The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer, 1658-1660
High Resolution Prints related to "The Milkmaid"
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Also named The Maid-servant, The Milmaid, was painted in 1658, being one of the very early and most beautiful of Vermeer's series: brightly lit interior scenes with characters seen in the middle of their day by day activities. Oil on canvas, now on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
A luminous force typical to Vermeer is present in the Milkmaid. This picture is equally pithily and richly painted, and its title describes the model: a powerfully-built woman with strong arms and heavy hips. The contours are sharply defined against the white-washed wall.
The painter treated his subject like a sculptor; the rounded parts are almost kneaded in paint. The still-life is almost as palpable. The creamy milk flows slow and heavy into the red earthenware bowl; the bread is crumby and the dabs of light make it look granular.
Yellowish green, royal blue and terracotta are the colors of the jacket with rolled-up sleeves, the apron and the skirt. And the same color-scheme is repeated but slightly muffled in the still-life of the bread basket, the Cologne jug, the earthen pitcher and bowl, on the green table cover over which is thrown a blue cloth.
This variety of colors is set off by the light, nail-scarred wall. A straw, basket, a copper pot and a foot-warmer full of embers complete the inventory of this homely kitchen.
With the simplest possible means the artist has achieved something monumental, the like of which we shall never again meet with, either in his work or in that of any other genre painter. From this point onward Vermeer strove above all for greater refinement.
Other paintings by Johannes Vermeer in this gallery: "Young Woman with a Water Jug", dated 1660-1662 and located at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Recent News Articles related to Vermeer Vermeer Women at the Window
| Museum and Gallery Listings for Feb. 10-16 New York Times - 9 Feb 2012 at 4:42pm Floor to ceiling windows enclose a long, narrow space that feels bigger and airier than its actual 850 square feet. In the small rotunda at one end, a life-size, nude Diana by Jean-Antoine Houdon looks out over the traffic on Fifth Avenue with divine ... | |
| Some reflections on a rare opportunity to see groundbreaking ">Some reflections on a rare opportunity to see groundbreaking 'Einstein on the ... AnnArbor.com - 23 Jan 2012 at 9:51am What to do with the “Building” scene, lit like a Hopper painting, with its cast of street observers watching a lonely equation-scribbling figure in an upstairs window, illuminated like one of Vermeer's mysterious women, all to an extraordinary tenor ... | |
| Museum and Gallery Listings for Feb. 3-9 New York Times - 2 Feb 2012 at 4:34pm Floor to ceiling windows enclose a long, narrow space that feels bigger and airier than its actual 850 square feet. In the small rotunda at one end, a life-size, nude Diana by Jean-Antoine Houdon looks out over the traffic on Fifth Avenue with divine ... |
Other paintings/pictures tagged "Vermeer Women at the Window"
"Woman Weighing Pearls" (1662-1663) National Gallery of Art, Washington |
"Young Woman with a Water Jug" (1660-1662) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"Woman with a Pearl Necklace" (1662-1664) Staatliche Museen, Berlin |
Popular Works by Johannes Vermeer
The Art of Painting (1665-1667) • Diana and her Companions (1655-1656) • Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (1654-1655) • The Allegory of the Faith (1671-1674)
Vermeer Music Paintings
Lady Seated at a Virginal (1673) • Young Woman Seated at the Virginals (1670) • The Concert (1665-1666) • Girl Interrupted at Her Music (1660-1661) • Lady Standing at a Virginal (1670) • The Guitar Player (1672) • Woman with a Lute near a Window (1663) • A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman (1662-1665)
Vermeer Portraits
The Geographer (1668) • Girl with a Red Hat (1668) • A Woman Asleep at Table (1657) • Portrait of a Young Woman (1666-1667) • The Lacemaker (1669-1670) • The Astronomer (1668)
Vermeer Letter Paintings
Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid (1670) • Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (1663-1664) • Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (1657) • Lady with Her Maidservant Holding a Letter (1667) • The Love Letter (1667-1668)
Vermeer Courtship Paintings
A Lady Drinking and a Gentleman (1658) • A Lady and Two Gentlemen (1659) • The Procuress (1656) • The Officer and the Laughing Girl (1657-1659)
Vermeer Views of Delft
View of Delft (1660-1661) • The Little Street (1657-1658)
Vermeer Women at the Window
Woman with a Pearl Necklace (1662-1664)