Art Elements and Principles

The Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer , famous for his paintings reflecting the quiet and simple domestic life in the 1600s , and perhaps famous particularly because of the painting Girl With A Pearl Earring illustrates the significant aspects and components of his art as an effective part of bringing sentiments , ideologies and meanings across Vermeer 's perhaps less popular but equally affecting painting , Woman Holding A Balance exhibits the aforementioned quietness and simplicity of domestic life , picturing a woman dressed in a heavy coat and a shawl above her head holding a balance scale

whilst standing inside the interior of a room in the seventeenth century , light flooding a corner of the room from a window , in true Vermeeer fashion . A painting of 'the Last Judgement ' hangs on the wall just behind the woman , and she leans gingerly with one hand on the table in front of her adorned with a rich cloth and a number of jewelry

Vermeer 's Woman Holding A Balance bears a close or contrasting resemblance to the iconic representation of justice , which also involves a blindfolded woman holding a balance scale on one hand , and a sword on the other . Vermeer 's rendition of the woman in his painting on the other hand , appears calm and quiet , her eyes not blindfolded , but halfway closed , as she appears to be lost contemplating something in quiet reverie . The balance she holds in her hand is empty , perhaps in contrast to the number of material posessions covering the spread of the table . It appears to represent that justice is , or should be free from the clutter of the mundane , of material and worldly possessions as embodied in the amount of jewelry on top of the table . The concept of justice is symbolised and interpreted as a more a spiritual and affecting element , and that which brings sentiments of tranquility and an air of quiet calmness to individuals who benefit from it . More than the air of calmness and tranquility evoked in the painting , the woman emanates a sense of fragility and delicateness about her , from the way she gingerly holds the balance , to how she appears to lean on the table and the way she closes her eyes , the aforementioned elements are again contrasted with the subdued turmoil , and micro-sized sentiment evoking the opposite in the painting behind her which pictures Christ and human beings in the Last Judgment

Apart from the said elements , the tone and setting of the painting at cursory glance is largely dictated by the interplay between darkness and light , or light and shadow . The said quiet calmness emanating from the woman in the picture is also a sentiment incited by the light peeking from the window , and the shadows and dark areas which it fails to touch These two elements , evenly balanced , establishes the tone of the painting , and contributes to the evoking of a raw , fragile , and quiet state and sentiment of tranquility and fragility . Hues of brown and yellow complement the interplay of...