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Vermeer's View of Delft and his Vision of Reality. |
Copyright
Dr. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.,
C.J. Kaldenbach
DR. ARTHUR K. WHEELOCK JR.,
K. KALDENBACH
Vermeer's View of Delft and his Vision of Reality.
| Vermeerﾕs
View of Delft is a glorious image of a city, so
lifelike yet so hauntingly still and different that it never
ceases to amaze the viewer. It is as though we are seeing the city on a Sunday morning before the activity of life overwhelms the quiet beauty of the setting. |
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copyright. Konink Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis
inv.no.92 |
The impact of this painting on a viewer seeing it for the first
time is perhaps best expressed by Thor e-B殲 rger in his article
on Vermeer, written in 1886 .Thor� discovered View of Delft
while visiting the Mauritshuis and later wrote that its indelible
image motivated him to attempt a reconstruction of the oeuvre
of this, to him, totally unknown painter.
He wrote: "In the museum of theHague, a superb, unique landscape
stops visitors andkeenly impresses artists and connoisseurs of
painting. It is aview of a town, with a quai, an old portal, the
buildings of a variedarchitecture, garden walls, trees, and the
foreground, a canal and astrip of land with several small figures.
The silver ﾒgray of the sky and the tones of the watercalled to
mind Philip Koninck. The burst of light, and intensity of color,
the solidity of impasto incertain areas, the hyper-real yet very
original effect also recalls something of Rembrandtﾓ.
Thor�, however, was not the first to notice View of Delft or to recognize its qualities. In 1822, when the painting was bought for the Mauritshuis, the sales catalogue described it as ﾒthe most famous painting of this master, whose works seldom occur; the way of painting is the most audacious, powerful and masterly that one can imageﾓ .
The intent of this article is to examine the nature of Vermeerﾕs
image, both to understand the manner in which he created such
a naturalistic impression and how he has transformed a topographical
view into one that is powerful and audacious in the way Thor�-B殲rger
and others have described. The audacious quality of the painting
evolves from the bold silhouette of the city against the sky,
the reflections of the buildings in the water; and above all,
from the dramatic use of light to focus the composition and the
article the space. The scene seem to bathed in light ,yet in fact
only the background buildings are directly illuminated by the
sun. The dark clouds that cover and close the upper reaches of
the sky effektivy shade the roofs and facades of the nearby buildings,
water and foreground figures.
Vermeerﾕs painting represents the city of Delft as seen from the
south. Beyond the harbor that lies before the town stand the city
walls that are broken only by the small Kethel Gate, which is
adjacent to the large Schiedam Gate with its clock tower, the
bridge, and its Rotterdam Gate with its twin tower on the front
gate. The site was an important one for 17th-century Delft since
from this area roads and waterways extended to Rotterdam, Schiedman
and Delfshaven. Maps from the period, including Bleauﾕs Groundplan
of Delft from 1649 and the large Figuretive Map of Delft
from1675-78 show this harbor to be filled with boats not only
lined up at the quai, but also sailing down the Schie.
For any of Vermeerﾕs contemporaries,
however,the nature of the View of Delft must have seemed
particularly unusual. Although the location would have been immediately
recognizable, the stillness of the scene would have been uncharacteristic.
Even though Vermeer includes a large number of boats in this scene,
only the small transport craft in the left foreground and the
two larger herring ships moored at the shipyards at the right
are immediately evident. The other boats are all moored alongside
the fare edge of the water, where they visually blend with the
background since Vermeer has rendered their colors and textures
so similar to those of the adjacent quais, city walls and buildings.
Clearly, Vermeer subordinated the commercial and mercantile activities
of the area to focus on Delftﾕs distinctive architectural character.
The question remains as to whether
Vermeer was as consciously selective in his depictions of buildings
he was in his representations of shipping in the harbor. This
work has generally been described as being topographically accurate
and many have speculated that he created such an accurate image
by using an optical device called camera obscura. Indeed, close
comparisons with old maps and town plans convincingly reinforce
the sensation that Vermeer had carefully rendered the cityﾕs appearance
from its southern side.
Not only are the distinctive gates and
the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk identificable, but other elements
as well. A wash drawing of a view along the quai before the southern
city wall by Jan de Bisschop presents one other view of the Schiedam
and Rotterdam Gates. This drawing also help us to understand the
complex shape of the Kethel Gate just to the left of the Schiedam
Gate that is accurately portrayed, although somewhat indistinctly,
in Vermeerﾕs painting. From Vermeerﾕs vantage point we can see
the fa溝 des of buildings lining the three canals that branch out
just beyond the bridge. These are evident to the left and right
of the Schiedam gate.
The fa溝 des of the buildings on the Kethelstraat just behind the city wall on the left, are accurate. A reconstruction of their appearance from a number of source, including an old map called the Kadastrale Minuut (c.1830) made by Mr.W.F. Weve correlates almost exactly with Vermeerﾕs image. The distant multi-spired tower in the left center of the composition, which rises just beyond the dark cone-shaped spire, belongs to the Oude Kerk. All of the architectural elements seem to be accurately portrayed. Nevertheless, as will be discussed below, these same comparisons with old maps and town plans, as well as technical examinations of the painting itself, have revealed that Vermeer made a number of small adjustments in his depiction of the site to enhance its pictorial image.
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