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Exactly three hundredyears ago, in 1696, some

twenty-one works byJohannes Vermeer were auc-tioned off together in Ams-terdam. Today, the first ret-rospective exhibit devotedentirely to the Dutch artistreunites twenty-one of histhirty-six known paintings atWashington’s NationalGallery of Art (November1995-February 1996) and theMauritshuis, The Hague(March-June 1996).

Not only has the showallowed hundreds of thou-sands of visitors the uniqueexperience of seeing manyrare Vermeers together at thesame time, but it has alsoopened up new horizons in Vermeer scholarship,which are reflected in theexcellent exhibition cata-logue, Johannes Vermeer.

Vermeer was born inDelft in 1632 and died therein 1675. Nothing is knownof his early training nor dowe have any evidence of his ideasexcept as the paintings show them. Heseems to have never traveled far fromDelft. Archival research reveals thathe was a “celebrated painter” withinHolland and probably also in Francein his day, and continued to be reveredafter his death, but his production wassmall and unknown to the broad pub-lic. He did not work for the open mar-ket and may have sold most of his pic-tures to a single patron, whose heirsdispersed that collection in the auctionof 1696.

It is now clear that Vermeer’s con-version to Catholicism, which occurredwhen he married a woman from a patri-cian Catholic family, Catharina Bolnes,in 1653, was a serious spiritual under-taking. He moved into the “papist ghet-

to” of Delft, near the small group ofJesuits with whom his mother-in-law,Maria Thins, was close. Vermeer died atage forty-three, leaving his widow andten minor children destitute. Rediscov-ered in the mid-1800’s by the Frenchwriter Thoré-Burger, with the spread ofphotographic reproductions and artbooks, Vermeer has grown more andmore popular, for the poetry of his art isunmistakable.

Delft Painter, Delft Microscopist

Vermeer’s relationship to modern scienceis poetically captured in “The Geograph-er” (Frankfurt) [SEE front cover, thisissue]. A young man leans over his table,one hand resting on a book, the othersuspending a pair of dividers, and looksout the window before continuing his

work. Behind him is a terrestrial globe,turned to focus on theIndian Ocean; on thewall, a decorative seachart. The largetranslucent chart onthe table might be anautical chart. Sincethe Low Countrieswere the center formapmaking, the pres-ence of many maps in Vermeer’s picturesconveys national pride.

“The Geographer”is a secularized ver-sion of Renaissancepaintings of scholar-saints surrounded bybooks and scientificinstruments, both innorthern Europe andItaly. The exhibitioncatalogue offers thetantalizing hypothesisthat Vermeer’s pictureportrays his fellowDelft citizen AnthonyVan Leeuwenhoek,

the famed microscopist. The resem-blance to paintings of figures such as St.Augustine would be perfectly in key, asVan Leeuwenhoek saw microorganismsas a mark of the “providence, perfectionand order of the Lord Maker of theUniverse” (quoted by Albert Blankert inan essay in the catalogue, “Vermeer’sModern Themes and Their Tradition”).

Although we do not know if the twomen were friends, Van Leeuwenhoekdid become a trustee of Vermeer’s estateone year after the artist’s death. Not onlydid the two men have many commoninterests—geography, optics, mathemat-ics, navigation, and cartography (Ver-meer traded in maps, and van Leeuwen-hoek got his license as a surveyor in1669). But the reading of nature as a “sec-ond Bible” may have bridged the social

E XHIBI T S

Johannes Vermeer, Artist of Divine Harmony

“Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid,” c.1670.

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gap between the Catholic Ver-meer and the Protestant vanLeeuwenhoek, in an era ofrenewed efforts by leading fig-ures to seek ecumenical unityamong Christians.

