THE ALLEGORY OF PAINTING
Jan Vermeer is in the company of Rembrandt, Hals and Ruysdael as one of the great Dutch Masters and is now esteemed as one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Still, nothing certain is known of his personality, training, teachers, patronage or method of working. While Vermeer was not prolific, a very high percentage of his production has survived.
Vermeer’s life and art are closely associated with the city of Delft, Holland where he was born in 1632 and lived until his death in 1675. Vermeer was a “genre” painter in which scenes from everyday life are painted in a realistic way. Vermeer usually painted common domestic scenes like a woman pouring milk or a girl reading a letter. Checkerboard floors are usually a tip-off its a Vermeer. The fascination of Vermeer’s paintings, however, is not in his choice of subject but in the poetic ways his images are portrayed.
Seen here is my copy of Vermeer’s “The Allegory Of Painting” from 1667, the most detailed painting I have done, with its many different materials and textured objects. The “Allegory” is one of the few allegorical (symbolic) paintings done by Vermeer, in which he attempts to elevate the status of the artist and equate the art of painting with the arts of antiquity: history, music, poetry (epic and lyric), dance, tragedy, comedy and astronomy. To do this, he “sets the stage” with the drawn curtain and portrays an artist (in a costume from a past era) painting the allegorical figure of Clio, one of the nine daughters of Zeus. In Greek Mythology, each daughter of Zeus presided over an area of art and is called a “Muse”. Clio, the Muse of History, is posing with her history book, trumpet and crown of laurel symbolizing fame. Perhaps Vermeer felt history painting (depicting scenes from mythology, the Bible and allegory) should be the inspiration and source of fame to the artists as history painting was considered the highest form of painting by 17th art theorists. The elegant interior suggests the importance of painting in cultural and esthetic pursuits and the map of Holland suggests that the artist’s work will enhance the fame of his city and country.
The real “Allegory” is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Oil on Canvas 1984