Johannes Vermeer's Disillusioned Housewives

The Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, regarded as one of the foremost figures of the Dutch Baroque, is celebrated for his quiet, domestic scenes. Only about 35 paintings are attributed to him, and in nearly all of them we see the interiors of upper-middle-class homes, where women — young maidens, servants, sometimes small gatherings — are absorbed in their everyday tasks. The figures are bathed in natural daylight streaming through the windows, lost in their occupations. At first glance, they embody perfect tranquillity. Yet Vermeer is also a master of ambiguity, and the beautiful Dutch women he portrays conceal far more than they reveal. So, meet the disillusioned housewives:

1. Alcohol

"A Young Woman Sleeping", c. 1657, Wikimedia Commons

This lady has had a bit too much wine, and now she's dozing — or perhaps dreaming — slumped over the table. Whoever kept her company seems to have just left: an empty chair stands pushed back from the table, and on the tablecloth sit a jug of wine and two empty glasses. An X-ray of the painting revealed that a man once stood in the doorway, and a dog once sat in the lower right corner, but the artist removed them, lending the painting an extra air of mystery.

"The Glass of Wine", c. 1658, Wikimedia Commons

The backstory to a similar scene appears in another work, The Glass of Wine. One of the artist's earlier paintings shows a woman just finishing a glass of wine (sadly, we cannot see her expression, though she gazes straight ahead), while a man appears eager to refill it — from the very same jug as in the first painting, no less — as though trying to get her drunk. A lute lies abandoned on a chair, and sheet music rests on the table. Is this how the lady escapes bad music? Interestingly, the stained-glass window depicts the figure of Temperance.

2. Jewellery

"Woman with a Pearl Necklace", c. 1662, Wikimedia Commons

Jewellery usually puts a woman in high spirits, but this one looks anything but happy. Her face and entire bearing betray despair, or at best indifference. Is the necklace a gift from a lover? Is she putting it on, or taking it off? The title offers no help at all, so we can only guess what she sees in the small mirror on the wall.

"Woman Holding a Balance", c. 1663, Wikimedia Commons

Another lady in a similarly pensive mood appears in Woman Holding a Balance. The woman, for whom the artist's wife may have posed, once again stands before a window, holding an empty pair of scales. Beside her on the table lie her jewels, and on the wall hangs a painting depicting a scene from the Last Judgment. While some art critics tend to believe the woman is "weighing" earthly against heavenly values, we side with those who argue it is simply an image of vanity in the face of the divine.

3. Music

"A Girl Interrupted at Her Music", c. 1660, Wikimedia Commons

The woman looks genuinely irritated. A pompous-looking man appears to have come to lecture her about music, or perhaps he's trying to impress her by showing off how well he reads notes. The girl's telling expression seems to say, "Oh no, not him again. How much longer?" Judging by the two full glasses, she'll have to endure a bit more of him yet. In the symbolic language of these paintings, an untouched glass of wine represents a relationship between a man and a woman that is still slowly developing.