Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/603

 SECTION VI JOHANNES VERMEER JOHANNES VERMEER was born in Delft in October 1632, spent his whole life in the town, and died there in 1675. Bleijswijck's description of Delft includes a poem on the death of Fabritius, the last stanza of which says that this phoenix succumbed, to the loss of art, but that happily Vermeer appeared out of the fire and moved in a masterly way along the same course. It can scarcely be doubted that the author of these lines meant to imply that Vermeer had been the pupil of Fabritius. That painter may be traced in Delft from 1647, but it was not until October 1652 that he was elected a member of the Guild of St. Luke, which Vermeer, having completed his apprenticeship, joined at the end of 1653. His first and only dated picture, " The Procuress," at Dresden, belongs to the year 1656 ; this work with life-sized figures is closely related to the "Christ in the House of Mary and Martha," in the Coats collection. The portrait of a lady at Buda-Pest must, from the costume, have been painted at about the same time. By his wife, Catharina Bolnes, Vermeer had eight children. He lived in humble circumstances, although from time to time he inherited property in right of his wife. Yet he worked with extreme deliberation and sold few pictures. On the other hand, he obtained prices for his work such as Dou alone, among the other genre-painters, could equal. To-day we know of only thirty-three pictures by Vermeer ; we have more or less certain knowledge of the existence of half-a-dozen others. With a few exceptions they are all genre-pieces of small size, containing only a few figures. The " Diana," in the Mauritshuis, the attribution of which to Vermeer is not absolutely proved, contains five figures ; save for this, the " Procuress," with four, contains the largest number of figures. Eighteen pictures represent only a single figure each. Vermeer's art is equally restricted in its choice of theme. _H.e only paints peaceful scenes j_Jie has no sympathy with hurried movement or strong emotion. Thrice Tie paints a man at work, twice a woman. Most of his scenes of recreation represent people playing music ; others illustrate the toilet, reading, or courtship. Save in the " Procuress," Vermeer is always most careful to observe the proprieties ; none of his pictures has a piquant innuendo. 579