36 paintings - recognized catalog
Johannes Vermeer: all paintings recognized
From Delft to the Silent Chambers: Vermeer's recognized paintings, with the works discussed placed in context.
Each notice explains the history, symbols or pictorial choices specific to the work. The Girl on the Flute, now attributed to an associate, is excluded.
Why Vermeer matters
A small corpus, an immense light
Vermeer left few paintings, but each seems to condense a world: a room, a letter, a gesture, a light falling aside.
At Vermeer, silence is not empty: it organizes everything.
This catalog follows the works recognized from religious beginnings to late interiors, keeping visible the question of the attributions discussed.
Enter the catalogRecognized paintings by Johannes Vermeer
The first works, still linked to religious, mythological or moral scenes.
#1Diane and her companions
This great mythological scene belongs to Vermeer's beginnings, when he is still searching for his way in history painting. Diane, recognizable by the crescent placed on her forehead, rests with her nymphs after the hunt. The action is almost absent: the goddess lowers her eyes while a companion washes her feet. This serious calm already announces the absorbed figures of his future interiors.
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#2Christ in the house of Martha and Mary
Vermeer illustrates the episode of Luke where Martha reproaches her sister Mary for not helping her serve Christ. Jesus responds that Mary, attentive to his words, chose "the best part". His hand placed in front of the white tablecloth constitutes the expressive center of the painting. The composition thus opposes material service, spiritual listening and speech, without reducing Marthe to a simple counter-example.
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#3Saint Praxede
This painting dated 1655 takes almost exactly a composition by Florentine Felice Ficherelli. Praxède collects the blood of Christian martyrs with a sponge before pouring it into a vase. A signature, technical analyzes and the proximity to Vermeer's Catholic environment fueled the attribution, which remains debated. The work above all documents the international and religious ambition of the young painter.
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#4The Matchmaker
Signed and dated 1656, this brothel scene marks a turning point between history painting and contemporary subjects. A customer slips a coin into the hand of a young woman while a matchmaker monitors the exchange. The smiling character on the left could be a self-portrait of Vermeer. The smiling character on the left could be a self-portrait of Vermeer. The jug, glass and carpet bring the scene closer to the viewer while emphasizing its moral significance.
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#5Young woman dozing
A young woman dozed off at a table where glass, pitcher and fruit remain. X-rays show that Vermeer deleted a man in the next room and a dog in the foreground. By removing these narrative clues, he transforms a scene of sociability into an ambiguous image of weariness, drunkenness or melancholy. The open door promises a story that the painting ultimately refuses to tell.
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#6The E-reader at the window
The restoration completed in Dresden revealed the great Cupid that Vermeer painted on the wall, then covered with a hind hand. This god of love confirms that the letter concerns a sentimental relationship. The window discreetly reflects the reader's face, while the green curtain and the carpet close the space around her. The secret of the message thus becomes the real subject.
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#7The alley
Vermeer does not paint a Delft monument, but two ordinary facades, crouching children and women absorbed in their stains. The bricks, cracks and joints are precisely observed, yet the perspective is subtly reorganized. The work gives an unusual dignity to domestic maintenance and the neighborhood. The work gives an unusual dignity to domestic maintenance and the neighborhood. The light from the sky connects the discontinuous walls and transforms a specific street into a calm memory of the city.
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Delft light enters rooms, streets and hanging messages.
#8The Officer and the girl laughing
The officer seen from behind appears immense because he is placed very close to the spectator; the young woman, in the background, receives the light from the window. This disproportion builds an intimacy more convincing than a regular perspective. Hollande's map recalls the outside world and the military profession. The young woman's smile, however, remains indecipherable: sincere welcome, seduction or simple social politeness.
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#9The Milkmaid
A servant pours milk into a container surrounded by bread. Vermeer erased a hive holder and a basket from the wall in order to further isolate her gesture. The vanishing point, marked by a small perforation near the arm, places the gaze slightly below her and reinforces its monumentality. The crumbs and crust are made of luminous touches which give silence an almost tactile density.
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#10The Glass of Wine
A man presents a drink to a young woman who has just drunk it, while a second drink waits on the table. The scene may evoke the courtyard, but the figure of Temperance in the stained glass window introduces a moral warning. Vermeer organizes the distance between the characters through the tiles, the chair and the curtain. The refinement of the piece makes the masculine insistence all the more perceptible.
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#11The Girl with the Glass of Wine
In the center of a very constructed interior, a young woman smiles while holding her glass, surrounded by two men. The ancestor portrait, the stained glass arms and the instruments suggest a wealthy house, but the wine makes the relationship uncertain. The seated man appears withdrawn from the main exchange. Vermeer thus transforms an elegant meeting into a small study of power, seduction and vigilance.
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#12The Music Lesson interrupted
The music has stopped: the man leans towards the young woman and their hands move closer around a score or a letter. The Cupid hanging on the wall, now partially visible, gives the interruption a loving meaning. An ancient restoration has greatly modified the surface. Despite this, the painting retains its essential idea: musical learning becomes the threshold for a more intimate conversation.
