Masters of World Painting: Jan Vermeer van Delft

A lecture by art historian Martin Pavlíček on Jan Vermeer van Delft.

During his lifetime, Vermeer was a modestly successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He painted slowly—approximately 3 paintings per year—and earned his living primarily as an art dealer. In 1653 he married the Catholic Catharina, from then on he was himself a closeted Catholic; they had 15 children together. He likely trained under Carl Fabritius, a student of Rembrandt.

His early work bears the influence of Utrecht Caravaggists, but he gradually developed into his mature style of Dutch interiors with young women and cavaliers, in which he competed with Gerard Dou and Pieter de Hooch. Since the 20th century he has been counted among the most admired painters of all time, valued for his photographically precise capture of melancholic reality.