The name that leaps tomind is the universal thinkerG.W. Leibniz (1646-1716), aLutheran who workedthroughout his life to seek com-mon ground among the sepa-rated branches of Christianityand to reunify Europe. Leibnizadmired van Leeuwenhoekand wrote his Monadology afterreading the microscopist’s writ-ings. Later, in his “Reflectionson the Common Concept ofJustice,” written in 1702, Leib-niz argued: “Now nothing bet-ter corroborates the incompara-ble wisdom of God than thestructure of the works ofnature, particularly the struc-ture which appears when westudy them more closely with amicroscope. . . . A man inDelft [van Leeuwenhoek] has accom-plished wonders at it, and if there weremany others like him, our knowledge ofphysics would be advanced far beyond itspresent state.’ ”

“The Geographer” and a companionpicture (not exhibited), “TheAstronomer,” are unique as male por-traits by Vermeer. In most of Vermeer’spictures, however, it is women, oftendepicted making music or reading orwriting letters, who are the protagonists.It is revealing to see these images, andothers which show women in simpleacts, like putting on a necklace, pouringmilk from a pitcher, or simply opening awindow, next to Vermeer’s early historypaintings. The juxtaposition suggeststhat Vermeer’s art can now be seen as akey to unlocking the transcendent pres-ence of God in the acts of everyday life,particularly of women.

The Cultural Matrix

The central irony in Dutch art in itsGolden Age, the Seventeenth century, isthat the religious denomination by whichnational independence had been won,

radical Calvinism, was inimical to thecultural matrix in which the creativeachievements of the Dutch people flour-ished. The Low Countries was one of themost highly urbanized parts of Europe.Two-thirds of the very soil on which thenation stood was reclaimed throughhuman ingenuity from the sea. Theregion comprising modern-day Hollandand Belgium had been the uncontestedcenter of musical polyphony and ahotbed of painting and sculpture in theFifteenth century. Such giants as painterJan van Eyck and musician Josquin desPrés produced the “Northern Renais-sance,” rendering Christian religiousthemes in the language of a rich andcomplex life of trade and manufacture. Anew spiritual movement for the renewalof the Church had been born in theNetherlands, the Devotio Moderna of theBrotherhood of the Common Life, whichspread education of the common peoplethroughout Europe, in the “Imitation ofChrist” of Thomas à Kempis. Yet after1550, the House of Orange fought tothrow off the yoke of the Spanish Haps-burgs by adopting Calvinist orthodoxy,

which banned polyphonicmusic and religious art fromchurches as idolatrous!

In the conflicts of the1570’s, as the Low Countriesbattled for their indepen-dence, Spanish Catholicarmies under the Duke ofAlva committed hideousatrocities in order to quell therebellion of Dutch “heretics,”while Catholics were mar-tyred at Gorkum and Alk-maar. The bloodshed waned,but Dutch Catholics wereforced underground, unableto conduct public masses, orhold high public office.

The independence of theseven United Provinces ofnorthern Netherlands waswon in 1609, but not guaran-teed until the Treaty of West-phalia of 1648. Meanwhile,the radical Calvinist minorityruling Holland had won apyrrhic victory in attemptingto suppress dissidents inside

their own Reformed Church. The exe-cution for heresy of the political leaderOldebarneveldt eroded Calvinist con-trol; in 1640, the Dutch national poetVondel rocked Amsterdam by convert-ing to Catholicism.

Faith and Works

Two of Vermeer’s early religious pic-tures show a deep spirituality, whichsuggests that his conversion to theRoman Catholicism was not merely forfamily reasons. The rediscovered “St.Praxedis” (Barbara Johnson Collection,Philadelphia), signed and dated 1655,portrays an early Christian known forher reverent care for the remains of themartyrs. Vermeer’s “Christ in the Houseof Mary and Martha” represents thestory from the Gospel of Luke 10:38-42,in which Martha’s efforts to get Mary tohelp with the housework instead ofalways sitting at the Master’s feet, earnher a mild rebuke from Jesus.

The Bethany sisters were often usedto represent the contrast between theactive (Martha) and the contemplative(Mary) life. Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr.

“Saint Praxedis,” 1655.