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#13View of Delft
Vermeer observes Delft from the south, across the harbor, but adapts the topography to construct four bands of light, water, buildings and sky. The Nieuwe Kerk bell tower receives morning sun, while the city gates remain in shadow. The small, clear touches on the boats and roofs make the atmosphere visible without dissolving the architecture.
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#14Young Woman with Ewer
The young woman opens the window ajar with one hand and holds an ewer with the other. She doesn't pay anything: Vermeer suspends the gesture between grooming, freshness and contemplation. The wall map widens the room to the world, while the silver pool reflects the local light. The white and blue veil, treated with few contours, unites the face, the window and the table in the same clarity.
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#15The Woman with the Scales
A woman holds an empty scale in front of a representation of the Last Judgment. The still immobile trays can evoke measure of the soul, moderation or inner examination. Pieces and pearls rest on the table, earthly goods confronted with divine judgment. Vermeer, however, does not deliver a unambiguous moral: the light which surrounds the face gives material balance a spiritual depth.
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#16The Woman in Blue reading a letter
The woman stands alone, entirely absorbed by a letter. The large map of the United Provinces brings the geographical distance into the room and allows us to imagine an absent correspondent. Vermeer removes unnecessary windows and furniture to concentrate the scene on the ultramarine blue, the lit stomach and the hands. The slightly blurred cut of the contours reflects less a photographic moment than an inner attention.
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#17The Woman with the Pearl Necklace
Facing an off-camera mirror, the young woman ties or adjusts a pearl necklace. The window, yellow ribbon and tablecloth structure a toilet scene, a theme often associated with vanity. Vermeer, however, avoids any explicit condemnation. The gesture stretches the space between the hands and neck, while the almost empty wall transforms the fitting of jewelry into an exercise in light and concentration.
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Instruments, cards, scales, lace and knowledge make up an ordered world.
#18The Music Lesson
A woman plays the virginal while a man listens to it. The Latin inscription on the instrument states that music is the companion of joy and the remedy for pain. In the mirror, the musician's face turns towards him, a detail which nuances her apparently distant posture. The tiles and the viola da gamba organize a space where musical chord also suggests romantic chord.
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#19The Woman with the Lute
The musician tunes her lute while looking out the window, as if waiting for a partner or a signal from the street. The map of Europe and the books open the piece to a larger network of exchanges. The work suffered from wear, but the diagonal of the neck remains decisive: it connects the face, hands and light in a waiting scene rather than in concert.
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#20The concert
Three musicians play in an interior decorated with a painting by Dirck van Baburen representing a matchmaker. This image within the image traditionally links music, desire and venal love, without imposing a certain reading on the characters. Stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, the painting remains untraceable. His physical absence has made this domestic harmony one of the most sought-after lost works in the world.
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#21The Girl with a Pearl Earring
It is probably not the portrait of an identified person, but a trony: study of an imagined face and costume. The young girl turns around, lips parted, in front of a depthless background. The famous "jewel" is rendered by two light shards and could be an imitation rather than a real pearl. The famous "jewel" is rendered by two light shards and could be an imitation rather than a real pearl. The blue and yellow turban moves the figure away from everyday Dutch life to intensify its appearance.
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#22A lady writing
The young woman interrupts her writing and looks directly at the viewer, pen in hand. Unlike absorbed e-readers, it seems to recognize an external presence. The small box, the pearls and the dark painting indicate an easy interior, but do not reveal the recipient. Vermeer thus transforms the private act of writing into an encounter: we are placed in the position of the one who has just entered.
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#23Study of a young woman
This young woman is not identified and the work functions as a trony rather than a commissioned portrait. Her face, less idealized than that of the Girl with a Pearl Earring, is constructed by very gentle transitions. The silver blue fabric uses an exotic costume formula. Vermeer seeks here the variation of a presence turned towards us, not the social description of a particular model.
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#24The Mistress and the servant
A servant brings a letter to her mistress sitting in front of her writing desk. The light falls mainly on the faces, hands and pearl, while the background remains almost entirely black. This exceptional darkness removes domestic cues and accentuates hesitation. The mistress hangs her pen: the message coming from outside interrupts the order of the house before it has even been opened.
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#25The Art of Painting
A painter seen from behind works in front of a model dressed as Clio, muse of History, with laurel wreath, trumpet and book. The map of the Netherlands and the Habsburg-armed chandelier sparked political and historical readings. Vermeer retained this painting until his death. It can be understood as an ambitious demonstration of the power of painting to transform studio, memory and reality.
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#26The Girl in the Red Hat
Painted on panel, a rare occurrence for Vermeer, this trony seems more experimental than its interiors. The red hat absorbs light in thick touches, while the face remains smooth and clear. A tapestry was replaced by the character during the work. The opposition between the sculpted backrest, the blue of the garment and the bright red shows Vermeer deliberately exploring bolder optical effects.
