Johannes Vermeer (1632 - 1675)
was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic
interior scenes of middle-class life.
Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial
genre painter in his lifetime.
He evidently was not wealthy, leaving his
wife and children in debt at his death,
perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings.
Vermeer worked slowly and with great care,
and frequently used very expensive pigments.
He is particularly renowned for his masterly
treatment and use of light in his work.
Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes.
Almost all his paintings 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 woman.
only 34 paintings are universally attributed
to him today,
though he is acknowledged as one of the greatest
painters of the Dutch Golden Age.
