The stories, symbols and history behind great art
1632–1675
Dutch painter of the 17th century (1632–1675) from Delft, known for quiet interiors and light. Only about 36 paintings are attributed to him today, among them Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Vermeer was baptized in Delft on 31 October 1632 and spent his working life in the city.1
He was buried in Delft on 16 December 1675. His work remained in obscurity until 1866, when the critic Théophile Thoré championed it; today about 36 paintings are attributed to him.1
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For more than 250 years, Vermeer's letter reader stood before a bare wall. A restoration in Dresden showed that the wall once held a painting of Cupid, and that Vermeer was not the one who covered it.
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She is not a portrait, the pearl has no hook and the dark background was once a green curtain. What the Mauritshuis research of 2018 found in Vermeer's most famous painting.
