Vermeer

I know I've said this before, but I love Vermeer's paintings. And I've also said before that his painting "The Milkmaid" is one of my favorites. I love the lighting and the colors and the mood he has captured and I love the expression of quiet contemplation on the woman's face. I would love to have this painting hanging above my couch, but alas, I will have to settle for the 8 1/2 X 11 printed version that I have hanging from the side of my book shelf. Maybe that's better anyway as I can see it from my couch and I don't have to worry about art thieves stealing it. I did a bit of research on Vermeer when I had to lead a class discussion on the book "Girl with a Pearl Earring" when I was in library school. I don't remember all the details, but I do remember that unlike my last featured artist, he was not all that prolific, leaving behind only 37 paintings. I also remember that he fathered a ridiculous amount of children, like 14 or something like that. That is probably why he didn't have time to produce more paintings. Not like he was taking care of the children or anything.

I have a book that features all of his paintings. I like the pages that I have scanned here (see bottom of post) that features crops of many of his female subjects. I have used these pages many times while sketching. I have sketched The Milkmaid a few times and this latest version is for the art card trade. This one is postcard sized, but I have a 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 version that I did a couple of years ago with colored pencil that I will be sending out as well. Maybe I'll scan it later (as in tomorrow) and add it to this post.

One of the things I learned about Vermeer's times is that women basically had 3 options for their lives. They could be a wife and mother, they could be a maid or they could be a prostitute. I have a feeling that all three of these options are featured in these two pages of paintings.