Johannes Vermeer was a dutch painter who lived from 1632-1675. He lived in the town of Delft which is in the Dutch Republic (Netherlands).
Very little is known about Johannes Vermeer. He did not do much in his life apart from painting. He spent the majority of his time painting. We only have about thirty-four paintings by Vermeer. The majority of these paintings were domestic scenes of the middle class life. Vermeer worked very hard and with great care on each of these paintings often using bright colors. Most of his works were made for a small group of patrons. Like many artists, Vermeer’s works did not become famous until after his death. In fact, many have referred to him as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.
One of his more famous paintings were named The Astronomer and The Geographer. These paintings captured the excitement of exploration that was so prominant during that time. Exploration was a very important part of the Dutch society during that time. Most of his paintings captured what went on in the normal lives of the people of the Dutch Republic. His paintings were very "still." The stillness of the paintings leaves the movement of the painting up to the viewer of the painting.
There are a few reasons why he had such a small amount of paintings. One reason was because they were created with great care. He often used expensive pigments in his paintings. We know that he was a relatively poor man and it is possible that he could not afford a lot of these pigments. Another reason is that the majority of his paintings were purchased by a man named Peter van Ruijven. The fact that this man purchased most of his paintings prevented him from becoming as well known in the world. He was well respected in his hometown of Delft, but he was quite unknown outside of this city. Also, he had no pupils to learn his style. Vermeer spent the rest of his time working as an innkeeper.
Vermeer used a technique of painting known as pointille. It consists of painting in loosely granular layers. It is also known as glazing. By layering these colors, the paintings would have a more luminous, colorful look to them. He used the expensive pigments of lapis lazuli and natural ultramarine. Many of his paintings had very strong, bright earthy colors. That is why many of his paintings look brighter than they would look in real life. It’s as if he was painting a world brighter and perhaps more beautiful than it actually was. Despite this, his paintings still focused on middle class people in their everyday life. Vermeer is often described as “a painter of the people, for the people.”
Some believe that Vermeer used an object known as "camera obscura." The camera obscura was a device that consisted of a box with a hole in it. The hole brought light through one end where the light would then strike a mirror and project the image onto a piece of paper. This image could then be traced to make an extremely accurate painting. This is somewhat of a controversy in the art community as some believe that he did not use this device.
The most famous painting by Vermeer was "The Girl With the Pearl Earring." Very little is known about the history of this painting. No one knows who the girl is, what pigments he used in the painting, and what the significance of the turban is. Perhaps Vermeer left that information unknown so that the viewer of the painting would be mesmerized by the mystery behind the picture. This painting is also different from many of his others because this one focuses more on the art in the scene compared to focusing on real life. The whole painting focuses on the pearl hanging from the young girls ear.
We can see from Vermeer's paintings that he was fascinated with lights and colors. All of his paintings contain bright, colorful scenes that capture both the reality of the scenes and the artistic view. He took everyday activities and made them look beautiful.
Here is a link to a website that features all of Vermeer's works: http://www.virtualvermeer.com/
