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Vermeer

Vermeer, full name Johannes Vermeer van Delft (c. 1632–1675), was a Dutch Baroque painter associated with the Delft School. He produced a relatively small body of work, most of it in the 1650s–1670s, known for intimate domestic interiors that depict middle-class life bathed in natural light.

Born in Delft, he joined the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1662 and spent his career

Vermeer's paintings are celebrated for luminous textures, precise rendering of fabrics, metal, and ceramic, and restrained

Notable works include The Milkmaid, The Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Art of Painting, and View

in
that
city.
He
married
Catharina
Bolnes
in
1653
and
had
several
children.
He
died
in
Delft
in
1675;
his
family
faced
financial
difficulties
after
his
death.
color.
He
usually
composed
quiet,
contemplative
scenes
with
carefully
arranged
light
from
a
window.
Some
scholars
have
suggested
he
used
a
camera
obscura
to
study
perspective
and
optical
effects,
though
the
extent
of
its
use
is
debated.
of
Delft.
Today
his
paintings
are
held
in
major
museums
such
as
the
Mauritshuis
in
The
Hague,
the
Rijksmuseum
and
others
in
Amsterdam,
and
the
National
Gallery
in
London.
Vermeer
is
regarded
as
one
of
the
great
masters
of
Dutch
Golden
Age
painting,
and
his
treatment
of
light
and
interior
space
has
influenced
generations
of
artists.