Vermeer's The Allegory of Painting

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Dutch painter Johannes (Jan) Vermeer's The Allegory of Painting, also known as The Art of Painting. Many art historians have thought that this work was created in praise of the "art of painting." However, this paper will show that The Allegory of Painting was instead a political statement on Vermeer's part.

Vermeer lived during the seventeenth century, a time which is known as the "Golden Age" of Holland. This was a period when great changes took place in virtually every area of Dutch life, creating an environment in which the arts flourished. The changes of the day were largely shaped by political events, as this was the time during which Holland won its status as an independent nation.-. There was also a current of religious tolerance in the air due to the spread of Protestantism in the region. Furthermore, this was a era of great prosperity for the Dutch, who were actively engaged in colonial expansion and international trade. All of these things led to a cultural flowering, in which great advances were made in philosophy and science as well as in the fine arts.

The seventeenth century began with Holland's victory over the Spanish at the Battle of Nieupoort in 1600. The Dutch had been fighting for their independence from the oppressive rule of the King Philip II of Spain since 1568. Philip, who was rigidly Catholic, had come into power ten years earlier, when his father, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, abdicated. Phil

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y of the past, but has set it within the contemporary framework of his own home. Furthermore, the painter who is shown in The Allegory of Painting may actually be Vermeer himself. Although some art historians disagree with this idea, others adamantly claim that it is indeed Vermeer, as evidenced by a 1696 sale catalogue which titled the painting "Portrait of Vermeer in a room, with various accessories uncommonly handsome, painted by him."14 Thus he has set himself into a historic context as well. More evidence that Vermeer has painted contemporary symbols into a historic work is given by the tapestry which is draped across the left of the painting. This is believed by many to be a Gobelins tapestry, and as such was extremely modern when Vermeer made the painting, since "the Gobelins factory had only recently been inaugurated, on June 1, 1662, and its products may not have been widely dispersed between then and Vermeer's death."15 By including a modern Gobelins tapestry in The Allegory of Painting, with all its historic symbols, Vermeer, who was the son of a silkworker, may have been making a statement about the superior quality and artistry of what were then contemporary Dutch textiles. Furthermore, because the Gobelins fac

Category: Arts - V