Being an art enthusiast is much easier in the twenty-first century, than it used to be in Johannes Vermeer's time. Imagine Amsterdam without queues near famous exhibitions, almost total absence of private galleries or critical reviews in the newspapers about a new artist and his genuine talent. It seems the Dutch population could not care less about some "Golden Age of Dutch painting" they had during seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Contemporary art lovers love this period, they spend time looking for new paintings, make research about lives of Dutch artists, we know so little about and decide whether a new discovered painting is authentic Vermeer or not.
Unfortunately, all material evidence of seventeenth century painters consist from archive documents, made by notaries and civil agents, and modern scientists cannot get a clear view of painter's individuality, because of the incompleteness of information. Only some records about Johannes Vermeer, such as baptism in 1632, marriage with Catharina Bolnes in 1653 and burial in 1675 at the age of forth-three were registered in the Old Church, and now remain in the archives of Delft (Brook, 229).
Jan Vermeer began to work in those days, when a generation of strong burghers, active participants in the Dutch War of Independence, has disappeared from the scene and was replaced by more peaceful individuals, trying to get away from low manners of the first half of the XVII century. Quiet existence became an ideal for that generation, so no wonder that Jan Vermeer's paintings showed a wealthy merchant society enjoying the sweetness of existence. Their day goes steadily, without scandals or fuss, it seems like time has slowed its pace. The artist did not use the variety of genres or subjects in his works, Vermeer saw the essence of art in the development of formal means of painting, that he managed to treat with almost pinpoint accuracy
Johannes used camera obscura - (literally "dark room") to help him imagine the whole composition. This ancient camera looked like a little box with a hole through which rays of light formed an inverted image on a surface opposite the hole. Recorded pictures some areas in better focus than others ("Vermeer: The Art of Painting, Painting and Illusionism - NGA."). Vermeer brought this optical effect by ranging his painting style.
The Young Woman with a Water Pitche, considered to be one of the greatest Vermeer’s masterpieces was created by the artist around 1660-1662. Painted on canvas with oil, it is only45.7cm x 40.6 cm.
It was the first Vermeer's painting to be brought in America - Henry Gurdon Marquand bought it for $800 in Paris and donated to Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Around 1660 Vermeer started to focus more on the one-figured painting. He started to create simpler figures and forms and made an emphasize on light in his paintings. Vermeer continued working on emphasizing the sparkles of light in the metal objects, using broad shades and mixing colors.
The canvas is really small, and many visitors in Metropolitan Museum are often surprised by its size, because such a famous piece of art are always expected to be bigger in the imagination (Liedtke, 397). But this exact picture seems to be almost intimate near other big paintings.
As Vermeer expert, the curator of Dutch art in Metropolitan Museum, Walter Liedtke once wrote, that comparing to other works of Vermeer, this young woman seems to be inexpressive, but she can be considered as an icon of domestic life and become any man's dream (Liedtke, 397).
This woman represents all the classical tradition of idealizing the feminine beauty. It is clear that Vermeer shows a moment of private life, like he often does in his oeuvres. The young lady is looking out of the window, she is calm and modest, her head is covered with a white headdress, which absorbs the light in the picture.
Almost the same white cap, worn by this young woman was also represented in master's other works. One of the most striking technical features of this painting is the blue hue of the headdress' shadows (Essential Vermeer). The Vermeer's oeuvre is unique, because of the shadows of white object and the introduction of the ultramarine blue.
Vermeer is using natural ultramarine in almost every work, the color not only is found in blue-colored objects, we can find its traces in some areas where it cannot be seen by the eye.
An amazing example of the use of ultramarine could be found in the Milkmaid and the depth of the girl's dark blue wrap. In this case, it allows us to admire in full the chromatic excellence of the best quality. Vermeer found out early in his career that by mixing natural ultramarine in the grays he can get the effect of intense daylight. The same technique was adopted later by the French Impressionists.
