How to understand the painting of Jan Vermeer - the wizard of light and shadow of the Golden Age of Holland

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The best way to understand Jan Vermeer as an artist is to look closely at his paintings. Jan Vermeer is one of the outstanding masters of the Golden Age of Holland, a wizard of light and shadow, a brilliant representative of the "small Dutch". His painting is represented by a very small number of works of everyday genre (no more than 40), but no less ingenious and skillfully executed from this. His works often capture scenes from everyday life, refer to trends of the times and are rich in symbolism.

Yellow-blue palette

Vermeer was a master of color effects, but like most 17th century Dutch painters, he worked with a limited palette. Most often, Vermeer used ultramarine, the most expensive pigment available to artists at the time and extracted from finely ground lapis lazuli. Most artists have used it sparingly, hoping to get the most out of its characteristic intense blue. Vermeer has come up with a liberal use of this expensive pigment by mixing it into different colors. The artist also used ultramarine as a primer in his works, as he felt it would improve the visual quality and surface of the painting. Besides using it as a primer, he enjoyed using ultramarine in his paintings to depict clothing and general objects. Another frequently used color of the artist is yellow and its shades: lead yellow, pewter yellow, sandy yellow.

Yellow jacket and pearls

The above yellow color is most often manifested in the famous yellow women's jacket by Jan Vermeer. A yellow jacket and pearls are frequent parts of Vermeer's painting. Also this jacket with white spotted ermine trim was included in the list of Vermeer's estate after his death in 1676. It is likely that the jacket is part of the wardrobe of the master's wife, Katharina Bolnes. Pearls are a common attribute of Dutch paintings, usually symbolizing vanity or innocence.

Pinhole camera

To create striking light and shadow effects, Vermeer used a camera obscura - a box with a hole and a lens in it. The inside of the box is painted white, and with a series of lenses and mirrors, it reflects the outside image from the inside. This enhances the highlights and shadows of reflections, allowing the artist to see finer details of light and shadow on surfaces and objects. In the works of Vermeer there is a lot of evidence that he used this device, especially vividly - in "The Lacemaker".

Brightness and light

Perhaps the most recognizable feature of Vermeer's greatest paintings is their brightness, as Vermeer is especially famous for his processing of light, which takes on an almost pearl color. Often he tries to capture the moment when natural light envelops the space, when shiny reflections appear in metal vessels, surfaces or fabrics. Vermeer achieved brightness and luminescence using a technique called pointillas, which involves the use of layers of granular paint. The camera obscura also gave the effect of a glow: when viewed through the lens, it illuminated the subject with subdued light. These lighting effects are known as halos.

Genre component

The leader of Dutch realist painters Jan Vermeer specialized primarily in genre painting and informal portrait art (mostly home interiors with one or two figures). The heroine of his paintings is this maid (milkmaid with a jug) or a wealthy woman (playing an instrument, weighing scales, putting on a necklace, writing a letter). Regardless of the status of the heroine, they are all focused and they are all depicted in a calm and measured moment in time (as if the artist had just entered their rooms and had time to notice their occupation in the process). For a master, true elegance lies in the most common everyday act, in busy, skillful female hands, carefully and intently following the routine. Vermeer does not idealize or sentiment domestic stories. Rather, he discovers and reveals their beauty, which is usually hidden.

Focus of attention

The focal point is not like the big, bold "X" that marks a location on a treasure map. A point of light, a color scheme, a facial expression or a decisive gesture - any of them can become the center of attention. In The Woman Holding the Scale, the emphasis on the painting is emphasized by the guiding gaze and concentrated weighing of the scales. Regardless of how the focus of attention is created, its purpose should be to gently engage the viewer without interrupting the magic of the moment and act as the culmination of the piece.

Interior

Vermeer's interior is always a cozy space. Often there is a window - almost always on the left and most often with stained glass - and a heavy draped curtain. To this basic set, the artist can add: a woman (usually one) or with a man, tables, chairs, paintings, a mirror, a maid, a letter, a map, a musical instrument. Something may be happening in this house, but this is usually an everyday routine. Almost always, Vermeer's painting is accompanied by a table with symbolically rich objects on it. Usually, the components of a table still life (scales, jewelry, letters, handicrafts) or an object in the heroine's hands (jug, letter, pearls) convey the main meaning of the picture. Vermeer liked to portray lonely female figures in the interior and often used rooms in his house for this. The images of the interior and the heroines of Vermeer's paintings are very similar, as if passing from picture to picture.

Thus, today Jan Vermeer is one of the most famous Dutch masters of the 17th century. Technically speaking, Vermeer is literally the most capable and refined practitioner of the flamboyant Dutch style. Rarely can there be a degree of more absorbed or reflected light, more scrupulous writing of decorative objects, more attention to materials and texture, a simpler and more graceful method of composition, and a more sophisticated harmonious palette (of pale blue and straw yellow).