JOHANNES VERMEER (yo-HAN-ess ver-MEER) 1632-1675

“I’d give the whole of Italian painting for Vermeer of Delft. Now there’s a painter who simply said what he had to say without bothering about anything else.” Pablo Picasso

Grades 3-5 PowerPoint Lesson Plan

OBJECTIVES

HISTORY: Places an artwork in its art historical context. Students will be able to describe how Vermeer’s paintings of genre scenes can give us an idea of the daily life of people in the past. Students will also understand that Vermeer’s genre scenes broke with the artistic traditions of the day, because most artists were painting portraits and historical, mythological or religious subjects.

CRITICISM: Informed talk about art. Students will be able to describe the difference between implied texture and actual texture.

AESTHETICS: Questions the nature, value and beauty of art. Students will discuss whether or not it is important for us to understand the reasons an artist has for creating a work of art.

PRODUCTION: Creating art. Students will create a drawing of Girl with a Pearl Earring, which shows implied texture.

VOCABULARY

Note to volunteers The vocabulary words will be in bold italics throughout the lesson. They will be defined within the text of the lesson and do not need to be presented separately. The definitions included under this section of the lesson are very detailed and intended for adults only.

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Genre Scene: painting that stresses subject matter of domestic trivia, homey scenes, sentimental family life, daily life, etc.

Texture: the surface quality of an object or the representation of surface character. Actual texture is a surface which stimulates a TACTILE response when actually touched. Implied (simulated) texture is a representation of an actual texture created by a careful copying of the light and dark patterns characteristic of its surface.

INTRODUCTION

Today I would like you to pretend that an artist is going to paint your picture. For this painting, the artist wants you to be doing some activity that you do every day.

Think about all the things you do each day. Close your eyes. Are you going to have the artist paint your picture while you are having breakfast, or playing a game with someone? Maybe you are reading a book, or sitting at your desk, playing with your pet. Picture something you do each day in your mind:

(Read the following aloud slowly for students to formulate some details about the scene they are imagining.) Now, let’s add some details to your picture:  Where are you?  Are you at home or school, indoors or outdoors?  How are you dressed?  Are you ready for school or still in your pajamas?  Are you eating? Playing? Reading?  How are you feeling – happy, quiet, surprised, sad?  Are there other people with you? Family or friends?

Now you can open your eyes. What are some of the things you imagined yourself doing? (Let students share some of their ideas.)

A picture that shows scenes or events from everyday life like you have just imagined are called genre (zhan-ra) scenes. Say that with me “genre scenes”. There are lots of details in a picture that can tell someone who is looking at it, things about you, as well as things about the place you live. That is one of the ways we have learned about people who lived a long time ago. When you look at a painting from another place or time it can give you all sorts of information. You can see the kinds of clothes people wore, what foods they ate, the kinds of chores they did, games they played or the kinds of objects, tools or furniture they used every day.

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The paintings we are going to see today are scenes of people doing ordinary things, except they were doing them nearly 350 years ago! Johannes Vermeer (yo-HAN- ess ver-MEER) is the name of the artist who painted them. Say that with me – “Johannes Vermeer”.

HISTORY

VIEW OF DELFT 1661, OIL ON CANVAS, 38 x 45-1/2” Delft is a city in Northern Europe in the Netherlands. It was Vermeer’s hometown. This view he painted of it is often said to be one of the greatest pictures of a city ever painted. It is clear and bright and gives us a feeling that it still exists, and in fact, it does.

The people and scenes Vermeer and other Dutch (people from the Netherlands) artists were choosing to paint were unusual from what most of the artists in Europe were painting four hundred years ago. Vermeer and other Dutch artists were painting genre scenes because ordinary Dutch citizens had begun to buy paintings for their homes and those were the kinds of paintings they wanted.

MYSTIC NATIVITY BY BOTTICELLI, 1500 This painting is not by Vermeer, but an artist named Botticelli. Most people that were alive in Europe during Vermeer’s lifetime thought that only certain things were important enough to paint, like this scene from a New Testament Bible story. Artists painted pictures of important people, like kings and queens or illustrated famous stories from history, religion and mythology. Vermeer and other Dutch artists had started to do something very different when they painted pictures of ordinary people and places.

FYI The information contained in a box in this lesson is added for the adult volunteer’s enrichment. Generally, the information is not intended for inclusion in the classroom presentation. However, if appropriate, you may wish to present some of this information to the students.

