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Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter living in the seventeenth century. Vermeer was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, and his style stands alone among both his predecessors and those who came after him. Not much is known about Vermeer's life and influences, but a great deal can be gleaned and enjoyed from the thirty two separate canvas paintings that have been attributed to him since his death in 1675.  Vermeer was born in the city of Delft in 1632 and remained there for his entire life, gaining prestige there, but no much outside of his hometown. Vermeer's relative lack of fame during his lifetime (and for many years after) is attributed to a synergy of many factors. Vermeer's output of paintings was fairly low. He produced, at most, four a year. This is likely due to his responsibilities as proprietor of the inn that he inherited from his father and the responsibility of rearing ten children as well as the extreme care with which he painted. In addition, a local art collector purchased the vast majority of Vermeer's paintings, this barring the opportunity for Vermeer to spread his work among more collectors and noblemen outside of Delft. Due to his business and his hectic family life, Vermeer also never took any apprentices to teach his craft to.

Vermeer largely depicted scenes of domestic, middle class life. His subjects were provincial and insignificant, yet portrayed with deep care for their individual beauty and a profound attention to light, something that Vermeer's work is highly noted for. It is unknown who Vermeer may have studied under but it is evident that he had some kind of formal training. Vermeer used a great deal of many of the the age's most expensive color pigments, suggesting that he did have a patron throughout much of his career. There are many theories as to how Vermeer created his highly stylized and unique paintings. Many believe that he used a layering technique in which subjects were first depicted tonally, in shades of black, gray and brown, and then painted over with more brilliant, saturated colors, perhaps as glazes. Most significantly, the precision with which his subjects are positioned has led to an interesting theory: that Vermeer was one of the first, if not the first, to use a camera obscura to position his subjects. This seems to explain some of the glistening color highlights and unique, perspective effects. Aside from domestic scenes, Vermeer also painted two allegorical scenes.

For many years after his death, Vermeer fell out of consciousness of art historians, largely due to his exclusion from the major history of Dutch painting, Grand Theatre of Dutch Painters and Women Artists. Yet, in the nineteenth century, his place in art history was secured when several prominent historians published essays on him. He has since come to be regarded as one of the Dutch masters, as well as perhaps one of the greatest technical painters of all time. Many traditional and somber landscapes that incorporate fantastic use of light can be found in our Landscape Canvas gallery.
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