Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition

1/22/2024

In 2023, the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam displayed 28 Vermeer paintings in the largest exhibition ever by this famous Dutch painter of the 17th century. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy at his death, leaving his wife in debt when he died at 43yo (due to the stress after the 1672, a severe economic downturn caused by three invasion of Dutch territories) father of 8 girls and 3 boys with a 44yo wife - he and Rembrand are probably nowadays the names of that era that we remember the most on duct painting. His works were only rediscovered around the 19th century that had an essay saying that he had 66 paintings,