Johannes Vermeer
The painter of the Girl with a Pearl Earring and the View of Delft, who was born, worked and buried in Delft.
Photo: Johannes Vermeer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft in 1632 and spent his whole life here. He painted slowly, quiet rooms full of light, a woman reading a letter, a maid pouring milk, and only some 37 of his paintings survive. He died poor in 1675 and lies buried in the Oude Kerk.
His View of Delft, painted about 1660 from across the water by the Schiedam and Rotterdam gates, now hangs in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The Vermeer Centrum on the Voldersgracht stands on the spot of the Guild of Saint Luke, the painters’ guild that he led. Visit it in 3D ›
More in Delft
MarktThe long market square between the town hall and the Nieuwe Kerk, one of the largest in the Netherlands.
Nieuwe KerkThe great Gothic church on the Markt, with a tower of 108 metres, where the princes of Orange lie buried.
StadhuisDelft’s Renaissance town hall at the west end of the Markt, built round a medieval stone tower.
Oude KerkThe oldest church in Delft, on the Oude Delft, with a tower that leans about two metres over the canal.
PrinsenhofThe old convent where William of Orange lived, and where he was shot in 1584. The bullet holes are still in the wall.
Oude DelftThe oldest canal of the town, which gave Delft its name, lined with merchants’ houses and the Gemeenlandshuis.
KoornmarktThe canal where the grain was traded, now lined with cafés, houseboats and terraces by the water.
OostpoortThe last of Delft’s town gates, with two slim towers mirrored in the water.
WaagThe weigh house by the Markt, where goods were weighed for the town’s taxes.
Delfts blauwThe blue and white pottery that made Delft famous, first made to stand in for Chinese porcelain.
Delftse DonderslagThe gunpowder explosion of 12 October 1654, which flattened a quarter of the town.
Hugo de GrootThe lawyer born in Delft who wrote the first great book on the law between nations, and escaped from prison in a book chest.