dutch genre artist that lived in Delft from 1652-1661 had a huge influence on the creativity of Vermeer. His style found further development in the canvas of Vermeer.
Family and work:
On April 20, 1653, Jan Vermeer married Catherina Bolenes from a village in the neighborhood of Delft. Initially, the Calvinist religion displeased the Catholic family of the Bolenes. Only after the admonitions of the Catholic Bramer, the future mother-in-law of Vermeer agreed to the marriage of her daughter.
In 1660, Vermeer along with wife shifted to his mother-in-law’s house. Vermeer fathered 15 children, of which four died at a very young age. It is obvious that the financial position of the artist was quite good because he could support the children without problem. It is known that Vermeer painted two paintings in a year which indicates that he had other sources of income. He helped his mother to run the inn “Mechelen” in the main market of Delft, which she got after the death of her husband. It is assumed that Vermeer could carry out trading of art items for Dutch artists at that time in this institution. In 1662-63 and 1670-71, Vermeer held the post of Head of the guild of Saint.Luke and accordingly supervised it. In the 17th century, any craftsman and artist were members of a corresponding guild, regulating the activity of representatives by profession. The post as Head of the guild of artists was very honorable and speaks about Jan Vermeer’s authority in Delft.
Very good money was paid for the paintings when artist Vermeer was alive. Basically, Vermeer painted only for his customers-patrons. The main patrons of the artist and admirers of his creativity were baker Dirck van Baburen and Jacob Dissus, owner of a printing workshop. According to the inventory list of 1682, 19 paintings of Vermeer were in their collection. It remains to be unknown whether Vermeer painted for concrete orders from art patrons or they simply acquired the rights for preferred purchases of finished creations bythe artist. Vermeer was a popular art expert. So, for example, he was among the experts who were entrusted to establish the authenticity of a collection of Venetian and Roman canvases offered to the Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William I for 30,000 guldens. In 1672, Vermeer went to The Hague, where he gave his conclusion about the cost of paintings along with another artist Jacob Jordeans. In the presence of the notary public, he denied the authenticity of the collection and stated that, in reality, the cost of the collection should not be more than one tenth of the offered price.
Last years of his life:
Towards the end of his life the financial condition of the artist had considerably worsened and he was compelled to borrow money on credit. Art trading died down due to the war with France, which continued from 1672 until 1679. In a petition dated April 30, 1676, for the partial write-off of debts, the wife of Vermeer explained that her husband was forced to sell the paintings at a much lower price due to the war. In 1675, Vermeer fell ill and passed away after few days. On January 15, 1675, Jan Vermeer was buried in a family burial vault in the church Oude Kerk in Delft. His wife refused the legacy and transferred it to his creditors.
Legacy and forgery:
21 paintings of Jan Vermeer appeared in a catalog for auction which took place on May 16, 1696 and today, only 16 out of the 21 are known to the researchers. For a long time, art critics carried out searches for unknown paintings by Vermeer. The huge value of these works was the reason behind the appearance of some successful fakes in the 1930s. The most successful falsifier was Han Van Meegeren - author of several works, sold under Vermeer works (for example, “The Disciples at Emmaus”) including the heads of the Third Reich. As a result, as of today, only 39 or 40 paintings of Vermeer are considered original.
The majority of Vermeer works represent compositions in carefully painted interiors with a small number of figures; some city landscapes also exist. According to contemporaries of Vermeer, the artist used camera obscura for attaining perfection in the creation of his perspective effect.
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Halloween day, October 31, is also the birthday of Jan Vermeer - one of the greatest artists of the Dutch Golden Age - the author of "Girl with a Pearl Earring", "Milkmaid", "A Lady Writing a Letter", "The Astronomer", and numerous paintings of domestic ordinary life.
Sadly, great fame came to Vermeer's paintings long after his death. In his lifetime Vermeer was neither particularly famous nor wealthy. He died in debts.
