Artists You Should Know: Johannes Vermeer
Sunday November 6, 2005
Rummaging through the About Art History mailbag, this in from Trevor P.:
- "Can you help me? I am writing a paper about the artist Vermeer. Was his name Jan or Johannes? Why is the same window and floor in so many paintings? Do you know how he died? What happened to his family after he died? Can you answer me fast? My paper is due. Thanks."
- 1. His name was Johannes. The Dutch diminutive "Jan" is acceptable (he answered to this, himself), unless you are writing something that is supposed to be scholarly. Like a paper. Then you would want to use "Johannes."
2. Good call! The window and floor were in his studio, where he painted his sitters. (You can read all about his house at Kees Kaldenbach's excellent Vermeer website, if you'd like.)
3. No, I don't know how he died. No one does.
4. His widow filed for bankruptcy on behalf of their 8 minor children. The Vermeers had, actually, 11 children, three of which had reached adult status at the time of his death. I don't know what happened after that, except that I'm quite certain the Missus stopped having Vermeer babies.
5. No, I can't answer you "fast." I'm horribly mean about student papers' due dates not ever being my emergency. Thanks for writing and asking questions, though.
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