Vermeer: A Guest Post by Andrew Graham-Dixon

Full of revelations and rich analyses of his paintings, this sweeping biography of Johannes Vermeer dives into the life and vibrant work of one of the greatest painters from the Dutch Golden Age. Read on for an exclusive essay from Andrew Graham-Dixon on writing Vermeer. 

Johannes Vermeer, painter of the View of Delft and the Girl with a Pearl Earring, is one of the world's most popular artists but also one of the most mysterious. Born in 1632, he died at the young age of 43 and has remained a riddle ever since: the greatest unsolved riddle, in the history of art. His hypnotically intense pictures, many of which show women lost in thought in interiors flooded with light, have until now defeated all attempts to decipher them. 

Having spent much of the last decade delving into the rich historical archives in Vermeer's hometown of Delft, as well as nearby Rotterdam, I have been lucky enough to unearth a mass of new information about the painter and his network of friends and patrons, enabling me (I believe) to solve the mystery of who he was and what his pictures actually mean.

I found the keys to the painter's story in the hitherto rather neglected world of his patrons. Vermeer was unique in many ways, not least in having painted virtually all his work for a single canalside home in Delft. The owners of that house were Pieter Claesz van Ruijven and his wife Maria de Knuijt. Pieter was from a family of diehard Remonstrants, so called because they "remonstrated" against the dogmatic and militaristic attitudes of the Dutch Calvinists. Maria was not only a Remonstrant herself but also participated in the activities of a yet more radical outgrowth of the movement whose followers became known as Collegiants. Research into Vermeer's own family background shows that he too was raised as a Remonstrant and participated in the gatherings of the Collegiants.

Who were these Remonstrants and their brethren, the Collegiants? They were idealistic, wise and in many ways ahead of their time. They were evangelical Christians, but with a difference, in that they were deeply suspicious of established churches and dreamed of a time when all followers of Christ would forget their differences. They were pacifists, who dared to dream of a Europe in which all nations would live at peace with one another.

Collegiants also believed in the absolute equality of men and women. In fact the majority of Collegiants were women. Many would attend services at the Remonstrant church, but they increasingly embraced the the ideal of a Christianity without churches of any kind, holding meetings at home away from the supervision of priests. Vermeer's patron Maria de Knuijt held such meetings weekly at her house.

The assumption behind nearly all writing on Vermeer thus far has been that his works were painted for the open market and should therefore be regarded as genre paintings, to amuse or entertain. But nothing could be further from the truth. Every one of his paintings was inspired by the religious beliefs cherished by Maria de Knuijt and her friends. Her house was like a church, all of Vermeer’s pictures like a single fresco cycle painted for that church.

Once this is grasped, his pictures effortlessly reveal themselves in their true colours, allowing us finally to see them and understand them on their own terms. At the heart of my book, you will find long and detailed interpretations of all Vermeer's major paintings. I reveal the identity of the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring, uncover the true nature of The Milkmaid (who is by the way no milkmaid) and reveal the sublimely beautiful message of hope behind his most ambitious painting of all, A View of Delft. I do hope readers enjoy the book. Writing it has taken me on an extraordinary intellectual and spiritual journey.