One of the great examples of Vermeer's natural ultramarine could be seen in Young Woman with a Water Pitcher. Here the natural ultramarine was used to let the daylight through the window. Vermeer used mixtures of opaque ultramarine and vibrant white over the canvas so that he could show the intensity of light as it plays through the glass. He managed to have an absolutely natural diversity between the glass and the yellow warmth of the window frame.
Such technique could also be found in the headdress of the woman. It was created by white and gray shades. Then, soft shades of blue ultramarine were put all over the shadowed areas in order to get such an amazing effect. Other Dutch painted did not dare to use such a technique, but Vermeer did - and as a result the painting is absolutely natural. Such ultramarine can even be seen in the gray brushes of paint of the wall in the background of the picture.
One of the most significant aspects of Vermeer's art is the way light is reflected from one surface to another, infusing all the colors and forms with luminosity. Light itself became his passion and every oeuvre shows how spectacularly he could play with light with the brushes on his paint.
The artist always painted a daylight, he did not use candles or torches at nights as did many of his colleagues. On the contrary, his light was clear and sparkling all over the place. He also did not paint the patches of direct sunlight on walls and floors as De Hooch and Pieter Janssens Elinga had done (Liedtke, 396)
This shining pitcher is one of the most interesting details on the painting. It shows us again that Vermeer painted the greatest still lifes in his works of the interiors. It seems that the painter didn't use ordinary paint, creating the pitcher, he used splashing light. (Essential Vermeer)
A radiographic reflectogram, which revealed hidden layers of paint, also shows that Vermeer wanted to make it another shape. The artist might have borrowed the pitcher from Maria Thins, his mother-in-law. John M. Montias mentions it was probably the one she gave to her Catharina, Vermeer's wife in one of her testaments and claims it was a rare and valuable object (Essential Vermeer).
These jewelry box and the shining blue cloth put over the chair counter make the composition look centralized. Vermeer uses ochre and brown colors, to create the surface of the box, and humble blue color for the ribbon, that might be a part of the pearl necklace, falling from the box. And again, the box is full of light, that is supposed to be falling from the open window (Gowing, 131).
Vermeer used to place maps and globes on the background of his compositions. (Monthias, 191).At this painting on the wall there is a map of the Seventeen Provinces. It was found that at first, the painter put the map right behind the main figure. The map plays a great role in this painting, because it shows that the maps were not used for scientific reasons, it was popular to decorate Dutch houses with such maps.
The painting strikes the viewer for its compositional simplicity and almost doesn't have a precedent in the Dutch art. Vermeer managed to show the idea of everlasting life values with a single figure of a young girl with a pitcher, who is looking out the window and has a tiny smile. The artist had this remarkable talent to show confidence in his piece of art. He took this simple everyday job and made it the subject of an extrodinary painting – the woman seems like a statue in the shiny lit room, being a perfect woman in an ideal place. She wears an elegant dress, which shines with the light from the open window. For the moment (and forever) she is standing near the window, modified in this sculptural manner that is inconsistent for the artist's usual approach in his works (Liedtke, 367).
Conclusion
Johannes Vermeer is one of the greatest artists of Dutch Golden Age, who managed to create amazing oeuvres, whose figures became suspension in time (Liedtke,367). He was famous for the ability to make an effect of natural illumination in his paintings. Vermeer used to improvise a lot and experimented with natural ultramarine colors, mixed them with sparkling white or green and produced new pigments, which made his palette unique from the other artists. Johannes' Young Woman with a Water Pitcher will always remain a significant page in the history of art, it is a wonderful piece of art with its marvelous and elegant brushes of glittering paint, that reflected daylight luminosity.
Works Cited
1. Brook, Timothy. Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2008. Print.
2. Essential Vermeer. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2014.
3. Liedtke, Walter A, Michiel Plomp, and Axel Rüger. Vermeer and the Delft School. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001. Print.
4. Montias, John M. Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1989. Print.
5. "Vermeer: The Art of Painting, Painting and Illusionism - NGA." National Gallery of Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2014.
