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Charlotte Mason Picture Study Aid                                                       Johannes Vermeer



        !e Art of Painting




























                                                       1665-1668
                                                       oil on canvas
                                                       130 +&110 cm
                                                       Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

        KEY TOPICS:

        • In this piece we see two %gures: a man (possibly Vermeer himsel,) dressed in black with his back to us, seated on
           a stool before a canvas on which he is presumably painting the woman or girl standing in front of him

           (beginning with her laurel-wreath head covering - white outlines can also be seen on the lower part of the
           canvas) with a brush and maulstick in his right hand. !e girl (possibly Vermeer’s oldest daughter, Maria),

           wrapped in a piece of thick, blue fabric with a yellow dress beneath it, stands before the light source in the room

           - most likely a window behind the thick drapery which dominates the le) side of the picture plane held back by
           a wooden chair - and holds a trumpet as well as a heavy, yellow book. In front of her is a table on which rests a

           box with straps, a large, plaster cast or mask looking up at the ceiling, several pieces of fabric, and a large
           sketchbook. Behind her is a map of the Netherlands hanging on a white plaster wall above a wooden chair and

           over both %gures is an ornate, brass chandelier. In the very top of the picture plane we can see a wooden-beamed

           ceiling, and the bottom of the piece contains a black-and-white, marble (oor.  5
        • !is piece di$ers from Vermeer’s other works in that it is much larger than the canvases he normally used (51

           inches wide). It is also di$erent subject matter - while his other works were dominated by scenes from every-day

           life (or genre paintings), this piece depicts a uni"ue occasion; that of an artist painting.  !e fact that the scene
                                                                                            5
           is not realistic in that the artist is wearing %ne clothes rather than those in which he might paint and there is no




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