Vermeer Johannes 1632 - 1675 (Dutch) Johannes Vermeer (1632 - December 15, 1675) was a Dutch painter. Vermeer is also known as Vermeer of Delft or Johannes van der Meer. Vermeer was born in Delft and stayed there all his life. He was buried in the Old Church (Oude Kerk) in Delft. Vermeer is after Rembrandt the second most famous Dutch painter of the 17th century (a period which is better known as the Dutch Golden Age for its astonishing cultural and artistic achievements). His paintings are admired for their transparent colours, well though-out composition and brilliant use of light. Little is known about the life of Vermeer. He married Catharina Bolenes in 1653. In that same year he joined the Sint Lucas painters guild. Later, in 1662 and 1669, he was chosen to preside over the guild. Vermeer did earn a meagre income as an art dealer rather than through selling his paintings. Sometimes he even had to pay his debts to local food stores with a painting. Vermeer died very poor. His widow had to trade all paintings still in her possession to the city council in return for a small allowance (one source even says this was only one painting, also Vermeer's last work named Clio). After his death Vermeer was soon forgotten. His paintings were sometimes sold bearing the name of another painter to raise their value. Only very recently has Vermeer been recognised as one of the greats: in 1866 art historian Théophile Thoré (pseudonym of W. Burger) made a statement to this effect, attributing 76 paintings to Vermeer, a number that was soon lowered by others. At the beginning of the twentieth century rumours ran rampant that there were yet undiscovered Vermeer paintings. Very few paintings of Vermeer are known today. Only 35 to 40 works that are attributed to him do exist (views on authencity of some works differ). Technique Vermeer's transparent colours were produced by bringing the paint unto the canvas in loosely granular layers, a technique called pointillé (not to be confused with Pointillism). It is thought that Vermeer possibly used the Camera Obscura to achieve a perfect perspective in his compositions. Themes Almost all of Vermeer's paintings are in house scenes (even the two landscapes that we know are seen from within through a window). He painted mostly genre pieces and portraits. As an exception he left us also two city views. His painting cover all layers of society, at one time portraying a simple milkmaid at work, at other works showing the luxury and splendour of rich notables and merchantmen in their roomy houses. Religious and scientific connotations can be found in his works. Influences by other painters Carel Fabricius (1622 - 1654) who spent his final years in Delft. Vermeer's ideas about perspective, and his tendency to paint everyday themes were possibly influenced by Fabricius. Italian painter Caravaggio (1573-1610), indirectly through Dutch followers. Leonart Bramer, another painter from Delft, and witness to his marriage. Dirk van Baburen from whom Vermeer owned a painting (which occurred twice in Vermeer's own paintings). This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia.