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{{Short description|Dutch painter (1632–1675)}}
{{Redirect|Vermeer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Johannes Vermeer
| image            = Cropped version of Jan Vermeer van Delft 002.jpg
| caption          = Detail of the painting ''[[The Procuress (Vermeer)|The Procuress]]'' ({{circa|1656}}), believed to be a [[self-portrait]] by Vermeer<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/lost_vermeer_self_portrait_baron_rolin/procuress_self-portrait.html |author-first=Jon |author-last=Boone |title=The Procuress: Evidence for a Vermeer Self-Portrait |access-date=13 September 2010 |work=Essential Vermeer |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503202933/http://www.essentialvermeer.com/lost_vermeer_self_portrait_baron_rolin/procuress_self-portrait.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| birth_date       = [[Baptism|baptised]] 31 October 1632
| birth_place      = [[Delft]], [[County of Holland]], [[Dutch Republic]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1675|12|15|1632|10|31|df=yes}}
| death_place      = Delft, County of Holland, Dutch Republic
| field            = Painting
| spouse           = [[Catharina Bolnes]]
| movement         = [[Dutch Golden Age painting|Dutch Golden Age]] <br/> [[Baroque painting|Baroque]]
| works            = [[List of paintings by Johannes Vermeer|34 works universally attributed]]<ref name="Janson">{{cite web |author-first=Jonathan |author-last=Janson |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/vermeer_painting_part_one.html |work=Essential Vermeer |title=Complete Vermeer Catalogue & Tracker |access-date=16 June 2010}}</ref>
| signature        = Vermeer autograph.svg
}}

'''Johannes Vermeer''' ({{IPAc-en|v|ər|ˈ|m|ɪər|,_|v|ər|ˈ|m|ɛər}} {{respell|vər|MEER|,_|vər|MAIR}}, {{IPA|nl|joːˈɦɑnəs fərˈmeːr|lang}}; <small>[[#Pronunciation of name|see below]]</small>; also known as '''Jan Vermeer'''; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a [[Dutch people|Dutch]] painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of [[middle-class]] life. He is considered one of the greatest [[Dutch Golden Age painting|painters of the Dutch Golden Age]]. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial [[Genre art|genre painter]], recognized in [[Delft]] and [[The Hague]]. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy; at his death, his wife was left in debt.<ref name="Bulfinch"/>

Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and frequently used very expensive [[pigments]]. He is particularly renowned for making masterful use of light in his work.<ref name="Wadum"/> "Almost all his paintings", [[Hans Koning]]sberger wrote, "are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women."<ref>{{Cite book |author-last=Koningsberger |author-first=Hans |date=1977 |title=The World of Vermeer |location=New York, USA |publisher=Time-Life Books |oclc=755281576}}</ref>

The modest celebrity he enjoyed during his life gave way to obscurity after his death. He was barely mentioned in [[Arnold Houbraken]]'s major source book on 17th-century Dutch painting (''Grand Theatre of Dutch Painters and Women Artists'', published 1718) and, as a result, was omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_1Ady0GAuUC&pg=PA199 |author-last1=Barker |author-first1=Emma |title=The Changing Status of the Artist|page=199 |publisher=New Haven: Yale University Press |date=1999 |isbn=0-300-07740-8 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>{{Efn|Vermeer was largely unknown to the general public, but his reputation was not totally eclipsed after his death: "While it is true that he did not achieve widespread fame until the 19th century, his work had always been valued and admired by well-informed connoisseurs."<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |author-last=Blankert |author-first=Albert |title=Vermeer and his Public |encyclopedia=Vermeer |editor-last1=Blankert |editor-first1=Albert |editor-last2=Montias |editor-first2=John Michael |editor-last3=Aillaud |editor-first3=Gilles |page=164 |location=New York, USA |publisher=Overlook |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-58567-979-9}}</ref>}} In the 19th century, Vermeer was rediscovered by [[Gustav Friedrich Waagen]] and [[Théophile Thoré-Bürger]], who published an essay attributing 66 works to him, although only 34 paintings are universally attributed to him today.<ref name="Janson">{{cite web |author-first=Jonathan |author-last=Janson |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/vermeer_painting_part_one.html |work=Essential Vermeer |title=Complete Vermeer Catalogue & Tracker |access-date=16 June 2010}}</ref> Since that time, Vermeer's reputation has grown enormously.

