art appreciation

Analysis : Vermeer 's Woman Holding a Balance

Johannes Vermeer , born in 1632 , was a Dutch genre artist whose works now are treasured , though in his lifetime and for a period after were not well known outside of his native land . His Woman Holding a Balance an oil painting circa 1664 , now in the Widener Collection of the National Gallery of Art , is typical of his style during the later period of his oeuvre . In this painting of life in a 17th century Dutch home we see a woman standing by a table holding

a balance scale in her hand The light plays across the face of the canvas illuminating some objects and leaving the others in gloom . On the rear wall of the room is a large painting depicting the biblical Last Judgment of Christ . It is lit and obviously a part of the composition which Vermeer means for us to take into consideration . On the table are gold and pearls , also lit with a soft diffusion of light that comes from a window in the upper left side of the painting (nga .gov 2007 . The light plays on the whites of the woman 's headdress and on her face and hand , which holds the empty balance scale . Vermeer revels , it seems , in depicting the mundane lives of the people he knew . In this work , interestingly , he chose to leave broad clues as to his not so hidden meaning . Vermeer was intensely preoccupied with the behavior of light and other optical effects such as sudden recessions and changes of focus (Metmuseum .org 2007 . The subject of this painting , it can be argued , is the light in the room

The composition of this painting is such that the entire focus of the work is designed to draw the viewer 's eye to the woman 's right hand which holds an empty balance scale . The arms of the woman frame the scene and the light plays strongly at this junction . The little finger of her right hand mirrors the angle of the arm of the balance . The frame of the painted art on the wall ends higher in front of the woman than it does behind her . Orthogonal lines to the vanishing point all meet at the woman 's fingers (nga .gov 2007

This painting stands out from among the majority of the Dutch Master 's works in that it is far less subjective than , say , Woman With A Pearl Earring . It has been interpreted over the centuries and by now has been `read ' so often that its meaning is accepted by virtually everyone who knows the work . To begin an analysis of the painting we can mention the painting within a painting . On the right rear wall of the room in which the woman stands at a table , there is a religious painting that is vital to the understanding of the scene (Janson 2007 . It is a rendition of The Last Judgment of Christ , during which , Christians believe , there will be...