Johannes Vermeer spent his entire life in the small Dutch city of Delft, yet created some of the most quietly powerful paintings in Western art. Working slowly and deliberately, he produced only about 34 to 36 known works — intimate domestic interiors flooded with cool northern light. His mastery of light, spatial depth, and texture was so extraordinary that scholars long speculated he used a camera obscura as an aid. Largely forgotten after his death and rediscovered in the 19th century, he is now considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. His financial struggles were chronic: he left his wife and 11 children in debt when he died at 43.
