Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft in 1632 into a family linked to the art trade and inn. His apprenticeship is not documented, but he became master of the guild of Saint Luke in 1653 and was responsible for it several times. The same year, he married Catharina Bolnes and settled in the Catholic district of Delft, near the Jesuit mission. His first works covered the Bible and mythology; he then focused on small interiors where one or two figures read, write, play music, pour milk or look in a mirror. Vermeer then produced slowly and used expensive pigments, notably natural overseas. Its light often comes from a window located on the left, crosses the glass, places itself on a wall, a face or a loaf of bread, then connects the objects without visible brush effect. The Milkmaid transforms a domestic task into a measure of time. The Woman with the Scales suspends the gesture between material world and moral judgment. The Woman with the Scales reflects on the craft itself, between model, map, curtain and painter seen from behind. The Art of Painting reflects on the craft itself, between model, map, curtain and painter seen from behind. The Art of Painting reflects on the craft itself, between model, map, curtain and painter seen from behind. The Girl with the Pearl Earring is a trony rather than an identified portrait: turban, darkness and gaze create a presence without certain history. Vermeer probably uses effects studied with the camera obscura, but technical research above all shows how much he modifies and simplifies his compositions. In debt after the economic crisis caused by the war of 1672, he died in 1675. Around thirty-five paintings are today generally attributed to him, a reduced corpus of which each work condenses space, light and silence. The "Johannes Vermeer" selection notably compares La Laitière and La Femme à la balance. His reading favors movement.
In Vermeer, light does not only reveal objects: it regulates the distance between them until silence is visible.