Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675)

was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class life. He was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime but evidently was not wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few aintings. Vermeer produced a total of fewer than 50 paintings, of which 34 have survived. Only three Vermeer paintings are dated: The Procuress (1656); The Astronomer (1668); and The Geographer (1669). Vermeer had been a respected artist in Delft, but he was almost unknown outside his hometown. Catharina Bolnes attributed her husband's death to the stress of financial pressures. The collapse of the art market damaged Vermeer's business as both a painter and an art dealer. She had to raise 11 children and therefore asked the High Court to relieve her of debts owed to Vermeer's creditors. The displayed painting is a crop from: Woman with a Pearl Necklace, c. 1662-65.