Vermeer's parents, Reynier Jansz and Digna Baltens,
probably moved house in the late 1620s.
They may have lived somewhere else after The Three Hammers Inn was let in 1624, but it is certain that the couple lived on the Voldersgracht in 1631.
They rented an inn there complete
with a sign showing a flying fox.
In 1632, a year after enrolling with the guild of St. Luke, Reynier's son Johannes
Vermeer was born.
Vermeer was most probably born in The Flying Fox Inn, but the exact date is unknown. Reynier was then forty-one years old and Digna was thirty-seven. The couple had already been married for seventeen years.
The Flying Fox Inn was in a better neighbourhood than The Three
Hammers. There were five fireplaces on the premises which indicates
that it was quite big.
It was situated on the north side of the Voldersgracht, now number 25. The inn was the third house on the east side of the Oudemannenhuis (old mens' home), not the second, as Montias states in his book on Vermeer. We can verify this from the taxation register of 1632 and the book of fireplaces of 1638.
Hata Stichting
Foundation