Little is known about him. He died impoverished and there were no letters, contracts or other documents. He had no workshop or followers. His appearance is an enigma. It is believed he came to paint an unfinished self-portrait, and a dozen of his paintings have not survived. He did very little, living modestly into his fifties. Only 37 of his works have stood the test of time, and one is missing: ‘El concierto,’ which disappeared during a March 1990 theft. It remains one of the era’s grandest art heists, alongside Rembrandt’s famous Storm on the Sea of Galilee, which drew the attention of thieves who took that oil and a dozen other pieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (USA). His father was an innkeeper and art dealer. He never traveled. She converted to Catholicism to marry, and though she died young, she left behind 15 children.
A milestone hard to reach
Johannes Vermeer (Delft, 1632-1675) remains one of the great masters of the Dutch Golden Age. Today, his name carries an extraordinary pull. From this Friday and through June 4, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (Netherlands) is hosting what is being billed as the exhibition of the year in the art world. It is, in fact, the largest exhibition in history dedicated to Vermeer.
“Even Vermeer never saw so many of his oil paintings gathered in one place during his lifetime. Bringing them together is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Now or never,” says Taco Dibbits, director of the Dutch museum. The organizers anticipate a flood of visitors, with pre-sale tickets already selling briskly and long lines forming for the doors. Hours are extended to accommodate the crowds. The excitement is not simply about the volume of works, but about the quality and provenance. The show features 28 of the artist’s 37 preserved paintings, representing roughly three-quarters of Vermeer’s surviving oeuvre, a milestone never before reached and unlikely to be repeated soon.
Jobs that never travel
Three Vermeer works have remained in place at The Frick Collection, whose New York expansion has kept them from traveling. Yet two paintings, ‘Lady and Maiden’ and ‘The Interrupted Music Lesson,’ along with ‘Soldier and Laughing Girl,’ will travel to the Big Apple for a special display. The room that houses Vermeer’s most valued pieces at the Met in New York holds five works, while three others — ‘A Sleeping Maid,’ ‘Woman with a Water Jug,’ and ‘The Study of a Young Woman’ — will not travel due to bequest terms that restrict borrowing. By the time the exhibit reaches 28 rooms, two familiar masterpieces, ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ and ‘Milkmaid,’ along with ‘Letter’ and ‘Woman Reading the Letter,’ will be shown in a rotation, having long been central to the Rijksmuseum collection.
Artifacts stolen by the Nazis
Nine pieces from Vermeer’s circle are highlighted in the discussion, including ‘The Astronomer’ from the British Royal Collection, which remains fragile. It will be on loan from the Louvre in Abu Dhabi until June. Other pieces such as ‘Young Man with a Glass of Wine’ and ‘The Art of Painting’ never leave their current owners. The German Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum and the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna have not envisioned their rooms empty of these works. As an aside, both the latter and ‘The Astronomer’ have ties to long-standing histories of收藏 and bequest.
In the swamp of history
A century before saving two of Vermeer’s rare works, the man himself nearly vanished from memory. Despite contemporary popularity, Vermeer lingered in obscurity for two centuries. French art critic Théophile Thoré-Bürger elevated him to the pantheon in 1866, dubbing him the ‘Delft Sphinx’ because of his enigmatic persona. After admiring the ‘Delft Landscape’ painting, critics described Vermeer as possessing the world’s best painting quality, a view later echoed by writers such as Marcel Proust. The cause of Vermeer’s historical forgetfulness is debated. His small output, a reluctance to engage with large markets, and his preference for intimate genre scenes likely played a role, as did the fact that much of his work passed through the hands of Delft collector Pieter van Ruijven.
Poetic mystery
Vermeer’s work emphasizes intimate, domestic scenes: women at mundane tasks such as reading, writing letters, embroidering, playing music, or pouring milk. He freezes ordinary moments in a way that elevates daily life. “Vermeer’s magic is best described as intimate rather than expansive. His paintings feel like chamber music rather than grand symphonies,” notes a Rijksmuseum curator. Much of the mystery stems from lighting—often indoors—and the careful use of camera obscura techniques. It’s not that he used the instrument, but that he understood light and perception so well that the effect is mesmerizing.
More than a ‘pentimento’
Ongoing research reveals new details as paintings travel and undergo analysis. In ‘La Callejuela,’ additional figures were added and later erased, with windows and shutters changing. The ‘Milkmaid’ originally showed a hanger for a jug and later added a brazier that vanished. A faint black line beneath the left arm of the Young Woman indicates a preliminary drawing beneath the final pose. These discoveries illuminate the working process without dispelling the spell of Vermeer’s canvases, which remain quietly captivating.