Vermeer's Life Although only a scant few archival records have survived which directly regard Vermeer, in recent years historians have nonetheless deduced a relatively clear picture of both his life and artistic stature utilizing those archival documents in conjunction with knowledge of seventeenth-century Dutch social and artistic history and Vermeer's remaining thirty-five paintings. Credit must be given to P.T.A. Swillens for having, in 1952, outlined the first adequate picture of Vermeer's life in Johannes Vermeer Painter of Delft: 1632-1675. However, great part of the progress made in recent years is owed to John M. Montias, who has patiently pieced together into a coherent whole, legal depositions, wills, deeds, warrants, inventories, promissory notes, and other official documents. Their paper trail extends back two generations to Vermeer's maternal grandfather and continues in the seventeenth century beyond Vermeer's death. Montias' Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History now forms basis on which further study must be elaborated. It makes excellent reading and is highly recommended for those who wish to deepen their knowledge of Vermeer or of Dutch 17th. century painting. An exclusive Essential Vermeer Interview with Prof. Montias in which he discusses the workings behind his research and the possibility of future findings can be accessed by clicking here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Youth Vermeer was baptized on 31 October 1632 in the Reformed Church in Delft, was raised a Protestant. His father, Reynier Janz Vos (in the later part of his life his surname was changed to Vermeer although we do not know why) was an innkeeper and member of the Saint Lukes Guild. He presumably bought and sold paintings. Even so, neither of these trades were Reyniers Janz Vos's real profession. Sometime after his wedding, Reynier described himself as a "caffawercker" (silkworker). Caffa was a kind fine satin widely used for clothes, curtains and furniture-covering. Some scholars have speculated that Vermeer's predilections for this material, often depicted in his paintings, was a kind of childhood remembrance. Montias states: "If, as I believe, Vermeer created patterns of his own in some of the rugs, tapestries, and leather wall coverings that he depicted, both the impulse and the skill may perhaps be traced to his exposure to his father's craft." It also seems logical that the paintings in which his father dealt sparked in young Vermeer his interest in painting. Johannes Vermeer was the second child and only son of Reynier and his wife Digna Baltens. He was christened in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft on October 31, 1632. Vermeer's family background would be describes today as lower middle-class. His grandparents were illiterate and so was his mother. Vermeer spent his childhood in a large house which his father bought after having improved his economic conditions, for Reynier was evidently a hardworking man who lived and invested conservatively. Mechelen, as the inn was called, was located on the Marketplace in the center of the town. Judging from contemporary etchings it must have been quite large, large enough to accommodate the inn downstairs, a space for Vermeer's father's art trade, a workshop for caffa, and enough space for Vermeer's family. Saint Luke's Guild Membership Vermeer's artistic formation is still very uncertain. As every other Dutch painter, he was required to undergo a six year apprenticeship with a master painter who belonged to the Saint Luke's Guild, an organization which regulates the commerce of painters and artisans. The young apprentice was thoroughly instructed in the art and craft of painting and, upon his admission to the guild, was permitted to sign and sell his own paintings as well as those of his fellow painters. Recently, some scholars have come to believe Vermeer may have left Delft in order to study either in Amsterdam or Utrecht. "Vermeer was required to pay an entrance fee of six guilders when he was admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke in 1653 (December). Normally, new admittees into the guild whose father had been members - as was the case with Vermeer - were required to pay three guilders, provided that they had trained for two years with a master of the guild. According to Van de Veen (1996) the only plausible explanation for the higher admission fee is that Vermeer's training had occurred outside of Delft." 1 For many years, however, it was believed that Vermeer's master might have been the Leonaert Bramer of Delft. Bramer's curious Italianate style was so different from both early and subsequent works of Vermeer that it would seem the elderly painter had little or no artistic influence on Vermeer. In any case, surviving documents indicate that Bramer had a friendly relationship with the Vermeer family. An entrance on the account-book of the guild states that the young Vermeer "had paid towards his entrance fee 1 guilder, 10 stivers, balance 4 guilders, 10 stivers", and on July 24, 1665 he had paid in full. Vermeer at the moment was not able to pay the entire sum and this was most likely due to his modest economic circumstances. His name, which was entered on the register of the guild, can be seen among the names of other painters such as Carl Fabritius and Pieter de Hoogh. Marriage Vermeer married Catharina Bolnes in April 1653. She was one and a half years older than he. Shortly after both Vermeer's and his wife's signature appear on a document (right) together. A cursory comparison of the two signatures reveals an evident difference of personality, if one were to admit the influence of character upon handwriting. In any case, we can assume that their marriage, blessed with eleven children, was a happy one, at least until their financial collapse in Vermeer's final years of . After Vermeer's death Catharina went to great lengths to save her