'About
seven ells [feet] of gold tooled-leather on the wall'
'Omtrent seven ellen goutleer aende muyr' in the inner kitchen
("binnekeucken"). Room C. Gold tooled-leather
is made of rectangular pieces of leather which have been heavily
tooled into raised surfaces in a regular pattern; an extremely thin
layer of silver, which has been beaten into gossamer sheets of
silver, was then glued to this leather. Finally a varnish and
possibly some pigments are added. This results in a golden shine.
'An ebony wood crucifix' 'Een ebbenhout cruys' In the great Hall ("groote zael") Room I. The crucifix was an item found almost exclusively in Roman Catholic households and in hidden churches. Within the culture of the Dutch Reformation (the state supported church), showing and revering a crucifix was uncommon. See interfaith marriage.
On Februari 3, 2003 mr. Harry Vlamings from Tilburg, The Netherlands emailed the following message: "The panel of gold tooled leather on both The Letter and Allegory of Faith show a merman design ; this is derived from a design sample book by the German graphical designer Heinrich Aldegrever. I stumbled upon this - and the similarity is striking." (images see below).
Swillens in his 1950 book pointed at the coats of arms of the former burgomaster Theodorus Meerman - Merman as opposed to mermaid - who helped refurbish the St Luke building (p. 35). See this building in the yellow section Delft Artist & Patrons.
Illustration above: a detail from the painting "Allegory of Faith" in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Illustrations below Aldegrever print illustrated in: Hermann Schmitz, Soest, Seeman, Leipzig 1908, page 102. Below the Vermeer detail.
Note : This object was part of the Vermeer-inventory as listed by the clerk working for Delft notary public J. van Veen. He made this list on February 29, 1676, in the Thins/Vermeer home located on Oude Langendijk on the corner of Molenpoort. The painter Johannes Vermeer had died there at the end of December 1675. His widow Catherina and their eleven children still lived there with her mother Maria Thins.
The transcription of the 1676 inventory, now in the Delft archives, is based upon its first full publication by A.J.J.M. van Peer, "Drie collecties...", Oud Holland, 1957, pp. 98-103. My additions and explanations are added within square brackets [__]. Dutch terms have been checked against the world's largest language dictionary, the Dictionary of the Dutch Language (Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal , or WNT), which was begun by De Vries en Te Winkel in 1882. In 2001 many textile terms have been kindly explained by art historian Marieke te Winkel.
Lit: Paul Begheyn, 'Johannes Vermeer en de Jezuïeten' in Streven 63, 1996, p. 220-227.
This page forms part of a large encyclopedic site on Vermeer and Delft. Research by Drs. Kees Kaldenbach (email). A full presentation is on view at johannesvermeer.info.
Launched December, 2002; Last update March 2, 2017.
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