Johannes Vermeer : “Young Woman with a Water Pitcher” (c. 1662)

It has been said of Vermeer that he created a world more prefect than any he had witnessed. His almost photorealistic attention to detail, combined with his lack of formal training, has led scholars to suppose that he may have made use of a mechanical aid, such as a camera obscura, camera lucida, or some variation thereof. Working on top of a gray or monochrome underpainting, he made use of extravagantly expensive pigments such as natural ultramarine and lapis lazuli, rendering each object in a combination of its native color and the reflected light of its surroundings. Though he left no school in his wake and faded into obscurity following his death in 1675, his works were rediscovered during the 1860s and he has since been acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

Like most of Vermeer’s paintings, Young Woman with a Water Pitcher is set in the artist’s home in Delft. Noting the harmonious effect of its balanced shapes and colors, the Metropolitan Museum of Art describes its subject as “an ideal woman in an ideal home.” For the Dutch — the conscientious stewards of a global trading empire — domestic harmony resulting from a well-ordered home was an important basis of national strength and prosperity.