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Two new discoveries about the life of Johannes Vermeer (Delft
the great seventeenth-century Dutch artist
have emerged during preparations for the exhibition Vermeer’s Delft that will be hosted by the Prinsenhof Museum in Delft
These are finds described as “extremely important” by the museum: former archivist Bas van der Wulp of “Erfgoed Delft,” the city’s cultural heritage department
found a hitherto unknown note about Vermeer in the burial register of the Oude Kerk (Old Church)
which shows that the artist received a lavish funeral
while in an archive document on damage claims
employee Babs van Eijk discovered that Vermeer’s mother
received compensation for damages suffered at the “Herberg Mechelen” inn after the devastating disaster of the 1654 powder magazine explosion
New knowledge about Vermeer’s life is added with these discoveries
Both archival items can be seen in the exhibition from Feb
the hitherto unknown mention of Vermeer in a burial register of the Oude Kerk
states that at Vermeer’s funeral on December 16
the coffin was carried by no less than fourteen bearers and that the church bell rang for a time
The exact record of the burial reads as follows: “December 16 (1675): Johan Vermeer
painter behind the N[ieuwe] Kerck aen de O[ude] Langendijck
3 adult children.” According to Van der Wulp it must therefore have been a very luxurious funeral: no similar ceremonies have been found for other artists
and similar obsequies were also arranged for Vermeer’s mother-in-law
except that for her the bell rang two ’tenses’ and not just one
It is therefore suspected that Vermeer’s funeral was paid for by his mother-in-law
“Probably the mother-in-law only wanted to advance the expenses of Vermeer’s funeral to her daughter,” says Van der Wulp
“and at that time she was not yet aware of the miserable financial situation Vermeer had left behind: three years after the Disastrous Year 1672
The discovery of the funeral note can be considered remarkable
in light of the extensive research on Vermeer done by so many scholars for over a hundred years
who has worked for the archive for 45 years
“So much research has already been done on Vermeer that everything found on the artist is already known
a piece to the puzzle about the life of Delft’s most famous master.”
during the devastating Delftse donderslag (the “Delft Thunder”) of October 12
or the explosion of the local powder magazine
the inn run by Vermeer’s mother also suffered damage
and the city council awarded her compensation
It was indeed Digna who was in charge of the family’s restaurant business after her husband’s death and was still living there at the time of the devastating explosion of the powder magazine
The archival document with damage reports was known
but not that Vermeer’s mother had received compensation
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Johannes Vermeer appears to us as a rather secular artist
presents him as a staunch upholder of the Jesuit order of the Catholic church
Vermeer was brought up as a Protestant in the Dutch Reformed Church. Although it has long been known that his wife Catharina Bolnes was a Catholic, the full extent of his commitment to her religion may come as something of a surprise.
After their marriage they lived in a neighbourhood of Delft known as Papist's Corner (Papenhoek) and all of their 15 children were raised as Catholics. One son was named Ignatius, after the Spanish founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola. The building next to their home was a Jesuit mission, which included a church with seating for 700 worshippers.
Weber writes: “Johannes and Catharine raised their children in that faith, following the requirements set by the Church… Thus, the assumption that he, too, converted to Catholicism becomes even more probable.”
Weber points to several of Vermeer's 37 surviving paintings as evidence of his adopted religion. Most obvious is his Allegory of the Catholic Faith (around 1670-74, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), completed shortly before his death. A picture of the Last Judgment, a reminder of the importance of Christianity, hangs in the background of the earlier work Woman Holding a Balance (around 1662-64, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC).
An illustration of a camera obscura, from Johann Zahn Oculus, artificialis teledioptricus, Neurenberg (1669) Image: Utrecht University Library
He goes on to write: “Light and optics were a major focus of Jesuit devotional literature: the order regarded the camera obscura as a tool for the observation of God’s divine light. There is even a sermon that explores in detail the artistic and moral aspects of the camera obscura.” He points to Vermeer’s likely use of such a device in The Lacemaker (around 1666-68, Musée du Louvre, Paris), where the objects in the foreground of the painting appear blurred.
Today we enjoy seeing Vermeer’s depictions of young women in domestic interiors, such as his Woman with a Pearl Necklace (around 1662-64, Berlin State Museums), without usually considering them in a religious context. To 21st-century eyes, his beautifully crafted interior scenes offer up tranquil and elegant pleasures of wine, women and song. However, as Weber's research reveals, Vermeer's careful compositions are often metaphors for the transience of worldly things.
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