The Birth of a Painting
A painting is born with the cast of a vision, a stroke on a substrate, and many considerations that play before the artist’s eyes. A painting may seem like an aesthetic representation of a scene before the painter. However, each choice is carefully rendered, each decision pushing toward a meaning buried deep beneath layers of varnish, medium and paint. Artist Johannes Vermeer was no exception. Vermeer is known for his genre paintings of 17th-century life in Delft, Netherlands. Further inspection reveals that Vermeer was not only painting daily life in his hometown but also imbibing messages deeply related to his spirituality and belief system into the painting itself.
Throughout his life, Vermeer painted only 35 known paintings, most of which were of seemingly everyday activities of the people around him. Although Vermeer’s work heavily focused on genre paintings that were not overtly religious in nature, it is believed that Vermeer’s faith did play a substantial role in his art, the choice of subject matter, and the way Vermeer portrayed such. Even in paintings that are considered secular, Vermeer aimed to integrate his faith into the work (Harrington, 2017).
“Vermeer’s art is like an ice-covered lake, where hidden life lurks beneath a deceptively cool and crystalline surface” (Wilson, 2023).
Vermeer used symbolism to communicate to his audience the way a novelist uses adjectives to bring a description to life. He captured his message with elegance and timelessness, causing these paintings to continue to be highly revered over three hundred years later. Vermeer created his colors with luminosity and infused each of his paintings with an incomparable dignity. So, how does Johannes Vermeer place such meaning and message into his art?
A visit to the Artwork Itself
A visit to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. will help investigate Vermeer’s paintings on a deeper level. When entering the gallery where Vemeer’s work hangs, it is easy to see his paintings across the large room. Even at a distance, the glint of light slicing through the dark scene and bathing the figure with warmth is attention-grabbing. Yet, such a mundane scene does not conjure thoughts of an artist communicating anything beyond an aesthetically pleasing view of a simple task weighing an object.
Upon closer inspection, Vermeer’s intention comes into view. It becomes evident that Vermeer has set out to communicate a profound message in his painting, Woman Holding a Balance. In all its commonality, the painting is mesmerizing. In the extensive National Gallery, one could easily pass by such a small painting without noting the enormous amount of thought and detail Vermeer placed into the piece. How can a simplistic scene of a young lady completing a daily task become a modality to speak about religious beliefs?
Woman Holding a Balance displays a woman standing at a table while holding measuring scales. A vital pictorial motif exists both in the woman’s actions and the scene around her. On the wall behind the woman hangs a painting. The painting integrates into the scene, blending into the room’s background. In the painting, Christ is in a mandorla, an almond-shaped halo, signifying His power as Judge of the World. Surrounding Christ on the left and right are saints in groups. These groupings include trumpet-blowing angels displayed with a dark stretch of sky behind them. The dead who believe in Christ are seen rising from graves below where Christ is seated (Webber. 2023). Suddenly, upon taking in the scene as a whole, Vermeer’s meaning becomes more transparent: the woman represents the values of morality and materialism, which will always be weighed against each other. But the symbolism does not end there.
Light as Symbolism?
The glow from the Vermeer paintings, almost as if lit from within, was phenomenal when viewing them in the National Gallery. It is easy to understand why some have designated Vermeer as a master of light (M. & Dibbits, 2022). Vermeer used light streaming from the upper left in numerous paintings. It is thought that Vermeer used this light to represent the light of God or His presence (Dean, 2022). Besides Woman Holding a Balance, this light streaming from the upper left can be seen in Vermeer’s paintings Woman with a Pearl Necklace, The Astronomer, The Girl with a Pearl Earring, Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, and The Milkmaid.
The Jesuit movement heavily influenced Vermeer. The Jesuits viewed light as a suggestion of the light of God (M. & Dibbits, 2022). Historians hypothesize that this influence led to Vermeer developing the idea of light as a visible sign of the invisible God.
Vermeer’s painting, The Allegory of the Catholic Faith, depicts this light. It is found in a sphere in the middle of the painting, hanging from the ceiling like a pendant lamp. The sphere reflects light from elsewhere rather than emits light. Vermeer designed the reflecting sphere to represent God’s presence and His light in such a way that it becomes a focus of the painting. Additionally, the light represents the interaction of one’s mind with God (Wilson. 2023).
Vermeer used light as a central aspect in His paintings (M. & Dibbits, 2022), and here it would appear that Vermeer’s goal is to display light as a personification of God, allowing the viewer and the figures in the painting an open interaction with the imitation of such light. The observer can draw a parallel between Vermeer’s usage of the reflecting sphere as a symbol for the light of God and Jesuit artists.
Additional Symbols
Besides light as a representation of God, Vermeer uses many objects with symbolic meaning. For example, in the painting The Girl with a Pearl Earring, the pearl earring is used to display spiritual purity (Wilson, 2023). Vermeer continues this symbolic representation of pearls in his painting, Woman with a Pearl Necklace. The pearls and mirror are motifs of vanity and transience (Wilson, 2023).
In the piece Allegory of the Catholic Faith, Vermeer created a scene full of symbolism: a snake crushed by a piece of masonry alluding to the triumph of good over evil. There is an apple with a bite taken out of it, pointing toward the original human sin of the first woman, Eve, taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit. A crucifixion scene is depicted through a painting hanging on the wall in the background, displaying how humanity needs the sacrifice of Jesus due to sin. There is a female figure with her heart clutched, alluding to the deep faith rooted in her heart.
Communication as Deep as the Meaning Itself
Vermeer calls his viewers to use their knowledge of cultural metaphors to help understand his symbolic messages. Even though his genre paintings display everyday actions, they are rich with hidden meanings and analogies pointing directly to his faith in Christ. The connection Vermeer creates with his viewers and his excellence in using light have allowed him to become exceptionally well known despite his limited body of paintings.
Resources:
Bailey, A. (2001). Vermeer: A view of Delft. Henry Holt and Company.
Dean, R. (2022, January 6). Shedding some light on the subject: Vermeer’s everyday enlightenment. Medium. https://medium.com/signifier/shedding-some-light-on-the-subject-vermeers-everyday-enlightenment-299431900376#:~:text=Light%20from%20the%20upper%20left,the%20holiness%20of%20the%20subject.
Harrington, M. R. (2017, October 19). Reflections of Vermeer’s Catholic Faith in His Art. https://www.nga.gov/research/in-depth/themes-ideas-dutch-genre-painting/reflections-vermeers-catholic-faith-in-art.html#:~:text=Vermeer’ s%20conversion%20to%20Catholicism%20played,large%2Dscale%20religious%20painting%20commission.
M., W. G. J., & Dibbits, T. (2022). Johannes Vermeer: Faith, light and reflection: Exhibition, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 10 february-4 June 2023. Rijksmuseum.
Wilson, M. (2023, February 20). Five hidden symbols in Vermeer’s paintings. BBC Culture. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230214-five-hidden-symbols-in-vermeers-paintings
Image: Photo taken by author
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