Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
by Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632- ca.1675)
Painting
Now considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age, Vermeer enjoyed only modest success during his lifetime. There are several reasons for this. Known as a very demanding, deliberate painter, Vermeer not only took his time with each piece, he used the finest materials available, even when they were beyond his means. Though pigments like lapis lazuli, natural ultra-marine and Indian yellow were quite expensive, especially for an artist struggling to stay employed, Vermeer used them extensively. The results he attained, though, are hard to argue with. His practice of enhancing a color by picking it up in the objects and interiors adjacent to it, as well as the careful layering of pigments, enabled him to create a world more perfect than the one he witnessed. This understanding of colors, not just standing alone, but how they relate to and affect adjacent colors, may well have come from the writings of his hero, Leonardo da Vinci.
Page created on 8/27/2014 6:47:46 PM
Last edited 8/27/2014 6:47:46 PM