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Concept
Johannes Vermeer
Summary
Johannes Vermeer (vərˈmɪər,_vərˈmɛər , vərˈmeːr, see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age along with Rembrandt. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial 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, leaving his wife in debt.
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. "Almost all his paintings", Hans Koningsberger 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."
His modest celebrity 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, pub 1718) and was thus omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries. In the 19th century, Vermeer was rediscovered by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger, who published an essay attributing 66 pictures to him, although only 34 paintings are universally attributed to him today. Since that time, Vermeer's reputation has grown enormously.
In Dutch, Vermeer is pronounced vərˈmeːr, and Johannes Vermeer as joːˈɦɑnəs fərˈmeːr, with /v/ assimilating to the preceding voiceless /s/ as [f]. The usual English pronunciation is vərˈmɪər , with vɜːrˈmɪər , with a long first vowel, also occurring in the UK. vərˈmɛər is also documented. Another pronunciation, vɛərˈmɪər , is attested from the UK.
Relatively little was known about Vermeer's life until recently. He seems to have been devoted exclusively to his art, living out his life in the city of Delft.
Official source
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