_PNG.png){kind=small}
Johannes Vermeer’s name may seem familiar to most now, but when he was alive, his work wasn’t all too well known, unfortunately. Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in painting domestic scenes. His father was an innkeeper and art dealer, and after his death, Vermeer took over both businesses, which may be a reason why it’s believed that Vermeer never got a chance to study under any masters.
The painter trained himself to paint, which is an impressive feat in itself. Despite this fact, Johannes Vermeer's paintings have a depth to them that’s hard to reproduce. His domestic scenes are painted with great care. They often centered around women that he must have been familiar with in life, casting the viewer as a voyeur of the scene in question. His techniques are those that many try to copy but they are inimitable as Vermeer’s work has many layers to them, both technically speaking and emotionally.
The Aftermath of the Year of Disaster on Vermeer
Also known as Jan Vermeer, Johannes married a Catholic woman, having to convert to Catholicism himself before the marriage. They had fifteen children total, four of whom were buried before being baptized. In 1672 what was known as “the Year of Disaster” struck, hitting the Netherlands with a financial crisis after Louis XIV and the French army invaded the Dutch Republic from the south. This year was the last that Vermeer sold a painting. In 1675 Vermeer died at the age of forty-three after a short illness. His wife said it was due to financial pressure that was so great that he went in one day from being healthy to being dead.
Johannes Vermeer’s Obsessive Use of Ultramarine Blue
Vermeer did not produce many paintings, maybe around forty-five, thirty-six of which are known today. He was thought to have a small circle of patrons, with one of them, Pieter van Ruijven, being the most supportive of them all, purchasing most of Vermeer’s output. Very little is known about Vermeer’s preparatory methods; there are no drawings attributed to him. It’s likely that he started off on the canvas with monochrome shades of gray, before layering on the more rich and saturated colors that we see now.
While Vermeer wasn’t immensely well off, he still used immensely expensive paints in his process; many accredit this fact to his rich patrons. Ultramarine blue, which is made using lapis lazuli, frequently makes an appearance in his paintings. In the Milkmaid by Vermeer, one can see that ultramarine blue is not just used for the top layer of the painting, but the underpainting as well, to build up the richness of the color on the canvas.
This technique that Johannes Vermeer used is probably due in part to Leonardo da Vinci’s observations that the surface of every color partakes of the color of the adjacent object. The Girl with the Wine Glass also is treated similarly, with ultramarine blue as the underpainting color and then layered with red lake and vermillion, giving it that purple crisp color in the end. Another famous piece of art by Vermeer that used ultramarine blue is The Girl With a Pearl Earring painting, which is a type of portrait painting called tronie.
The Preparatory Methods Employed by the Artist
Because of the lack of preparatory sketches or drawings from Vermeer, there are some theories about how he completed his work. One such theory states that he used the assistance of a camera obscura in his work. A camera obscura is a box in which you can project an image of the outside world. This theory would explain the slightly exaggerated perspective in the Music Room.
Many of Vermeer’s paintings take place in the same room, and with some analysis, it has been found that six of his paintings could have potentially been done vis camera obscura on the back wall, given that the sizing for it is perfect. This theory remains highly debated though, as there is no proof of Vermeer ever owning a camera obscura.
The fact remains however that Vermeer was close to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek who was a renowned lens maker. Alongside the fact that the detailed inventory taken of Vermeer’s possessions after death could have potentially been altered by his wife removing some of the more expensive items, in an attempt to receive more money to support her and her children.
The Rediscovered Paintings of Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer was forgotten for a time, until the 19th century when there was a resurgence of interest in his work. An art critic called Vermeer “the Sphynx of Delft” since there was so little of him known in the 19th century. Together with the fact that there are so few paintings done by him and the unknown techniques with how he painted his actual work, Vermeer remains a figure shrouded in mystery. We can only hope to appreciate his work for years to come.
Comments