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#27The Astronomer
The astronomer touches a celestial globe published by Jodocus Hondius and consults a book by Adriaan Metius open to the search for divine inspiration. The painting of Moses saved from the waters, in the background, can reinforce the idea of providence and knowledge. Dated 1668, the canvas forms a natural counterpart to the Geographer: one studies the sky, the other measures the earth.
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#28The Geographer
The geographer leans over a map, compass in hand, then looks up as if at the moment of a discovery. The light reaches his forehead before the paper, giving a visible shape to the reflection. Maps, globe and books evoke the commercial and scientific expansion of the United Provinces. Signed and dated 1669, the work completes The Astronomer without repeating its more meditative pose.
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#29The Lacemaker
In this small format, the lacemaker leans so close to her work that the viewer shares her concentration without being able to follow each thread. In the foreground, the red and white threads become almost abstract flows; the background dissolves. Vermeer thus combines precision of gesture and optical blur. The domestic scene is not an inventory: it paints attention itself.
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Late works and paintings sometimes discussed within the broad scope of the corpus.
#30The Love Letter
We observe the scene from a dark antechamber, behind a broom, shoes and a raised curtain. A servant has just given a letter to her mistress, who still holds a cittern. The seascape hanging on the wall traditionally associates love and navigation. This retreat transforms the viewer into an indiscreet witness and gives the message an importance that its content remains incapable of confirming.
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#31The Allegory of the Catholic Faith
A woman personifies the Catholic Faith: hand on heart, foot placed on a globe, she contemplates a suspended glass sphere. On the ground, the cornerstone crushes the serpent near the apple of original sin. The painting of the Crucifixion probably belonged to Vermeer's Catholic mother-in-law. The painting of the Crucifixion probably belonged to Vermeer's Catholic mother-in-law. The symbolic accumulation distinguishes this late order from its more ambiguous interiors.
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#32Woman writing a letter and her servant
The mistress writes energetically while the servant waits in front of the window, arms crossed. A crumpled letter and a stamp lie on the ground, indications of an upset correspondence. The Judgment of Moses painted on the wall can evoke law or trust. The opposition between active writing and still waiting gives the servant an autonomous role, turned towards the outside world.
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#33The Guitar Player
The young woman smiles towards someone off-camera while vibrating a guitar, an instrument more modern and mobile than the lute. Its movement shifts the composition to the right, contrary to Vermeer's usual balances. The yellow hair, ribbons and sleeves are painted with late freedom. The music is no longer silent waiting: it becomes energy and direct address.
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#34The Lady standing at the virginal
The musician looks at the viewer by placing her hands on the virginal. Behind her, a Cupid brandishes a card, symbol of a love faithful to a single person. The landscape painted on the lid of the instrument is repeated on the wall, doubling the imaginary world of the piece. The verticality of the woman, the window and the frames gives the musical invitation great stability.
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#35The Lady seated at the virginal
Sitting at the virginal, the young woman turns towards us while a viola da gamba waits for a partner in the foreground. Dirck van Baburen's painting behind her represents a matchmaker and combines music and desire. The forms become more schematic than in the works of the 1660s. Vermeer nevertheless maintains a precise tension between the gaze, the silent instrument and the empty place of the musician.
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#36Young woman sitting at the virginal
Discussed for a long time, this small canvas on canvas has regained an important place in the corpus after technical studies of preparation, pigments and construction. The young woman plays in front of a painting by Dirck van Baburen already used by Vermeer. The uneven execution may reflect its unfinished or late state. The work remains essential to understanding the shifting limits of the artist's catalog.
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Editorial method
Why 36 works?
The Mauritshuis announces 36 paintings by Vermeer. The National Gallery in London speaks of around 35: the gap is mainly due to the attributions discussed. The Girl on the Flute, given since 2022 to an associate, has been excluded.
Recognized works
The corpus brings together the paintings currently selected by major institutional catalogs.
Explicit status
Saint Praxedes remains included, but its discussed attribution is indicated unambiguously.
Visual inspection
The fake duplicate created by two cropping of Study of a Young Woman has been removed.
Sources and links
Reference sources
The scope is based on the National Gallery, the Rijksmuseum, the Mauritshuis and the catalogs dedicated to Vermeer.
Frequently asked questions
Read the Vermeer corpus
Some benchmarks on the number of works, debates and method.
How many of Vermeer's paintings are recognized?
The Mauritshuis retains 36 paintings. Other institutions speak of around 35, according to the status granted to Saint Praxède and some works previously discussed.
Why is the Girl with the Flute absent?
The National Gallery of Art now attributes it to a Vermeer associate rather than the painter himself. It therefore does not belong to this catalog of recognized works.
Do the images come from the store?
Yes. The 36 entries refer to active Alpha Reproduction files with image and public URL.
Is there a slideshow?
No. The catalog is displayed in static maps to remain readable and verifiable.
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