Editing Johannes Vermeer (section)

===Career===
[[File:2010-05-15-delft-by-RalfR-13.jpg|thumb|Replica of the St. Luke Guildhouse on Voldersgracht in Delft]]
It is unclear where and with whom Vermeer apprenticed as a painter. There is some speculation that [[Carel Fabritius]] may have been his teacher, based upon a controversial interpretation of a text written in 1668 by printer Arnold Bon. Art historians have found no hard evidence to support this.{{Sfn|Montias|1991|p=104}} Local authority Leonaert Bramer acted as a friend, but his style of painting is rather different from Vermeer's.<ref name="Gallery"/> Liedtke suggests that Vermeer taught himself using information from one of his father's connections.{{Sfn|Liedtke|2007|p=886}} Some scholars think that Vermeer was trained under Catholic painter [[Abraham Bloemaert]]. Vermeer's style is similar to that of some of the [[Utrecht Caravaggists]], whose works are depicted as paintings-within-paintings in the backgrounds of several of his compositions.{{efn|Identifiable works include compositions by Utrecht painters [[Dirck van Baburen|Baburen]] and [[Caesar van Everdingen|Everdingen]].}}

[[File:Delftsedonderslag.jpg|thumb|left|''A View of Delft after the Explosion of 1654'', by [[Egbert van der Poel]]]]
On 29 December 1653, Vermeer became a member of the [[Guild of Saint Luke#Dutch Republic|Guild of Saint Luke]], a trade association for painters. The guild's records make clear that Vermeer did not pay the usual admission fee. It was a year of [[Bubonic plague|plague]], [[First Anglo-Dutch War|war]], and economic crisis; Vermeer was not alone in experiencing difficult financial circumstances. In 1654, a terrible explosion, known as the [[Delft#Explosion|Delft Thunderclap]], occurred at a gunpowder store and destroyed a large section of the city.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/maps/delft/delft_in_vermeer's_time.html |author-last=Janson |author-first=Jonathan |title=Delft in Johannes Vermeer's Time |work=Essential Vermeer |access-date=29 September 2009}}</ref> [[Pieter van Ruijven]] and his wife, [[Maria de Knuijt]], were Vermeer's patrons for the better part of the artist's career. In 2023, Maria de Knuijt was identified by the curators of the 2023 exhibition of Vermeer's works at the [[Rijksmuseum]] in Amsterdam as the main patron because of her long-standing and supportive relationship with the artist.<ref name="Bailey">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/02/07/revealed-vermeers-patron-was-in-fact-a-womanand-she-bought-half-the-artists-entire-oeuvre |title=Revealed: Vermeer's patron was, in fact, a woman—and she bought half the artist's entire oeuvre |author-first=Martin |author-last=Bailey |date=7 February 2023 |magazine=[[The Art Newspaper]] |access-date=26 April 2023}}</ref> It seems that Vermeer turned for inspiration to the art of the [[fijnschilder]]s from Leiden. Vermeer was responding to the market of [[Gerard Dou]]'s paintings, who sold his paintings for exorbitant prices. Dou may have influenced [[Pieter de Hooch]] and [[Gabriel Metsu]] too. Vermeer also charged higher than average prices for his work, most of which were purchased by an unknown collector.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Dutch painting in the seventeenth century |author-last=Nash| author-first=John Malcolm |publisher=Holt, Rinehart, and Winston |date=1972 |isbn=978-0-03-091870-4 |location=New York, USA |page=[https://archive.org/details/ageofrembrandt00nash/page/40 40] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofrembrandt00nash/page/40}}</ref>

[[File:Vermeer-view-of-delft.jpg|thumb|''[[View of Delft]]'' (1660–1661): "He took a turbulent reality, and made it look like Heaven on earth."<ref>{{cite episode |author-link=Andrew Graham-Dixon |author-first=Andrew |author-last=Graham-Dixon |title=The Madness of Vermeer |series=Secret Lives of the Artists |network=BBC Four |date=2002}}</ref>]]

The influence of Johannes Vermeer on Metsu is unmistakable: the light from the left, the marble floor.<ref>{{cite thesis |author-first=Adriaan E. |author-last=Waiboer |title=Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667): Life and Work |type=PhD |publisher=New York University |date=2007 |pages=225–230}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.codart.com/522/ |title=Curator in the spotlight: Adriaan E. Waiboer, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin |work=Codart |access-date=12 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913010858/http://www.codart.com/522/ |archive-date=13 September 2014}}</ref><ref name="NPR">{{cite episode |author-link=Susan Stamberg |author-first=Susan |author-last=Stamberg |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/05/18/135581514/gabriel-metsu-the-dutch-master-you-dont-know |title=Gabriel Metsu: The Dutch Master You Don't Know |series=[[Morning Edition]] |network=[[NPR]] |date=18 May 2011}}</ref> (Adriaan Waiboer, however, suggests that Metsu requires more emotional involvement of the viewer.) Vermeer probably competed also with [[Nicolaes Maes]], who produced [[genre works]] in a similar style. In 1662, Vermeer was elected head of the guild and was reelected in 1663, 1670, and 1671, evidence that he (like Bramer) was considered an established craftsman among his peers. Vermeer worked slowly, probably producing three paintings a year on order. [[Balthasar de Monconys]] visited him in 1663 to see some of his work, but Vermeer had no paintings to show. The diplomat and the two French clergymen who accompanied him were sent to [[Hendrick van Buyten]], a baker who had a couple of Vermeer's paintings as collateral.

In 1671, [[Gerrit van Uylenburgh]] organized the auction of [[Gerrit Reynst]]'s collection and offered 13 paintings and some sculptures to [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg]]. Frederick accused them of being counterfeits and sent 12 back on the advice of [[Hendrick Fromantiou]].{{Sfn|Montias|1989|p=207}} Van Uylenburg then organized a counter-assessment, asking a total of 35 painters to pronounce on their authenticity, including [[Jan Lievens]], [[Melchior de Hondecoeter]], [[Gerbrand van den Eeckhout]], and Johannes Vermeer.