Jan Vermeer (1632 - 1675) was a Dutch artist who focused on domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. Jan was a somewhat outstanding provincial genre artist in his lifetime. He seems never to have been very rich, leaving his spouse and kids with debt at his death, possibly due to the fact that he created very few artworks.

Vermeer came into this world circa October 31, 1632, in Delft, Holland. In 1652, became a memeber of the Delft painter's guild. His paintings are actually a resource of motivation as well as fascination since way back when, but a lot of his lifetime is still a secret. Jan's father, Reynier, originated from a family group of craftsmen in Delft, and his mother, Digna, had a Flemish background.

Soon after Jan's baptismal record at a hometown church, he had a tendency to vanish for about 20 years. He probably had a Calvinist childhood. His father, Reynier labored as a tavern keeper and even an art vendor, and Jan grew uphoning both of these business on his father's passing away in 1652. Jan married Catherina Bolnes the next year. His wife  was Catholic, and Jan  changed into her religion. They moved in with her mother, and would finally own 11 children in total.

Major Artworks

Vermeer became a member of  the Delft Guild in 1653. There exists no file of who he may have apprenticed under, or if he learned domestically or in another country. Jan certainly had around a friendship with major Delft artist Leonard Bramer, who was certainly one of his early supporters. Many professionals even think that Jan may have been affected by Rembrandt's art via Carel Fabritius who is one among Rembrandt's students.

Caravaggio's influence is obvious in Jan's early paintings, like "The Procuress" (1656). The artist also looked into mythology in "Diana and Her Companions" (1655-56) as well as religion in "Christ in the House of Mary and Martha" (c. 1655). After the decade, Jan's art style started to turn up.

A large number of Jan's famous paintings concentrate on domestic scenes, such as "The Milkmaid" (c. 1657-58). This interpretation of a lady in the process of her work displays two of his trademarks: his realistic renderings of people and subjects, and his interest with light. Several of his paintings have a glowing quality, which includes one of his most famous portrait painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1665). This painting of a young woman motivated the 1999 novel Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, and even a 2003 film adaptation of this book.

Jan experienced a few success in Delft, selling his paintings to limited local art collectors. He also worked as dean of the local artistic guild for a time. Nevertheless, Jan was not popular outside of his community in his lifetime.

Final Years

The artist was poor in his final years, because the Holland economy had experienced awfully after the country was invaded by France in 1672. Jan was seriously in financial trouble at his death; he passed away in Delft circa December 16, 1675.

After he died, Jan has become a famous painter, and his paintings have been hung in a lot of well known museums around the world.