Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who created some of the most beloved and revered images in the history of art. His paintings are known for their purity of light and form, and their serene and timeless sense of dignity. However, his life and death are shrouded in mystery, as very little is known about his personal and professional circumstances. How did Vermeer die, and what factors may have contributed to his untimely end?
Vermeer’s Life and Career
Vermeer was born in Delft, a prosperous and picturesque city in the Netherlands, in 1632. He was baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk, where his father was a weaver and an art dealer. Vermeer became a painter in the early 1650s, and joined the Guild of Saint Luke, a local association of painters and other artists. He married Catharina Bolnes, a Catholic woman from a wealthy family, in 1653, and they had 15 children, of whom 11 survived. Vermeer lived and worked in his father-in-law’s house, where he had a studio on the upper floor.
Vermeer painted mostly domestic scenes of middle-class life, often featuring women engaged in various activities, such as reading, writing, playing music, or pouring milk. He also painted a few cityscapes, allegorical scenes, and biblical and mythological subjects. He used expensive pigments, such as ultramarine and lead-tin yellow, and employed a meticulous technique that involved applying thin layers of paint and glazes. He also made use of a camera obscura, a device that projected an image of the scene onto a wall or a screen, to achieve a realistic and accurate representation of light and perspective.
Vermeer was not a prolific painter, as he produced only about 36 paintings in his lifetime. He was also not very famous or wealthy, as he worked mostly for a few patrons and clients in Delft and The Hague. He supplemented his income by dealing in art and by lending money. He was influenced by other Dutch painters, such as Pieter de Hooch, Gerard ter Borch, and Carel Fabritius, and he in turn influenced later artists, such as Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, and Salvador Dalí.
Vermeer’s Death and Legacy
Vermeer died in December 1675, at the age of 43, after suffering a short illness. He was buried in the Old Church in Delft, where his grave is now lost. The exact cause of his death is not known, but there are several theories and speculations. Some believe that he may have died from tuberculosis, a common and deadly disease at the time. Others suggest that he may have been a victim of the bubonic plague, which had ravaged Europe in the previous century and had reappeared in Delft in 1672. Another possibility is that he may have suffered from lead poisoning, as he used lead-based paints and pigments in his work. Lead poisoning can cause various symptoms, such as anemia, abdominal pain, headaches, seizures, and mental disorders.
Vermeer’s death was a tragic loss for his family and for the art world. He left behind a widow and 11 children, who were in debt and had to sell some of his paintings and belongings to pay off his creditors. He also left behind a legacy of masterpieces that are now admired and cherished by millions of people around the world. His paintings are displayed in some of the most prestigious museums, such as the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Rijksmuseum. His works have also inspired many books, films, and exhibitions, such as the novel and movie Girl with a Pearl Earring, the documentary Tim’s Vermeer, and the exhibition Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting.
Vermeer’s cause of death remains a mystery, but his life and art are a testament to his genius and vision. He was a painter who captured the beauty and dignity of everyday life, and who created images that transcend time and space. He was, in the words of the poet W.H. Auden, “one of those rare artists who seem to have come into the world to do one thing and one thing only, and to do it so perfectly that we can never imagine that it could have been done otherwise.”