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writes in the catalogue: “In this paintingVermeer has thus touched upon one ofthe most fundamental theological dis-putes between Protestants and Catholics,the proper path to salvation. . . . [T]he Catholic interpretation of this bib-lical story is that the active and contem-plative are both essential components ofa Christian life.” Vermeer’s Martha, hepoints out, is not concerned with a myri-ad of worldly needs, but serves onething, a basket of bread. “The eucharis-tic implication of her offering, whichVermeer has placed at the very center ofthe composition, further dignifies herrole within the story.”

A Balanced Life

Exhibition co-curator Arthur Wheelockalso produced a book, Vermeer and theArt of Painting, in 1995, in which heunderscores the point that Vermeer wasthe first to imbue genre painting (scenesof everyday life) with the moral serious-ness previously reserved for historypainting. History painting, which dealswith Biblical subjects, thelives of saints, and ancientmythology, had beendeemed the highest cate-gory of art since the Ital-ian Renaissance.

Many of Vermeer’sgenre female subjectsseem poised at a momentof speculation betweenthe active and contempla-tive life, partaking ofboth Mary’s and Martha’sroles in a world in whichthe Christ figure is pre-sent by metaphor. “AWoman with a Balance,”(Washington) [SEE insideback cover, this issue]portrays a young woman,who appears to be preg-nant (although this is notcertain), standing before amirror and holding anempty scale. Jewelry isscattered on the tablebefore her, behind her is apainting of the Last Judg-ment, and her face is litby light entering through

a small window on the left.Her head is aligned with Christ sit-

ting in majesty on the day of judgment.He has both arms raised, in a gesturewhich mirrors the opposing direction(arms down) of the woman’s balance.“His judgments are eternal; hers aretemporal,” writes Arthur Wheelock.She is serene. “The character of thescene conforms amazingly closely toSaint Ignatius of Loyola’s recommenda-tions for meditation in his ‘SpiritualExercises’: . . . ‘I must rather be like theequalized scales of a balance ready tofollow the course which I feel is morefor the glory and praise of God, ourLord, and the salvation of my soul.’”

The Ecumenical Message

One of Vermeer’s most glorious lategenre paintings, the Dublin “LadyWriting a Letter with Her Maid,” ofc.1670, captures the ecumenical spirit heshared with Leibniz. A crumpled letteron the floor in the foreground suggestsan emotional moment, and Vermeer has

wielded variations in line, light, andcolor to contrast the serenity of the maidwith the intensity of the lady.

Behind them hangs a large historypainting of the “Finding of Moses.” Thestory not only refers to the role of Provi-dence, but also to God’s ability to bringtogether opposing factions, since it wasPharaoh’s daughter who saved the Jew-ish child, naming him Moses. Wheelockwrites, that “Vermeer seems to suggestthat reconciliation comes through one’sown endeavors, carried out in concertwith an abiding faith in God’s divineplan.” The same picture-within-the-pic-ture hangs in the background of Ver-meer’s “The Astronomer” (Paris).

Vermeer clearly believed that divineharmony was manifested throughhuman arts—especially painting andmusic. This is the underlying theme ofhis “Young Lady at the Virginal with aGentleman (The Music Lesson)” [SEE

inside back cover, this issue] Theinscription inside the harpsichord lid,“Music the Companion of Joy and

Balm of Sorrow,” seemsto sum up this remark-ably contrapuntal compo-sition.

Working in harmonywith Providence, so as toassure a joyful outcomeeven from tragedy, was ofgreat concern to Vermeer.Leibniz’s project of Euro-pean unity comes back tomind. And although thereis no evidence that Ver-meer and Leibniz knewone another, besides thepossible Van Leeuwen-hoek link, a commonthread runs through theHuyghens family, asessayist Ben Broos weavesa convincing web of proofin the catalogue, that tiesVermeer to ConstantinHuyghens, the secretary tothe Stadtholder in TheHague, whose son, Chris-tiaan Huyghens, wasLeibniz’s mentor in Parisin 1672-75.

—Nora Hamerman“Christ in the House of Mary and Martha,” c.1655.

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