Christ in the House of
Martha and Mary

Christ in the House of Mary and Martha is thought to be the earliest known painting by Vermeer. The strongest argument for its early date is the difference in painting techniques between this work and his later ones. In no other painting does he focus so exclusively of the figures in the central core of the composition. Vermeer in his mature works was very conscious of the relationship of his figures to the environment, a concern not evident in this work.

Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Jan Vermeer, 1981

c. 1655
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Vermeer: The Complete Works , New York, 1997)

c. 1654-1655
Walter Liedtke (Vermeer: The Complete Paintings, New York, 2008)

The support is a fine, plain-weave linen with a thread count of 12 x 17 per cm ². A vertical seam is in line removed. The double ground consists of a layer of white chalk bound with a protein medium followed by a red earth layer. In the background and in the shadowed flesh tones of Christ and Martha the red ground is only partially covered by very thin brown glazes. What appears to have been a glaze on Christ's violet tunic is preserved only in the texture of the brushwork. The highlights on all the drapery are painted with impasto: on Christ's blue robe, which was painted with indigo, smalt, and lead-white, the brushstrokes are about 1 cm. wide and indicate a square-tipped brush.

Numerous wet-in-wet touches include the details of Martha's waistband, the modeling of the head clothes; and the decoration on the carpet. The speed of execution and the fluidity of the paint is also signified by the splashy, broken edges of many of the forms; such as the upper edge of the table and Mary's profile.

There are several alterations: Christ's profile and ear; the fingers of His left hand; and the edge of Martha's right sleeve. The edge of some of the forms encroach significantly on adjacent areas such as the upper edge of Christ's robe overlapping His tunic. Mary's left hand appears to have been painted over Christ's blue robe.

*Johannes Vermeer(exh. cat., National Gallery of Art and Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis - Washington and the Hague, 1995, edited by Arthur Wheelock)

literature

exhibitions

Mary and Martha are the most familiar set of sisters in the Bible. Both Luke and John describe them as friends of Jesus. Luke's story, though only four verses long, has been a cause of interpretation and debate for centuries.

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42).

This subject was more popular among Flemish artists than Dutch, possibly owing to the religious connotations of the story which formed the basis of several representations from the mid-16th century onwards. In the religious context of the time, the scene illustrated one of the fundamental differences opposing Catholics and Protestants. The latter sought salvation in action while the former placed greater value on the contemplative life.

Whereas harsh environment conditions made many European countries practically inaccessible, the level plains of the Netherlands were crossed by a network of canals that had been dug to regulate the flow of water. They furnished an extraordinarily practical means of transportation, faster than any way on land. Trade, which had been based mainly on spices, textiles, and tulip bulbs, gradually extended to paintings. The fact that paintings were small and easy to handle made it easier to place them on the market.

This fact, coupled with a widespread wealth, favored the explosive Dutch art market. Over a breathtakingly short period, the Netherlands produced artists of the stature of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Pieter de Hooch. These artists belonged to the same guilds; they worked in the same commercial marketplace. They knew one another's work, if only from prints. They competed, taught each other, collected each other's work, and on occasion collaborated.

Vermeer's art draws much from this liquid scene. He borrowed from every source available: from the great masters of the legendary Italian Renaissance to his fellow painters who lived a few steps away from his door.

In fact, critics believe that a good part of Vermeer's oeuvre is based on themes and compositions of preceding works of his colleagues. He is one of those rare artists who is capable of seeing great possibilities in the works of less talented artists and was uniquely capable of infusing new depth and life into well-trodden artistic motifs.

Exercitia spiritualia (Spiritual Exercises)
of Ignatius of Loyola 1548
First Edition by Antonio Bladio (Rome)

The motivation for painting this work is difficult to determine. Although rejected by modern Vermeer scholars, it was once believed that Vermeer was trained by Leonaert Bramer, a Catholic and close friend to the Vermeer family in Delft. Bramer was the most prestigious figure in Delft painting at the time and was known to have traveled to Italy. Bramer also interceded on behalf of the young painter in his betrothal to Catharina Bolnes, the daughter of a well-to-do Delft patrician, Maria Thins. He may have sealed the bargain by guaranteeing the young painter's future and a quick conversion to Catholicism, a rare event in 17th-century Netherlands.

It has been hypothesized that Vermeer's Christ in the House of Martha and Mary was result of his classical training combined with his newfound Catholic sentiments although it may have been commissioned by someone particularly interested in the motif. In any case, Vermeer's mother-in-law, Maria Thins, maintained close contacts to the Jesuits in Delft.

Martha and Mary represented two opposing personalities: the active and the contemplative. Christ's defense of the contemplative life suited Jesuit ideals and actually was contained within the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. Vermeer's treatment of this subject, which focuses on the message that Christ is transmitting, may reflect his sympathetic response to the Catholic Church in the mid-1650s.

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
Erasmus Quellinus
c. 1645
Musée des Beaux Arts, Valenciennes

There existed numerous visual sources available to the young Vermeer for this composition. The most likely model was a work by the Fleming Erasmus Quellinus (Musée des Beaux Arts, Valenciennes).

In no other painting did Vermeer focus so exclusively on the figures as the central core of the composition. Within a few years, he became absorbed in a more complex pictorial problem, the relationship of the figure to the environment, a concern ignored in this work where the dark background serves essentially to isolate and emphasize the figural relationship rather than reveal something about their story or lives.

Some Vermeer writers place the Diana and her Companions immediately before his Christ in the House of Martha and Mary while other after. Unless the state of conservation of the Diana has suffered more than we know, its technical level is far inferior to the Christ making the Diana Vermeer's first work.

Kitchen Scene with Christ in
the House of Martha and Mary
Diego Velásquez
60 x 103.5 cm
National Gallery, London

In northern Europe, but not only, the motif of Christ in the House of Martha and Mary has inspired many paintings which were in essence only barely veiled still-lives. The most illustrious example is the version by Diego Velásquez (see left). Here, the Spanish master lavished great attention of the two bodegones figures in the foreground and on the extremely realistic depictions of kitchen utensils and food probably painted from the artist's own. The actual religious scene is relegated to a secondary role taking place in what appears to be a see-through window of a rustic kitchen which curiously can almost be mistaken for a framed picture.

Closer to home, Pieter De Bloot's version (see Related Images no. 4 below) shows a sprawling kitchen scene which undoubtedly reflected the Dutch preoccupation with house hold chores and domestic virtue rather than an explicit commitment to spiritual matters.

Bathsheba
Jacob van Loo
c.1650
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Although the Bible had been one of the most important sources of inspirations for European painters, by the mid-17th century, still life, portraiture, landscape and interiors had largely replaced traditional religious and historical subjects in the Netherlands. Just the same, contemporary art theorists still defended the intellectual and moral superiority of history painting (see example left) and many of the most ambitious painters, like Vermeer, devoted their energies to its mastery.

History painting offered uplifting or cautionary narratives that were intended to encourage contemplation of the meaning of life. It also satisfied a desire for religious imagery that remained strong, even after most traditional religious pictures had been removed from Calvinist churches in the wave of iconoclasts which had destroyed great part of the early Dutch pictorial heritage.

For unknown reasons Vermeer soon abandoned history painting and unconditionally embraced the "modern" mode of painting practiced by celebrated artists like Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou and Frans van Mieris. Vermeer would only again take up the religious motif in his late Allegory of Faith, a full-fledged religious work set in a Dutch 17th-century interior, an awkward combination of the two modes of painting.

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
Erasmus Quellinus
c. 1645
Musée des Beaux Arts, Valenciennes