husband's paintings which creditors had claimed to pay debts accumulated in the final years the artist's life. She must have deeply loved her husband's paintings and it is generally assumed that she modeled for more than one of them. Catharina came from a well known, respectable and well-to-do family in Gouda. She was also Catholic. Vermeer instead, had been raised as a Protestant since we know he was baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk at Delft.Today a number of scholars maintain that upon marriage Vermeer converted to Catholicism or, at least, he became an active part in bringing up his children in his wife's religion. "Vermeer's marriage, outside the family's religion and social class, was exceptional. It entailed a move from the lower, artisan class of his Reformed parents to the higher social stratum of the Catholic in-laws, and from Delft's Market Square to its "Papists' Corner," the Catholic quarter of the city." 2 However, there is considerable disagreement among scholars concerning Vermeer's zeal for his adopted faith. Arthur Wheelock ( Johannes Vermeer,1995) has argued at length that Vermeer's artistic development had been deeply influenced by his conversion. Following his marriage Vermeer seemed to have distanced himself from his familiar past, a fact which can be seen in his apparent failure to name any of his children after his mother or father, as was common practice at the time, both in Protestant and Catholic families. They named their first daughter Maria, in honor of Maria Thins, and their first son Ignatius, after the patron saint of the Jesuit Order. Early Works Vermeer's three or four authentic early works demonstrate the young painter at grips with the problems of religious, mythological and genre painting of the school of Utrecht, a school which primarily drew from Caravaggism. His mother-in-law, Maria Thins, owned a modest collection of Utrecht paintings and she surely put them at her young son-in-law's disposition. Moreover, she had a distant relationship with the noted Utrecht painter Abraham Bloemart. In any case, Maria Thins, throughout Vermeer's life seems to have contributed, at least indirectly, to Vermeer's artistic development. After the first historical and genre paintings, Vermeer's pictorial evolution took a rapid and decisive turn. He adapted to his own expressive needs scenes of upper middle-class daily life which painters such as Gerard Terborch, Nicolas Maes, and Pieter de Hoogh had already begun to develop successfully. "His approach was however fundamentally different. The figures in his paintings take on a timeless presence that imparts to them an extraordinary dignity and moral gravity comparable to that seen in history painting." 4 Maturity "Vermeer, who begun to produce his genre paintings in the late 1650s, could not have embarked upon a career in this specialty at a more auspicious moment. The Dutch economy virtually exploded with the cessation of hostilities with Spain in 1648; indeed, the nation's economy would reach its apogee within a few short years after that event." 5 Whether Vermeer's initial impulse to be a history painter was stimulated by his artistic training, his conversion to Catholicism, or the hope that he would realize prestigious princely or civic commissions, he abruptly and dramatically changed his subject matter and style of painting a few years after becoming a master in the guild. Although the reason be began to focus on scenes such as A Woman Asleep, Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window, or The Little Street are not known, it may have been the patronage he expected as a history painter was not forthcoming. Perhaps, as well, he came to realize that although he was a talented painter of biblical and mythological scenes, his true genius lay in the ability to convey a comparable sense if dignity and purpose in images drawn from daily life. Although the path Vermeer took in defining his artistic personality is understood in only the broadest of terms, the types of scenes he represented in the late 1650s indicate that he was aware of his contemporaries work, and was adept at emulating and improving upon their images." 6 Although very little is known about relationships with other painters who might have influenced the thematic and stylistic direction of his art, Vermeer apparently knew Gerard ter Borch II, with whom he co-signed a document in 1653. The years of his pictorial maturity correspond to years of relative financial security. His mother-in-law contributed substantially to the economic well-being of her daughter's family and in the meanwhile Vermeer had secured the patronage an important Delft citizen, Pieter van Ruijven, who acquired perhaps half of the artist's entire output. The financial independence Vermeer enjoyed, partial and precarious as it was, gave him a greater opportunity to follow his own artistic inclination than most of his fellow members of the guild, who had to adapt their art to suit market demand. He could paint fewer pictures than he might have had to had he been forced to support his family exclusively from his art. "With the exception of other artists in the guild with whom he had to maintain professional ties, there is little evidence to show that Vermeer entertained close contacts beyond the relatively segregated Papist's Corner, where he lived, condemned as a consequence of his Catholic marriage (and probable conversion to Catholicism) to second-class citizenship in a Protestant-dominated city. In the entire period of Vermeer's maturity, no document directly linking him with his patron Pieter Claesz. van Ruijven can be citedeven though he was close enough to the Van Ruijven family to be given a conditional bequest of five hundred guilders in the will of Pieter Claesz.'s wife, Maria de Knuijt, in 1665." 