The Little Street

The Little Street
Artist Johannes Vermeer
Year 1657–1658
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 54.3 cm × 44 cm (21.4 in × 17 in)
Location Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Little Street (Het Straatje) is a painting by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, executed c. 1657–58. It is exhibited at the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam, and signed on the left hand corner below the window "I V MEER".[1][2]

Painting

The painting is made in oil on canvas, and it is a relatively small painting, being 54.3 centimetres (21.4 in) high by 44.0 centimetres (17.3 in) wide.

The painting, showing a quiet street, depicts a typical aspect of the life in a Dutch Golden Age town. It is one of only three Vermeer paintings of views of Delft, the others being View of Delft and the now lost House Standing in Delft.[3] This painting is considered to be an important work of the Dutch master.[4]

Straight angles alternate with the triangle of the house and of the sky giving the composition a certain vitality. The walls, stones and brickwork are painted in a thick colour, that it makes them almost palpable.

Location

Voldersgracht, where the artist grew up in Delft

While generally agreed to depict a contemporary street scene in 17th-century Delft, where Vermeer lived and worked, the exact location of the scene Vermeer painted has long been a topic of research and dispute, with studies arguing for the Voldersgracht, where the Vermeer Centre is located, or the Nieuwe Langendijk at the present-day numbers 22 to 26.[5] Later archival research based on the city's quay dues register, which gives detailed measurements of all houses and passageways at the time along the canals of Delft, has resulted in the conclusion that the site is the Vlamingstraat, a street with a narrow canal, at the present-day numbers 40 and 42.[6] The property on the right in the painting belonged to Vermeer’s aunt, Ariaentgen Claes van der Minne. She had a business selling tripe, and the passageway beside the house was known as the Penspoort , or Tripe Gate. Vermeer’s mother and sister also lived on the same canal, diagonally opposite.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Little Street by VERMEER". Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  2. ↑ "The Little Street". Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  3. ↑ Montias, John Michael (1989). Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History. Princeton University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-691-00289-7.
  4. ↑ "collections". Rijksmuseum.
  5. ↑ Kees Kaldenbach (2000). "Het Straatje van Johannes Vermeer: Nieuwe Langendijk 22-26? Een kunsthistorische visie op een archeologisch en bouwhistorisch onderzoeks". Bulletin KNOB. 99 (6). doi:10.7480/knob.99.2000.6.389.
  6. 1 2 Rijksmuseum. "Vermeer's The Little Street discovered". www.rijksmuseum.nl. Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Grijzenhout, Frans (2015). Vermeer’s The Little Street. A View of the Penspoort in Delft. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum. ISBN 9789491714702.

Further reading

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