Woman in the Window: Universalizing the Female Figure in the Works of Vermeer

At the height of his career, Johannes Vermeer produced multiple paintings depicting peaceful, balanced, domestic interiors focused around autonomous female figures. Each woman is unique in action and appearance, and each is clearly set in a 17th century Dutch context. Yet these are not portraits of specific women. The ambiguity of their actions, the passivity of their expressions, and the motifs the paintings share suggest these women are universal rather than particular figures. They are not modeled from everyday life—they are themselves models of an ideal. As such, they demonstrate the attributes that Vermeer and his contemporary culture valued in women. And since Vermeer’s paintings enjoy lasting influence, we can infer that they point to things we value today as well.

The women Vermeer depicts embody feminine beauty and virtue. They are calm, composed, and serenely absorbed in their domestic activities. Each painting provides a small, intimate look at a moment hanging forever in time. This suggestion of eternality is a strong indicator of the women’s universal (as opposed to individual) status. Vermeer’s purpose is not to illustrate what his subjects’ lives are like. To the contrary, these women exist to be looked at. Vermeer creates an inescapable emphasis on the experience of the viewer. He enforces this through the motif of observation, conveyed by mirrors, windows, and the play of light. With all this, we can’t help but realize that these paintings are oriented around our observation of the women. Each depiction is different, but the differences offer us multiple perspectives on the universalized Woman.

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1662, oil on canvas, 89.15.21.

In this light-filled painting, Vermeer gives us a direct view of a young woman whose body bridges the gap between the water pitcher on the table and the ornate window she looks towards. Vermeer creates a mood of sanctity through suggestions of water and air, through a reliance on the color blue, and by the plain white of the walls and headdress. Although the woman looks towards the window, she carries no sense of urgency. She is entirely content to live in the simple beauty of the small domestic space she inhabits. Vermeer uses the generalized figure of this young woman to spiritualize the domestic sphere.

The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1657-58, oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

The Milkmaid, like Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, is set in a white-walled room, centered around a woman holding a pitcher next to a window. It is different in that the relative plainness of the room along with the woman’s appearance and activity identify her as a member of the working class. In the tradition of Dutch still-life painting, the objects on the table reinforce the idea of a moment extended through time, indicating the universal and lasting significance of this woman’s industriousness. There is no jewelry or other finery here, but the milk pouring from the jug and the simple objects arranged on the table gleam with an energy beyond their natural properties, elevating the woman and her work to idealized proportions.

Woman with a Pearl Necklace, Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1664, oil on canvas, Berlin State Museums. 

In this duskier Vermeer, the composition is diagonally divided, a dark mass of shapes at the bottom, a gently lit-up space above. This woman is finely dressed, and she is posed adjusting her pearl necklace while looking across the painting’s space into a small mirror next to the window. Several points are unclear: Is it morning or night? Is the woman is putting on or taking off the necklace? Is she pregnant, or does the fabric-heavy fashion of the day give her this shape? The tranquil ambiguity here contributes to the painting’s timelessness, expanding the woman’s relevance to multiple themes. The perfect balance of the painting—the light against the dark, the rich yellow jacket mirroring the curtain opposite it, the woman’s motionless but delicate hold on the string of pearls—sets the woman up as a model of balance and virtue in beauty.

The Lace Maker, Caspar Netscher, 1662, oil on canvas, Wallace Collection, London.

Vermeer was not alone in depicting idealized women in domestic interiors during this period of art history. Another Dutch artist of the time period, Caspar Netscher, produced this image which echoes the calm domesticity of Vermeer’s work. The broom and the lace work in the woman’s lap suggest her industriousness in domestic work. Netscher draws major significance to the woman’s task of making lace, the color of which matches the red of her jacket and smooth blush of her face. Netscher is suggesting that the woman creates her own adornment through concentrated productiveness. Additionally, the symbolism of the shoes and mussel shells contributes to the woman’s generalization as a model of domestic diligence.

A Woman Holding a Balance, Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1662-63, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Although this painting shares multiple elements with other Vermeer works, it stands out in its openly allegorical nature. It leaves us in no doubt that the woman represents a universal figure modeling an ideal. The limited light of this Vermeer gives it a more hushed atmosphere, playing well into the spiritual overtones of this painting. Directly behind the woman is a painting of the Last Judgment, enhancing the symbolism of the scales the woman holds. In composition and detail, this painting is strikingly similar to Woman with a Pearl Necklace. Here again, Vermeer draws a tie between beauty and balance. He reinforces this motif using multiple triangles in the composition. The painting suggests that the woman’s domestic life is profoundly spiritual and connected to justice and balance.

The Art of Painting, Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1665-68, oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. 

In Vermeer’s The Art of Painting, we get a zoomed-out view of the artist in the act of depicting a woman facing the window, holding a book and a trumpet. Unlike Vermeer’s other works, this one feels staged and even features a theatrical curtain pulled to one side. The woman depicted here is literally a model for the artist within the painting. She will take whatever role he decides to give her for the purpose of his painting and the benefit of his viewers. The Art of Painting illuminates Vermeer’s attitude toward women in his art and demonstrates his process in staging women to create figures with universal significance. It also suspends the act of painting in time, suggesting eternality both in Vermeer’s work as an artist and in the woman’s role of representing the artist’s ideal.