==Pronunciation of name==
In [[Dutch language|Dutch]], ''Vermeer'' is pronounced {{IPA|nl|vərˈmeːr|}}, and ''Johannes Vermeer'' as {{IPA|nl|joːˈɦɑnəs Vərˈmeːr|}}, with {{IPA|/v/}} [[Assimilation (phonology)|assimilating]] to the preceding voiceless {{IPA|/s/}} as {{IPA|[f]}}. The usual English pronunciation is {{IPAc-en|v|ər|ˈ|m|ɪər}} {{respell|vər|MEER}}, with {{IPAc-en|v|ɜːr|ˈ|m|ɪər}} {{respell|vur|MEER}}, with a long first vowel, occurring in the UK.<ref name="epd">{{cite EPD|18}}</ref><ref name="lpd">{{cite LPD|3}}</ref><ref>{{cite DPCE|2}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|v|ər|ˈ|m|ɛər}} {{respell|vər|MAIR}} is also documented.<ref name="epd"/><ref name="lpd"/><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster |Vermeer |access-date=6 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Vermeer|access-date=6 August 2019}}</ref> Another pronunciation, {{IPAc-en|v|ɛər|ˈ|m|ɪər}} {{respell|vair|MEER}}, is attested from the UK.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/vermeer |title=Vermeer |work=[[Collins English Dictionary]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |access-date=6 August 2019}}</ref>

==Life==
[[File:Antique map of Delft, Netherlands by Blaeu J. 1649.jpg|thumb|Delft in 1649, by cartographer [[Willem Blaeu]]]]
[[File:Jesuite Kerk, Abraham Rademaker, SA Delft, inv.nr. 5691.tif|thumb|''The Jesuit Church on the Oude Langendijk in Delft'', {{Circa|1730}}, brush in gray ink, by [[Abraham Rademaker]], coll.&nbsp;Stadsarchief Delft]]

Relatively little was known about Vermeer's life until recently.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/vermeer_the_man.html |author-first=Jonathan |author-last=Janson |title=Vermeer the Man and Painter |work=Essential Vermeer |access-date=10 April 2014}}</ref> He seems to have been devoted exclusively to his art, living out his life in the city of Delft. Until the 19th century, the only sources of information were a few registers, official documents, and comments by other artists; for this reason, Thoré-Bürger named him "The Sphinx of Delft".<ref name="Delft"/> [[John Michael Montias]] added details on the family from the city archives of Delft in his ''Artists and Artisans in Delft: A Socio-Economic Study of the Seventeenth Century'' (1982).