The flowering of Dutch painting in the 17th century is one of the most remarkable chapters in the entire history of art. This young country suddenly discovered a vocation that had no particular strong precedent in the previous centuries. During the so-called Golden Age, the Dutch produced and purchased more paintings per capita than any other country. Most of these works were destined for private collections. There was no call for religious art, so the majority of artistic output was aimed at the well-tended homes of the affluent classes.

However, Dutch painters, (Rembrandt, Vermeer, De Hooch), were hardly ever able to enjoy the same level of earnings or social standing as their counterparts in other countries. Almost all of them had to hold down a second job and for the most part tended to specialize in a particular subject in order to appeal more specifically to dealers and customers.

Only a few major antiquarians owned proper galleries in which to hang works of art for sale. Exhibitions, sales and auctions were usually held in taverns and hotels.

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A GIRL ASLEEP 1657, OIL ON CANVAS, 34 x 30” Vermeer was a man we don’t know much about. He grew up in the inn his father ran. An inn is a place to spend the night, like a motel today. His father was also an art collector and so part of the inn served as an art gallery where he displayed and sold paintings that came from all over Europe.

Vermeer’s father encouraged his son to become a painter and he was surrounded by art from the time he was born.

This is also a genre scene, a view of everyday life. It shows a young girl who has fallen asleep at a table. Vermeer’s paintings do something he did not intend to have happen when he painted them. They let us see the style of clothes that people wore, the foods they ate, how the furniture looked, and the kinds of art they had on the wall. Since he painted scenes that were of everyday life, we can get a glimpse of how ordinary people lived.

We do not know who the people in his paintings were. In fact, Vermeer didn’t give any of his paintings titles. Other people did that later. Vermeer was an artist who chose to paint lovely pictures, mostly of young girls or women. He painted pictures of people and places that interested him.

GIRL READING A LETTER AT AN OPEN WINDOW c.1657, OIL ON CANVAS, 33 x 25” When he turned 20, Vermeer made two important choices: to become a painter and to marry Catherina Bolnes. He and Catherina had eleven children. Vermeer was not a wealthy or famous painter during his lifetime. Like other painters of his day, he was often in debt and had to borrow money to feed his family. He worked very slowly. How many paintings do you think he finished in one year? (Only one or two.) To help support his family, he worked as the innkeeper and also continued to work as an art dealer selling paintings from the inn.

In this painting we see a young girl standing before an open window reading a letter. Vermeer has filled this painting with many different textures. Can anyone tell me what texture means? (Texture refers to the way things feel). Touch your clothes, your hair, the carpet or the bottom of your shoe. They all have different textures. What are some words that describe the textures you felt? (Soft, smooth, bumpy…) These are all actual textures, say that with me, “actual texture”. It means you can really feel them when you touch them.

YOUNG WOMAN WITH A WATER JUG c.1664-65, OIL ON CANVAS, 18 x 16” The textures we see in a painting are different from the actual textures we just felt in our clothes and shoes. In this painting, the artist has painted objects and people to make them look like they have real texture. But if you were allowed to

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touch the surface of a painting, it would feel like the canvas or surface it is painted on. It only looks like smooth metal, or a fuzzy carpet or a rough wall. This kind of texture is called implied texture. Say that with me, “implied texture”. It means you cannot really feel it if you touch it. It only looks like an actual texture.

Describe some of the implied textures you see in this painting. (Crisp, starched fabric on woman’s head, smooth metal pitcher, soft tapestry, bumpy rough box, smooth glass window, leathery chair, bumpy, hard finial on the chair back.)

THE MUSIC LESSON 1662-65, OIL ON CANVAS, 29 x 25-1/4” This is another genre scene. A teacher is giving a young girl a music lesson. Look in the mirror hanging over the instrument the girl is playing. In it you see her face reflected and also the feet of the easel the artist is using to paint FYI To pay off his debts at the time of his death, the scene! Vermeer’s paintings were dispersed, and gradually he was forgotten. He languished in obscurity for almost 200 years. But soon after the Vermeer did not always sign his invention of photography and coinciding with the work. Some of his paintings were beginning of French Impressionism, he was thought to have been painted by rediscovered by the world at large. The French other artists for a long time. The writer and critic Thoré-Bürger first saw The View of Delft in 1842 while on a visit to a museum in King of England bought this the Netherlands. He was deeply impressed and painting 100 years after Vermeer curious because he had not known of the artist had painted it. But since there was before: thus he began his research on Vermeer. no name on it, people thought He spent much of the next 10 years searching someone else had painted it. It the museums of Europe and cataloging the works he identified to be by Vermeer. Today, would be another 100 years before only 36 works have been identified as his. it was finally discovered to have been painted by Vermeer. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t sign your work!

