y middle class who were interested in displaying their success by purchasing works of art to decorate their homes. This signalled a change in the position of the artists, who prior to this time had depended primarily on the patronage of aristocrats, royals and the Church for their livelihoods. Now that they were able to compete with one another in the marketplace, artists became increasingly creative and competitive. Artists of the time typically specialized in certain types of paintings, such as landscapes, still lifes, genre paintings and portraiture. Vermeer primarily worked in scenes of everyday life, which would qualify him as a genre painter.
Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft, Holland in 1632. His father, Reynier Janszoon, "began life as a silkworker and was later an innkeeper."4 Vermeer's father also worked as an art dealer. Koningsberger has noted that by the time Vermeer was born, his father derived most of his income from selling art, and was registered as a Master Art-Dealer with the Guild of St. Luke.5 It is likely that this early expo
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