Johannes Vermeer - Dutch Genre Artist

Vermeer's paintings are characterized by a masterly use of light. It is thought that he created his unique effects by using a 'camera obscura,' an early lens which produces haloes around light sources and an exaggerated perspective, as seen in the painting Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman. He used a cool palette of mainly blues, yellows and greys, the transparent effect being achieved by applying the paint in loose brushstrokes with a combination of glazes, as can be seen in Woman with a Water Jug.

Few facts are known about Vermeer's life. We don't know what he looked like because he never painted a self-portrait. There is not a single handwritten document of his, and only his birth, marriage and death certificates have survived. Vermeer's life is a shadow of which we catch fleeting glimpses through his art.

We do know however that his father was a silk weaver and art dealer, and probably introduced Jan Vermeer to painting. Vermeer himself was an isolated figure, both in life and in art history: his teacher is unknown and he had no pupils, but he was active in the Delft painters' guild.

Today, Vermeer is one of the most admired Dutch painters, but in his own day he had only a small circle of patrons; half of all his works were purchased by Pieter van Ruijven, a local collector. He produced very few paintings ? only 35 or 36 paintings are attributed to him. After his death, his works were virtually forgotten for around two hundred years.

Vermeer married Catharina Bolnes in 1653 in a civil marriage in the Delft city hall; she was a Catholic and five years older than him. Vermeer converted to Catholicism for her. Catharina's family was wealthy and the couple lived in her mother's house where Vermeer would spend the rest of his life. The couple had fourteen children.

The high prices his paintings received allowed Vermeer to support his large family and he is thought to have also been active as an art dealer. He joined the Guild of Saint Luke in Delft and was elected President in 1662, showing that he was highly respected by his peers. But in 1672 the French invaded the Netherlands, the economy collapsed and Vermeer's business as an art dealer and painter was ruined. He was forced to borrow money to support his family; his last few years were miserable.

Johannes Vermeer died in 1675 at the age of forty-three. He left behind a wife and eleven children. Catharina was left with large debts and in 1676 she asked the city council to take over the estate in order to pay them off. Twenty one of Vermeer's paintings were sold off at the Guild on March 15, 1677. They were bought by local collectors who locked them away in their homes. Vermeer was forgotten until art critic Thoré Burger discovered the View of Delft and was so impressed that he devoted the next twenty years of his life to finding out who Vermeer was. It is thanks to him that Vermeer is today considered to be one of the greatest of the 17th century Dutch masters.

You can find a wide collection of Johannes Vermeer paint by number patterns at the Segmation web site.  These patterns may be viewed, painted, and printed using SegPlay™PC a fun, computerized paint-by-numbers program for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.