Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer (Delft, Oct. 31, 1632) was a Dutch painter of the Golden Age. Vermeer is hailed as one of the greatest painters of the seventeenth century. The painter favored timeless, subdued moments. He remains enigmatic for his inimitable coloring and bewildering light.

Vermeer's paintings, mostly genre pieces and a few history pieces, allegories and cityscapes, are distinguished by a subtle use of color and ideal composition. He sometimes used expensive pigments and had a great preference for ultramarine and lead-tin yellow.

Vermeer's surviving body of work is modest. There are 36-37 paintings attributed to him. Among the best known are The Milkmaid, View of Delft and The Girl with the Pearl Earring. As a result of this small number, in the nineteenth century, a time of increasing interest in his work, paintings by other artists were wrongly attributed to him.