===Youth and heritage===
Johannes Vermeer was [[Baptism|baptized]] within the [[Calvinism|Reformed Church]] on 31 October 1632.<ref name="Name"/><ref name="Tree"/>{{efn|Vermeer was baptized as Joannis.<ref name="Montias 3"/><ref name="Name"/> Jan was the most popular version of the name among Calvinists. Joannis was a Latinazied form of Jan, which was preferred by Roman Catholics and upper-middle class Protestants.<ref name="Montias 3">{{Harvnb|Montias|2018|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-f1ZDwAAQBAJ 64–65]}}</ref><ref name="Name"/> However, Vermeer was born into a lower-middle class family.<ref name="essentialvermeer.com"/><ref name="The art History">{{cite web |url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/vermeer-johannes/life-and-legacy/#biography_header |title=Johannes Vermeer |website=The Art Story |access-date=16 December 2020}}</ref> Still, according to Montias, it is unlikely that his parents were Catholics "at this time [the time of Vermeer's baptism]," seeing that they "baptized him in the established church."<ref name="Montias 3"/> Throughout his life, Vermeer never used the name Jan. Nevertheless, "most Dutch authors, in the century since his rediscovery, have dubbed him Jan, perhaps unconsciously to bring him closer to the mainstream of Calvinist culture."<ref name="Montias 3"/><ref name=Name/>}} His mother, Digna Baltens ({{Circa|1596}}–1670),<ref name="essentialvermeer.com2">{{cite web |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/family_tree.html |author-first=Jonathan |author-last=Janson |title=Vermeer's Family Tree |work=Essential Vermeer |access-date=27 November 2020}}</ref>{{efn|His mother was born in Antwerp. When she married Vermeer's father in 1615, she claimed to be twenty years old, but she may have "exaggerated her age by a year or so."<ref name="Montias Princeton">{{Harvnb|Montias|2018|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-f1ZDwAAQBAJ 17]}}</ref> Digna's parents were married in Antwerp in 1596.}} was from [[Antwerp]].<ref name="essentialvermeer.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/vermeer's_life.html#parents |author-first=Jonathan |author-last=Janson |title=Vermeer's Life and Art (part one) |work=Essential Vermeer |access-date=27 November 2020}}</ref> Digna's father, Balthasar Geerts, or Gerrits (born in Antwerp in or around 1573), led an enterprising life in metalworking, and was arrested for counterfeiting.{{sfn|Montias|1989|p=17–34}}<ref name="essentialvermeer.com"/> Vermeer's father, named Reijnier Janszoon, was a middle-class worker of silk or caffa (a mixture of silk and cotton or wool).{{Efn|His name was Reijnier or Reynier Janszoon, always written in Dutch as Jansz. or Jansz; this was his [[patronym]]. As there was another Reijnier Jansz at that time in Delft, it seemed necessary to use the pseudonym "Vos", meaning Fox. From 1640 onward, he had changed his alias to Vermeer.}} He was the son of Jan Reyersz and Cornelia (Neeltge) Goris.{{efn|Neeltge remarried three times, the second time shortly after Jan's death, in October 1597.{{Sfn|Montias|1989|p=35–55}}}} As an apprentice in Amsterdam, Reijnier lived on fashionable [[Sint Antoniesbreestraat]], a street with many resident painters at the time. In 1615, Reijnier married Digna.<!--and to facilitate their marriage, he brought a testimonial from Delft.<ref>[http://www.xs4all.nl/~kalden/dart/d-a-vermeer1.htm Vermeer's father Reynier Jansz ({{Circa|1591}} – 1652)] His parents were tailor Jan Reyersz and Cornelia, alias Neeltge Goris</ref>--> The couple moved to Delft and had a daughter named Gertruy who was baptized in 1620.{{efn|In 1647 Geertruy, Vermeer's only sister, married a frame maker. She kept on working at the inn helping her parents, serving drinks and making beds.}} In 1625, Reijnier was involved in a fight with a soldier named Willem van Bylandt who died from his wounds five months later.{{Sfn|Montias|1989|p=83}} Around this time, Reijnier began dealing in paintings. In 1631, he leased an inn, which he called "The Flying Fox". In 1635, he lived on Voldersgracht 25 or 26. In 1641, he bought a larger inn on the market square, named after the Flemish town "[[Mechelen]]". The acquisition of the inn constituted a considerable financial burden.{{Sfn|Huerta|2003|p=42}} When Reijnier died in October 1652, Vermeer took over the operation of the family's art business.

