Vermeer and His Milieu

A Web of Social History

John Michael Montias

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780691002897
  9780691040516
• eBook ISBN:
  9780691188591
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Artist Monographs

This book is not only a fascinating biography of one of the greatest painters of the seventeenth century but also a social history of the colorful extended family to which he belonged and of the town life of the period. It explores a series of distinct worlds: Delft's Small-Cattle Market, where Vermeer's paternal family settled early in the century; the milieu of shady businessmen in Amsterdam that recruited Vermeer's grandfather to counterfeit coins; the artists, military contractors, and Protestant burghers who frequented the inn of Vermeer's father in Delft's Great Market Square; and the quiet, distinguished "Papists Corner" in which Vermeer, after marrying into a high-born Catholic family, retired to practice his art, while retaining ties with wealthy Protestant patrons. The relationship of Vermeer to his principal patron is one of many original discoveries in the book.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• CONTENTS
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Coins and Their Equivalents
• CHAPTER 1. By the Side of the Small-Cattle Market
• CHAPTER 2. Grandfather Balthasar, Counterfeiter
• CHAPTER 3. Grandmother Neeltge Goris
• CHAPTER 4. Reynier Jansz. Vos, alias Vermeer
• CHAPTER 5. Reynier Balthens, Military Contractor
• CHAPTER 6. Apprenticeship and Marriage
• CHAPTER 7. Family Life in Gouda
• CHAPTER 8. A Young Artist in Delft
• CHAPTER 9. Willem Bolnes
• CHAPTER 10. The Mature Artist
• CHAPTER 11. Frenzy and Death
• CHAPTER 12. Aftermath
• CHAPTER 13. Vermeer's Clients and Patrons
• APPENDIX A. An Estimate of the Total Number of Paintings Vermeer Painted between 1656 and 1675
• APPENDIX B. List of Documents
• APPENDIX C. Genealogical Charts
• Bibliography
• Index
• Illustrations