A Lady Writing
Artist: Johannes Vermeer
A woman pauses in the act of writing a letter, turning her gaze toward us. Johannes Vermeer, working around 1665, has placed her at a table with writing materials and pearls in a quiet Dutch domestic interior.
Possible self-portrait · Image credit
Johannes Vermeer. Image source · Public domain
The people behind the art
Johannes Vermeer
1632 to 1675
Vermeer was a Dutch painter who lived and worked in Delft. His small surviving body of work includes religious subjects and domestic interiors shaped by carefully placed objects, architectural space and subtle light. He became a master in Delft's painters' guild in 1653, and his paintings attracted collectors during his lifetime.
5 artworks in the archive
- Born
- 1632
- Died
- 1675
- Nationality
- Dutch
- Birthplace
- Delft, Netherlands
- Died in
- Delft, Netherlands
In the archive
Artworks by Johannes Vermeer
Diana and Her Companions
Artist: Johannes Vermeer
A quiet mythological scene by the young Johannes Vermeer, in which the goddess Diana sits with a crescent moon in her hair while a kneeling companion bathes her foot in a brass basin, surrounded by four other women in a wooded clearing.
Allegory of the Catholic Faith
Artist: Johannes Vermeer
A gallery guide to Johannes Vermeer's Allegory of the Catholic Faith, in which a seated woman personifies Faith, her hand pressed to her breast and her face lifted, while a globe, a crushed serpent, an altar, a glass sphere and a painted tapestry build the allegory around her.
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
Artist: Johannes Vermeer
A young woman stands at an open window, reading a letter in both hands. Johannes Vermeer painted this quiet domestic scene between about 1657 and about 1659. A fruit bowl rests on a Turkish carpet in the foreground, and on the white wall behind the girl hangs a picture of Cupid.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Artist: Johannes Vermeer
A young woman turns her head over her shoulder toward us, a blue turban wrapped above her brow and a large pearl hanging below her ear. Vermeer painted her around 1665, and the picture belongs to a category the Dutch called a tronie: a study of a head and costume rather than a portrait of a named person. This short visit looks at how the turn, the clothing and the handling of light shape that encounter.
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