In the Great Hall, room I, we find:
A white satin skirt; A ditto yellow; A white satin bodice; A yellow satin mantle with white fur trimming; An old green mantle with white fur trimmings; Mrs- Vermeer's ash-gray travel mantle; A black "toers" [silk and wool material] short jacket; A black woolen cloth women's dress ["tabbert"]; A black under dress [belonging to the former dress];
In 1623 an inventory was made of moveable goods "sold" by Reynier Jansz (Vermeer's father), to Balthasar Gerrits (the father of Digna Baltens, Vermeer's mother). In it we find Digna's prize posessions of 8 shirts (worth 24 guilders), a mantle at 36 guilders, a hooded cape at 36 guilders, a cloth dress at 22 guilders, a silk apron at 36 guilders, a satin bodice at 22 guilders, etc.
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..." 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. In 2001 many textile terms have been kindly explained by art historian Marieke de Winkel.
Illustration taken from the recently published handbook on Dutch Doll Houses by Jet Pijzel-Dommisse,Het Hollandse pronkpoppenhuis, Interieur en huishouden in de 17de en 18de eeuw, Waanders, Zwolle; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2000, ill.508 en 294.
Click here for the full Washing board list explanation to the right.
Lit: Jan Baptist Bedaux and Rudi Ekkart, Kinderen op hun mooist. Het kinderportret in de Nederlanden 1500-1700. Ludiun Gent/Amsterdam. Exh. cat. Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem 2000 en Koninklijk Museum van Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen 2001.
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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For an explanation of the objects on the right click laundry list.
