If you ’ve ever looked at a Johannes Vermeer house painting and wish you could somehow transport yourself into one of his quaint , seventeenth - C depictions of Dutch life , you’re able to now get at least a sensation of what it must have been like , thanks to one Amsterdam - based academic .
For age , expert have speculated where Vermeer’sThe Little Streetwas painted . The notable workplace depicts an ordinary street in Delft , Netherlands , which once serve as Vermeer ’s hometown . To figure out whether the road was literal or imagined , TheGuardianreports thatFrans Grijzenhout , a professor of art history at Amsterdam University , settle down through centuries - old taxation record to name the historical houses that once hover over Vermeer ’s thoroughfare . The documents describe the width of each star sign , provide Grijzenhout to compare the long - go social organisation withThe Little Street ’s home . By doing this , Grijzenhout discovered that the painting captured the present tense - dayNo . 40 and 42 Vlamingstraat , Delft , and that one of its home belonged to Vermeer ’s aunt , Ariaentgen Claes van der Minne . According to the Rijksmuseum , Vermeer ’s female parent and sister were neighbour , living " diagonally face-to-face on the same canal"—meaning that this street must have hold personal significance for the artist .
Vermeer is be intimate for interior paintings — not out-of-door ones . In fact , TheLittle Streetis one of only two pull through Vermeer house painting that are set outside domesticated confines . For this reason , Grijzenhout ’s discovery has instigate an expo at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam , which hasThe Little Streetin its compendium . Later , the exhibition will move to Delft ’s Museum Prinsenhof . However , if desire to truly immerse yourself in Vermeer ’s world , you might want to pay a side slip to No . 40 and 42 Vlamingstraat and take the air the street yourself .
[ h / tThe Guardian ]
