Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). View source
View of Delft
Johannes Vermeer · Baroque & Dutch Golden Age
- Artist
- Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675)
- Date
- c. 1660–1661
- Dimensions
- 96.5 x 115.7 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands
View of Delft shows Vermeer’s home town seen from across the river Schie, its walls, gates and towers reflected in the water under a vast sky. It is one of the most famous cityscapes in Western art.
A closer look
Dark clouds cast shadows over the nearer buildings, while sunlight breaks through to light up the roofs and the tower of the New Church in the distance. Vermeer adjusted reality slightly to balance the composition, but the overall impression is of complete truth. He mixed sand into some of his paint to give texture to the brick walls and used small dots of light colour to make the boats and buildings glitter. A few figures chat on the sandy bank in the foreground.
History of the painting
After the Delft collectors who owned many of Vermeer's works sold their paintings at auction in Amsterdam in 1696, View of Delft passed through private Dutch collections. In 1822 it came up for sale again, and King William I bought it for the state for 2,900 guilders, then a large sum, and gave it to the newly opened Mauritshuis in The Hague, where it has hung ever since.
More by Johannes Vermeer
In this gallery
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
The Milkmaid
The Art of Painting
The Little Street
Woman Holding a Balance
The Astronomer
The Lacemaker
Famous works elsewhere
- The Geographer 1668
- The Procuress 1656
- Christ in the House of Martha and Mary 1650
- A Girl Asleep 1657
- Diana and her Nymphs 1650