===Marriage and family===
In April 1653, Johannes Reijniersz Vermeer married a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] woman, [[Catharina Bolnes]] (Bolenes).<ref name="Liedtke_359"/> The blessing took place in the quiet nearby village of [[Schipluiden]].<ref name="Schneider-2000">{{Cite book |author-last=Schneider |author-first=Norbert |title=Vermeer: The Complete Paintings |publisher=Taschen |date=2000 |pages=8, 13}}</ref> Vermeer's new mother-in-law, [[Maria Thins]], was initially opposed to the marriage as she was significantly wealthier than he, and it was probably she who insisted that Vermeer convert to Catholicism before the marriage on 5 April.{{efn|Catholicism was not a forbidden religion, but tolerated in the [[Dutch Republic]]. They were not allowed to build new churches, so services were held in hidden churches (so-called [[Schuilkerk]]). Catholics were restrained in their careers, unable to get high-rank jobs in city administration or civic guard. It was impossible to be elected as a member of the city council; therefore, the Catholics were not represented in the provincial and national assembly.}} The fact that Vermeer's father was in considerable debt also did not help in discussions on the marriage. [[Leonaert Bramer]], who was Catholic himself, put in a good word for Vermeer and it was this that led Maria to drop her oppositions.<ref name="Schneider-2000"/> According to art historian [[Walter Liedtke]], Vermeer's conversion seems to have been made with conviction.<ref name="Liedtke_359">{{cite book |author-last1=Liedtke |author-first1=Walter |author-last2=Plomp |author-first2=Michiel C. |author-last3=Rüger |author-first3=Axel |author-link1=Walter Liedtke |title=Vermeer and the Delft school: [catalogue ... in conjunction with the exhibition "Vermeer and the Delft School" held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 8 March to 27 May 2001, and at The National Gallery, London, from 20 June to 16 September 2001] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EZxWaNlQKiYC|date=2001|publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0-87099-973-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EZxWaNlQKiYC/page/n373 359]}}</ref> His painting ''[[The Allegory of Faith]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/32.100.18 |title=Johannes Vermeer: Allegory of the Catholic Faith (32.100.18) |work=The Met |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |date=20 July 2012 |access-date=24 July 2012}}</ref> made between 1670 and 1672, placed less emphasis on the artists' usual naturalistic concerns and more on symbolic religious applications, including the sacrament of the [[Eucharist]]. Walter Liedtke, in ''Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art'', suggests that it was made for a learned and devout Catholic patron, perhaps for his ''[[schuilkerk]]'', or "hidden church".{{Sfn|Liedtke|2007|p=893}} At some point, the couple moved in with Catharina's mother, who lived in a rather spacious house at Oude Langendijk, almost next to a hidden [[Jesuit]] church.{{efn|A Roman Catholic chapel now exists at this spot.}} There Vermeer lived for the rest of his life, producing paintings in the front room on the second floor. His wife gave birth to 15 children, four of whom were buried before being baptized but were registered as "child of Johan Vermeer".{{Sfn|Montias|1991|pp=344–345}} The names of 10 of Vermeer's children are known from wills written by relatives: Maertge, Elisabeth, Cornelia, Aleydis, Beatrix, Johannes, Gertruyd, Franciscus, Catharina, and Ignatius.{{Sfn|Montias|1991|pp=370–371}} Most of these names are those of [[saint]]s; the youngest (Ignatius) was likely named after the [[Ignatius of Loyola]].{{efn|The parish registers of the Delft Catholic church do not exist anymore, so it is impossible to prove but likely that his children were baptized in a hidden church.}}{{efn|The number of children seems inconsistent, but 11 was stated by his widow in a document to get help from the city council. One child died after this document was written.}}

