Death of Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer died on 15 December 1675 in Delft, aged about 43. A Dutch painter from Delft, Vermeer is celebrated for quiet domestic scenes, usually lit by a window on the left, painted with remarkable attention to light, colour and texture. His best-known works include Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Milkmaid, View of Delft and The Art of Painting. Only about three dozen paintings are firmly attributed to him, and he worked slowly. He was a respected local artist who also dealt in art, but left his family in debt when he died at 43. His fame was largely forgotten until the nineteenth century, when the French critic Théophile Thoré-Bürger helped to rediscover him.

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