Vermeer's
ultimate masterwork with its thrilling chandelier
was 'The Art of Painting' painted ca. 1666-1668, now in the Vienna
Kunsthistorisches Museum (detail on the right). It was in Vermeer's
posession at his death but it was kept hidden
from the 1676 inventory. The painting was transferred to the
posession of her mother Maria Thins on February 24, 1676. The
painting was then sold in a Delft auction on March 15, 1677.
Note : Montias 1989, pp. 338-339 (doc no 363). This object was omitted from the Vermeer-inventory as listed by the clerk working for Delft notary public J. van Veen 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..." in 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.
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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