Details: Vermeer's Painting Methods & Techniques
LADY WRITING A LETTER WITH HER MAID
c. 1670-1672
oil on canvas
28 x 23 in. (71.1 x 58.4 cm.)
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
abstraction
As Vermeer's mastery of painting technique progressively matured, his stylistic concerns shifted from the faithful recording of reality's objective appearance to the representation of a purified vision of the world in which his own pictorial instinct became predominant. No detail can represent the departure from the former naturalistic vision more than the rendering of the sleeve of the mistress writing a letter. If it is isolated from the context of the rest of the painting, the viewer is at odds to understand just what is being represented. Vermeer's painting technique has reached an extreme of economy, paint layers are meager and tones have been reduce a paltry few, the canvas constantly appears in the thinly painted shadows. The mosaic of flat shapes carved with knife-like precision which stand in the place of what once were the folds of satin and starched white cotton, have undergone such a severe process of abstraction that the sense of natural continuity is entirely lost. The signs and patterns left by the master's brush are so convincing that, although we may question the identity of what Vermeer has painted, we are never able to question their authenticity. The world seems to have transformed itself into paint and Vermeer has become its undisputed master.
