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The Little Street
Johannes Vermeer · Baroque & Dutch Golden Age
- Artist
- Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675)
- Date
- c. 1657–1658
- Dimensions
- 54.3 x 44 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Little Street is one of only two known townscapes by Vermeer. It shows the brick façade of an ordinary house in Delft, with a passageway beside it, on a quiet day. A few women and children go about their daily tasks.
A closer look
Vermeer painted the old brickwork, whitewashed walls, shutters and window panes with tender attention, every crack and patch of moss recorded. In the doorway a woman sits sewing; in the narrow alley, a maid bends over a water barrel; two children kneel on the pavement absorbed in a game. A strip of cloudy sky and the green of a vine soften the geometry of the buildings. Nothing happens, yet the picture conveys the calm and order of Dutch domestic life.
History of the painting
For most of the 19th century the painting belonged to the Six family of Amsterdam, descendants of Rembrandt’s friend Jan Six, whose collection was famous throughout Europe. In 1921 the oil magnate Henri Deterding bought it from the family and gave it to the Rijksmuseum, so that one of Vermeer’s two known townscapes would stay in the Netherlands.
More by Johannes Vermeer
In this gallery
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
The Milkmaid
View of Delft
The Art of Painting
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