Domestic interior scenes, often depicting women, are a hallmark of 17th Century Dutch art. Breaking with the past, artists for the first time made art for an open market, instead of the previous commission market. Thus, artists stylistically converged in effort to find the niche in which their artwork would be sold. As a result, the Dutch genre painters produced artworks strikingly similar to one another. Johannes Vermeer seems to fit right in with other Dutch Baroque artists. He shares the use of pointillés techniques, painting of light, and depiction of domestic life with his contemporaries. Yet, closer inspection reveals a uniquely sympathetic, embodying, and dignifying rendering of women markedly absent in the work of other artists of his day.
Vermeer cleverly weaves common iconographic images readily present in Dutch art to imbue meaning and significance. His careful placement and contextualization of iconographic objects reverses the expected meaning of the icons which results in an empathetic rendering of women. Dutch artists produced two common genre paintings. In one, the artist painted a woman abstracted from reality and presented an image to present how women should live up to an idealized standard of virtue. In the other type, the artist painted a lewd, oversexualized woman. Vermeer instead grounded women in reality as embodied and real women with actual moral significance instead of as an ideal, while also reversing the meaning of images meant to sexualize women. Come and see how Vermeer strategically flips the narrative of women by painting within the iconographic and thematic conventions of his day.
Suspicion around maids abounded as people believed them to be lazy, loose, and prone to thievery. As such, maids were thought to need close supervision. Maes’ paints a stern, ruddy faced maid seated in an interior with one foot propped on a foot warmer heating the underside of her dress. A common iconographic symbol, foot warmers symbolized a woman’s sexuality and erotic desire, especially for unmarried maids. Further, the maid is seen plucking the feathers of a bird, which vulgarly symbolized copulation and the fulfillment of fleshly desires. Maes’ unattractive portrayal of the maid fits into the general narrative of women in the 17th century.
In Vermeer's Milkmaid, a sturdy, but gentle maid stands serenely at a meager table of bread and milk, fully absorbed in her cooking task. On the floor in the corner of the painting is a foot warmer sitting unused and a tile with a Cupid that decorates the back wall. The maid has clear access to objects of sexual arousal, but instead is seen diligently working. Vermeer imbues her with a sense of dignity that rests upon her soft, but strong face and is found in the denial of Cupid and the foot warmer--common iconographic symbols used to portray women’s erotic desire. Thus, by the use of iconography, Vermeer flips the narrative of women as commonly seen in paintings such as Nicolaes Maes’.
In an image depicting a brothel, van der Neer uses the iconography of a wash basin and pitcher to evoke thoughts of purity and innocence. And in some contexts, the pitcher iconographically symbolizes the form of the female body. Yet obviously not innocent, the woman is seen washing her hands after a client, while another woman is seen with her breasts peeking out over the top of her dress in attempts to seduce a man. The woman washing her hands symbolically washes away the sin of the act. The sexualization of women and portrayal as seductresses contrasts Vermeer’s embodiment of virtue.
Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
Johannes Vermeer
ca. 1662
Oil on canvas
18 x 16 in
MET: 89.15.21
In Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, Vermeer paints in such a way that light streams through the window softly illuminating the face of the woman. Instead of allegorically extracting a woman from reality like his contemporaries, Vermeer paints the woman so naturally and beautifully that she embodies the iconographic images in the wash basin, hooftdoek, and natural light. Such images evoke thoughts of purity and innocence--common ideals for women. But the naturalistic renderings take the symbolism out of the painting and imbue them in the woman herself. Still using iconographic symbols, Vermeer simply deepens the meaning and grounds the symbolism in reality.
The Lace Maker
Gerrit Dou
c. 1667
Oil on wood
49 x 45 cm
Staatliche Kuntsthalle Karlsruhe: 267
Dou paints an interior scene with a woman who, with her stare, engages the viewer as she works on the lacework in her lap with an open Bible right beside her. An image of meekness and diligence, young women were taught the craft as a means of warding off unfeminine virtues such as laziness, obstinance, and unchastity that would make them unsuitable for marriage. The open Bible furthers the narrative of the need for a woman to be virtuous.
The Lacemaker
Johannes Vermeer
c. 1669-1671
Oil on canvas
24 x 21 cm
The Louvre: M.I. 1448
Like Gerrit Dou, Vermeer paints an interior scene with a woman busy at work on her needlework and an unopened prayer book to her right. The woman does not engage the viewer, but embodies the sense of interiority commonly seen in Vermeer’s domestic scenes. The serene setting and woman’s calm face coupled with her intense focus on her work create such interiority. Further, the needlework is on the table, not her lap, symbolizing that this is not just an art project preparing her for subservience in marriage. Rather, she is a craftsman who has mastered her art and has a need for a table specifically for her craft. The naturalism with which Vermeer paints the woman further grounds her in reality and instils her with dignity absent in other works with similar iconography.
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