Introduction to Drawing Art 1020

Report
Jan Vermeer
Scott Warner
Introduction to Drawing

Introduction to Drawing Art 1020

Jan Vermeer was not that well known in his time, but now is one of the most admired
Dutch artists. One of the reasons they think that he was not that well known was because in his
lifetime he painted a pretty small amount of pictures it is thought that he painted around 45. Out
of these 45 paintings 36 of them are known. He was born in Delf, Netherlands on October 31,
1632 and spent his whole life in Delf. His father ran a tavern and was an art merchant. This could
have been the reason that Jan went into art. He had to teach himself to paint because his family
couldnt afford to send him to an art school.
His father passed away in 1652 and left both of his business
to Jan. The year after his fathers death he married Catherina
Bolnes, who was a Catholic, and converted to her faith. They
had 11 children together. His painting had to go for a high price
in order to support his family. Towards the end of his life the
Dutch economy became pretty bad because the country was
invaded by France, this mad the end of his life really hard. He
passed away at the age of 43 on December 16, 1675 leaving his
wife and eleven kids in dept.
In his art work he really liked to use a lot of ultramarine which in this time period it was a
really expensive pigment. Vermeer had a great use of light which leads some people to believe
that he used the camera obscura because of the different light values in his paintings. His
paintings are of everyday life in Delf. Vermeer took carful study of his subjects before he started
to paint and always painted them with great detail. He painted a few landscapes of Delfs harbor
and one with a building with people working.

Introduction to Drawing Art 1020

There is not much known about Vermeer and his relationships with different collectors.
They do have the documents that kept track of all his commissions. Most of them were
perchance by a small group. There were twenty-one of his paintings sold in 1696 from an estate
of one of the collectors of his work.
Out of all of his painting that he did in his life time there are only three that have dates on
them. They are The Procuress, 1656 which is oil on canvas. This painting consist of a woman
dressed as a nun in the background, the man that is to her left in black is actually a self-portrait
of Vermeer or at least a very close likeness. There is also a soldier in a red jacket fondling a lady
in yellow. Another one that has the date is The Astronomer, 1668 which is oil on canvas. This
painting has an astronomer, which at the time painting scientists was a popular thing. The
astronomer is at his desk leaning over a book and looking at his globe. The last of his painting
that has a date on it is The Geographer, 1669 which is oil on canvas. This painting has a man
who looks a lot like the man in the Astronomer painting he did a year before. The geographer in
this one is leaning over his desk looking out a window holding a compass to what I think is a
map.
The Girl with a Pearl Earring is considered to be Vermeers
masterpiece. Its original name was Girl with a Turban but
was changed to Girl with a Pearl Earring in the late
twentieth century. There were some people who referred to
this painting as the Dutch Mona Lisa. The girl that is in the
painting is thought to be one of Vermeers daughters Maria.

Introduction to Drawing Art 1020

In this painting you can see his signature use of ultramarine by the turban, the end of the fabric
hanging from her head, and around her neck.
In this painting like in all of his painting he used a light. He might have used the camera
obsuca for his painting which in this one because of the reflection of the pearl earring, the
contrast of the lips, and how it has brought out the different shadows. This painting is one that
strongly suggests that he did use the camera obsuca for his work.
I really like his painting The Music Lesson. This
painting was thought to be another artist until 1866
because there was a mix up with the signature that was
on it. In all of his painting he used techniques in a
strong way so that he could create a three-dimensional
effect. When you are looking at the painting you are
drawn to the girl playing the piano. When you look at
both the people they are in a very statue like pose.
There was a scan taken of this painting and they could see that he had painted both of the
subjects in more of a comfortable, familiar setting. He wanted them to be in this statue like pose
to stay frozen in time. The most interesting thing about this painting I think is when you are
looking at the people sitting there if you look above the lady there is a mirror. This mirror still
has the original pose of the lady looking at the man. I am not sure if the artist overlooked this or
if it had some meaning.
There are some of Vermeers painting that have been lost. This is because of Vermeers
diverse and irregular painting style; he signed so few of his works, and his rage of subject matter.

Introduction to Drawing Art 1020

If you take in that and that during that time his reputation didnt extend past Holland, and a small
local group collected his work. There could be anywhere from six to ten of Vermeers painting
that have been identified in historical records which are either still hidden today or have not
lasted over time.
These painting have been called the missing
Vermeers. In these historical records they know at least
six of this are Vermeers because of the different references.
There are others but the different references that they have
are too vague to make the connection to being Vermeers
work. The ones that they cannot be sure who created them
could be his for all we know. There is always a chance that
in the future they will be able to examine these painting and
tell who the person that painted them was.
I really enjoyed learning about Vermeer he was a great artist. I liked most that he would
paint everyday people. Each of his subjects were never the most beautiful person it was always a
normal person. I also enjoyed that he didnt paint people just sitting posing for the painting. They
probably did have to stand for the some of the paintings but they were doing everyday things.
This is nice because it shows you that there is beauty in everyday things. The things that he
paints are also the things that everyone does every day of their life. I like this because we should
not take our everyday tasks for granted or just tune them out. Each thing that we do we should
appreciate and love it because there is beauty in it.

Introduction to Drawing Art 1020

I really liked the way that he used light in his artwork. He always had a clear light source
in his paintings which I liked because he does it so well. Each thing in his painting you can see
how the light is coming in and what things are farther back so they are not hit by light. I like that
he used a lot of blues even though it was expensive. Most of the painters then would have
changed the color because it was pretty expensive. I also liked that he worked with different sizes
of canvas. There was one that was only 9in by 7in which is the Girl in the red hat which has a
lot of detail in it for being such a small piece of work. The Lacemaker is his second smallest
piece which he still put a lot of detail into.
Even though in his life he did not produce a lot of artwork, each one of his paintings that
he did turned out really well. Looking at his art I think that it is amazing to think that he taught
himself to paint. No one knows if he was an apprentice to someone or just picked things up from
the art merchant business. Some of his artwork is known worldwide and is one of the most
famous. Im not sure if his artwork is so well known and highly valuable because it his use of
light and subjects is done so well or if it is because he made so few paintings in his lifetime.
I hope that one day they do find the missing artwork. I think that it would be really cool
for these painting to come to light. The missing ones could be some of his greatest works or
possibly have different subject matter rather than everyday life in Delf or some different scenery.
He was a great artist and has amazing use of light in his work.

Introduction to Drawing Art 1020

Works Cited
Jan Vermeer Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2015, from
http://www.biography.com/people/jan-vermeer-9517541
Liedtke, W. (n.d.). Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved April 4, 2015, from
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/verm/hd_verm.htm
Johannes Vermeer. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2015, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer
THE MASTER OF LIGHT - JOHANNES VERMEER - Discovery/History/Art
(documentary). (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=FTQ2W-cb-C8
Girl with a Pearl Earring. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2015, from
http://www.artble.com/artists/johannes_vermeer/paintings/girl_with_a_pearl_earring
Essential Vermeer. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2015, from http://www.essentialvermeer.com/