7 Fame Other than the thirty-five surviving paintings, we have very little documentation of Vermeer's art. When French traveler and diarist Balthasar de Monconys visited Vermeer studio, Vermeer was not able, or willing, to show him even a single work. When the Frenchman went to the house of the baker Hendrick van Buyten (a prominent Delft citizen and collector of Vermeer's painting) he saw one "with a single figure" which he esteemed far too costly. If the price (600 guilders) quoted by the baker is to be believed, Vermeer's paintings were, in fact, rather expensive in respects to those of his contemporaries. Even so Vermeer's fame did not spread far outside Delft. The most probable explanation is that most of his paintings were in the hands of only a few select collectors. Ironically, the extraordinary patronage of Pieter van Ruijven was a mixed blessing for the artist. His reputation might have spread in wider circles and his name might have been better remembered after his death had there been more collectors eager to trumpet his fame. Pieter van Beckhout, a wealthy young connoisseur, visited Vermeer two times in 1669 and saw the second time "some examples of his art, the most curious aspect consists in perspective." Vermeer was again elected as headman of the Saint Luke's Guild in 1671-1672 and in this period he was called to the Hague in order to judge the authenticity of various paintings which had been sold as works of important Italian masters. Vermeer, along with other headsmen, judged them not only fakes but practically worthless. The solid position as an esteemed artist had grown through the years, was just the same victim, like other painters in Delft, to the grave economic crisis following the French invasion in 1672. Frenzy and Death By 1672 it is certain that Vermeer had left Mechelen which he had rented out to an apothecary for six years. However, It seems likely that he had moved in moved into a much smaller house in Oude Langendijk, owned by his mother in-law soon after his marriage. Shortly after 1672 e borrowed 1000 guilders from his mother-in-law Maria Thins. His income must have dwindled to nothing and he had eleven children to support. At the same time the French invasion had reached Delft and its citizens were called to dig a high earth rampart around their town for defensive purposes. Vermeer probably painted very little in his last years. His death, three years later, at the age of forty-three, was described by his wife, "as a result and owing to the great burden of his children, having no means of his own, he had lapsed into such decay and decadence, which he had so taken to heart that, as if he had fallen into a frenzy, in a day or day and a half had gone from being healthy to being dead." The burial registers of the Oude Kerk mention on December 15, 1675: "Jan Vermeer, artist of the Oude Langedijk, in the Oude Kerk." Catharina was left with ten children and an enormous debt. Vermeer was survived by his wife Catharina and eleven children, eight of whom were underage. His wife petitioned for bankruptcy the following year. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the famed Delft microscopist who was apparently a friend of Vermeer, was named trustee for the estate. She was able to survive only through the loving help of her mother Maria Thins. A plea to her creditors some time after her husband's premature death strikes a final sad note in Vermeer's brief life: "during the ruinous war he not only was unable to sell any of his art but also, to his great detriment, was left sitting with the paintings of other masters that he was dealing in." "If Vermeer's children and grandchildren slipped into oblivion soon after his death, the reputation of his art remained strong among discerning collectors. Two collectors of major importance, the baker Hendrick van Buyten and Jacob Abrahamz Dissius, kept their Vermeer paintings until the day they died. When important pictures by Vermeer were sold, as in Amsterdam in 1696 and 1699, they brought high prices." 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Lisa Vergara, "Perspectives on Woman in the Art of Vermeer," in The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer, edited by Wayne Franits, 2000 2. ibid. 3. John Michael Montias, Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History, Princeton, 1989 4. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.,Vermeer: The Complete Works, New York, 1997 5.Wayne Franits, The Cambridge Companion Guide to Vermeer, Cambridge, 2001, p. 2 6. Wheelock, ibid. 7. Montias, ibid., p. 172 8. Montias, ibid. for more information about Vermeer's life Detailed Timeline of Vermeer's Life Chronology Vermeer's Neighborhood Vermeer the Man Vermeer and His Wife Vermeer's Children Books on Vermeer Mechelen Vermeer's name on the register of Saint Luke's Guild can be seen at number 78 signatures of Johannes Vermeer and Catharina Bolnes An image of what was once believed to be Vermeer's second house on Oude Langend Guildhall of Saint Luke Delft 18th century Vermeer's Children The Vermeers had at least 11 children during their 22 years of marriage: Maria, Elisabeth, Cornelia, Aleydis, Beatrix, Johannes, Gertruyd, Franciscus, Catharina, Ignatius, one other, and possibly more who died in infancy. From what we know of their later lives, none of them seem to have inherited Vermeer's artistic skills or pursued distinguished careers. Vermeer's wife, Catharina, who must have been pregnant far much of the time, also had the burden of looking after her mother. Although Maria (Catharina Bolnes' mother) lived to be 87, surviving Vermeer, she was already nearly 70 when the family moved in and was presumably getting frail. Caring for 11 children, an ageing mother, and an artist must have taken most of Catharina's time, even with the help of a maid. After Vermeer's death, she claimed to have known little about his business affairs since she had never concerned herself further or otherwise than with her housekeeping and her children'. from: Martin Bailey, Vermeer, London, 1995, p. 9