Vermeer’s Woman Holding A Balance
Johannes Vermeer’s Woman Holding A Balance was the featured art in the October HSS eNews.
Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) was a Dutch artist. Created c. 1664, Woman Holding A Balance is oil on canvas measuring 15 5/8” x 14”. The image is courtesy of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
One of the most intriguing Dutch artists of this period is Johannes Vermer (1632-1675), who was also an innkeeper and art dealer. He entered the Delft artists’ guild in 1653 and painted only for local patrons. Meticulous in his technique, with a unique and highly structured compositional approach and soft, liquid painting style, Vermeer produced fewer than 40 canvases that can be securely attributed to him. The more these paintings are studied, the more questions that arise about the artist’s life and his methods.
In Woman Holding A Balance, studied equilibrium creates a moment of supreme stillness. The woman contemplates the balance in her right hand, drawing our attention to the act of weighing and judging. Her hand and the scale are central, but directly behind her head is a painting of the Last Judgment, highlighting the figure of Christ the Judge in a gold oval above her head. The juxtaposition seems to turn Vermeer’s genre scene into a metaphor for eternal judgment, a sobering religious reference that may reflect the artist’s own position as a Catholic living in a Protestant country. The woman’s moment of quiet introspection in front of the gold and pearls displayed on the table before her, shimmering with reflected light from the window, also evokes the vanitas theme of the transience of earthly life.1
1 Stokstad, Marilyn and Cothren, Michael W. Art History, 6th Edition (Pearson, 2018).
Excerpt from
Art History, 6th Edition
Stokstad & Cothren
Students will experience the history of art brought to life with a global scope, inclusive coverage, and warm, welcoming tone. This latest edition offers expanded global coverage, updated images, and refreshed content on contemporary art reflecting recent trends.
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