The Intuitive Reasonings of Jessica

The Kitchenmaid, 1658

The shadows on the wall to the left of the maid are photographic in quality. Also of note is the stronger light on the items on the table, as they are directly under the light source. The chiaroscuro on the woman is also outstanding. But what really astounds me is the nail above and left of the maid's head. (Double click on the image to enlarge it.) Only someone as brilliant as Vermeer would have thought to include it. You probably didn't even notice it until I mentioned it, but it really adds character to the wall. It gives it a sense of reality. The brass bucket hanging by the window (behind the basket) also shows Vermeer's unrivaled ability to paint light as it really is. In fact, Vermeer spent most of his career studying light. The vast majority of his paintings have a layout similar to the one above, with light streaming in from a window on the left. Much rarer are his outdoor paintings:

The Little Street, 1658

The detail on this painting is absolutely amazing. Every brick is different--there is no stylizing here. The next painting also has an astounding attention to detail:

View of Delft, 1660-61

Here, all of the buildings are executed with a high degree of precision. The play of light is remarkable as well. Even if he had not included the cloudy skies hinting at a storm, we could easily guess because of the lighting on the buildings and the water.

However, Vermeer's most famous painting is probably this one:

Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665-66

While this painting has become well-known recently because of the movie of the same name, its aesthetic qualities should not be overlooked. The face is very delicately crafted--we can immediately discern that she has soft smooth skin, moist lips and shining eyes. The cloth is also well-done. The fabric wrapped around her head seems to be stiff--the creases are harsher than those on her dress. The light on the shiny pearl is similar to that on the brass bucket in The Kitchenmaid. However, this painting is different from most of Vermeer's other works in that the background is solid black. In most of Vermeer's interior scenes, he takes great care to make the background fit the subject, such as in The Kitchenmaid. Here is another painting that Vermeer makes great use of the background:

Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, 1662-63

In this painting, an expectant mother is reading a letter by a window. We can assume that the letter is from her husband--the father of her child. The map on the wall suggests that her husband has traveled abroad.

I hope you all now have a great appreciation of this fine artist.

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