===Career===
[[File:2010-05-15-delft-by-RalfR-13.jpg|thumb|Replica of the St. Luke Guildhouse on Voldersgracht in Delft]]
It is unclear where and with whom Vermeer apprenticed as a painter. There is some speculation that [[Carel Fabritius]] may have been his teacher, based upon a controversial interpretation of a text written in 1668 by printer Arnold Bon. Art historians have found no hard evidence to support this.{{Sfn|Montias|1991|p=104}} Local authority Leonaert Bramer acted as a friend, but his style of painting is rather different from Vermeer's.<ref name="Gallery"/> Liedtke suggests that Vermeer taught himself using information from one of his father's connections.{{Sfn|Liedtke|2007|p=886}} Some scholars think that Vermeer was trained under Catholic painter [[Abraham Bloemaert]]. Vermeer's style is similar to that of some of the [[Utrecht Caravaggists]], whose works are depicted as paintings-within-paintings in the backgrounds of several of his compositions.{{efn|Identifiable works include compositions by Utrecht painters [[Dirck van Baburen|Baburen]] and [[Caesar van Everdingen|Everdingen]].}}

[[File:Delftsedonderslag.jpg|thumb|left|''A View of Delft after the Explosion of 1654'', by [[Egbert van der Poel]]]]
On 29 December 1653, Vermeer became a member of the [[Guild of Saint Luke#Dutch Republic|Guild of Saint Luke]], a trade association for painters. The guild's records make clear that Vermeer did not pay the usual admission fee. It was a year of [[Bubonic plague|plague]], [[First Anglo-Dutch War|war]], and economic crisis; Vermeer was not alone in experiencing difficult financial circumstances. In 1654, a terrible explosion, known as the [[Delft#Explosion|Delft Thunderclap]], occurred at a gunpowder store and destroyed a large section of the city.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/maps/delft/delft_in_vermeer's_time.html |author-last=Janson |author-first=Jonathan |title=Delft in Johannes Vermeer's Time |work=Essential Vermeer |access-date=29 September 2009}}</ref> [[Pieter van Ruijven]] and his wife, [[Maria de Knuijt]], were Vermeer's patrons for the better part of the artist's career. In 2023, Maria de Knuijt was identified by the curators of the 2023 exhibition of Vermeer's works at the [[Rijksmuseum]] in Amsterdam as the main patron because of her long-standing and supportive relationship with the artist.<ref name="Bailey">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/02/07/revealed-vermeers-patron-was-in-fact-a-womanand-she-bought-half-the-artists-entire-oeuvre |title=Revealed: Vermeer's patron was, in fact, a woman—and she bought half the artist's entire oeuvre |author-first=Martin |author-last=Bailey |date=7 February 2023 |magazine=[[The Art Newspaper]] |access-date=26 April 2023}}</ref> It seems that Vermeer turned for inspiration to the art of the [[fijnschilder]]s from Leiden. Vermeer was responding to the market of [[Gerard Dou]]'s paintings, who sold his paintings for exorbitant prices. Dou may have influenced [[Pieter de Hooch]] and [[Gabriel Metsu]] too. Vermeer also charged higher than average prices for his work, most of which were purchased by an unknown collector.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Dutch painting in the seventeenth century |author-last=Nash| author-first=John Malcolm |publisher=Holt, Rinehart, and Winston |date=1972 |isbn=978-0-03-091870-4 |location=New York, USA |page=[https://archive.org/details/ageofrembrandt00nash/page/40 40] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofrembrandt00nash/page/40}}</ref>

[[File:Vermeer-view-of-delft.jpg|thumb|''[[View of Delft]]'' (1660–1661): "He took a turbulent reality, and made it look like Heaven on earth."<ref>{{cite episode |author-link=Andrew Graham-Dixon |author-first=Andrew |author-last=Graham-Dixon |title=The Madness of Vermeer |series=Secret Lives of the Artists |network=BBC Four |date=2002}}</ref>]]

The influence of Johannes Vermeer on Metsu is unmistakable: the light from the left, the marble floor.<ref>{{cite thesis |author-first=Adriaan E. |author-last=Waiboer |title=Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667): Life and Work |type=PhD |publisher=New York University |date=2007 |pages=225–230}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.codart.com/522/ |title=Curator in the spotlight: Adriaan E. Waiboer, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin |work=Codart |access-date=12 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913010858/http://www.codart.com/522/ |archive-date=13 September 2014}}</ref><ref name=