CRITICISM

THE MILKMAID 1658-60, OIL ON CANVAS, 18” x 16” The figure in this painting is a humble servant girl performing her duties. She stands alone in a back room pouring milk from a pitcher. Take a minute to see how many different kinds of implied texture you see painted here.

Sensory Properties: What do you see? 1. Point out and describe some of the different textures in this painting. (Smooth face and arms, coarse denim like dress fabric, bumpy stitching on the dress, crusty bread, smooth clay pitcher, rough, bumpy black pitcher, bumpy wicker, rough wall…) 5 PowerPoint Presentation

2. Describe the smoothest texture you see. The roughest? (How would it feel to touch it - slick, hard, cold, prickly, rough, bumpy?)

Formal Properties: How is it arranged? 1. Where do you see textures repeated in this painting? (Smooth textures in the girl’s skin, bowl and pitcher on table, brass on wall, window glass; coarse textures in clothing, fabric on table, baskets; bumpy in stitching on clothes, basket, black pitcher; crusty bread….) 2. There are three places in this painting where there are groups of different textures close together – the milkmaid herself, the objects on the table and the objects on the wall near the window. How does your eye move from one group of textures to the next starting with the milkmaid? (Your eye moves from the milkmaid down to the objects on the table and up to the objects on the wall and window, back to the face of the milkmaid.) Vermeer used textures to carefully lead our eye around the painting so we see all the parts.

Technical Properties: What media, tools and techniques were used? 1. What size do you think this painting is? Does it make a difference? (It is small, 16” x 18.”) 2. Where do you think Vermeer may have used a small brush? A large one?

Expressive Properties: What mood or idea does it express? 1. What kind of feeling or mood does this painting seem to have?

AESTHETICS

Note to volunteers These questions are meant to be open-ended; there is no right or wrong answer.

THE LACEMAKER 1665, OIL ON CANVAS, 9-1/2 x 8-1/4” Vermeer was an artist who painted mainly for his own pleasure and self- expression. He had his own reasons for choosing to paint the things he did and we don’t really know what those reasons were.

Do you think it is important for us to know why he painted this picture or can we enjoy it as just a nice painting? Why or why not?

HISTORY (cont.)

ARTIST IN HIS STUDIO 1665-66, OIL ON CANVAS, 47-¼ x 39-3/8” The Artist in His Studio is one of Vermeer’s last paintings. It shows an artist in a striped shirt with his back to us, painting a picture of a girl. The artist might be

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Vermeer, we don’t really know. He never painted a picture of himself that we know of.

THE ASTRONOMER 1668, OIL ON CANVAS, 19 x 17” This painting shows an astronomer reaching for a globe, which shows the constellations in the sky. Vermeer was very interested in science.

FYI Scholars believe Vermeer used a device called a camera obscura in composing many of his paintings to help create the illusion of 3-D space. Like a photographic camera of today, the camera obscura is a closed box that lets in light through a single hole. In the hole is a lens that focuses the light and projects the image onto a flat surface inside the box. The artist could then accurately trace the outline of the image.

There is no factual record Vermeer used a camera obscura but because of visual effects found in his paintings, scholars believe he did. One effect is the disproportionate size of near objects - an effect not of the naked eye, but seeing through a lens. Another, is the presence of highlights made of little dabs of paint, or pointillés. The reflected image inside the camera obscura miniaturizes the scene and also intensifies color and highlights. This visual effect fascinated Vermeer, and we see that he made such paintings as The Milkmaid and View of Delft sparkle with sequins of light that were probably first observed through a camera obscura.

Vermeer was not a mere transcriber or copyist of the reflected image and its effects; rather he adapted this visual data and exalted it to his artistic purposes.

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING 1665, OIL ON CANVAS, 17-1/2 x 15-3/8” This is a famous portrait of a young girl looking over her shoulder at us. The background is unusual because we can’t tell where she is. The textures of the turban, her clothing, her skin and earring are each different. It is painted using blues and yellows that were often colors Vermeer chose to paint with.

PRODUCTION

Artists of Vermeer’s time often practiced painting by copying great works of art to learn how to be better artists themselves. Today, we are going to practice drawing and adding texture to a picture by drawing the GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING.

Criteria: Students will create a drawing of GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING which shows some implied texture.

Materials: 1 – 8-1/2” x 11” buff or manila copy weight paper with face copied onto it 1 sheet 6” x 9” black construction paper Colored pencils – Prismacolor: 24-30 of each of the following: Spanish orange, Goldenrod, True blue, White, Sienna brown, Black, Crimson red 7 PowerPoint Presentation

Gesso texture board Scissors – 1 per student Glue stick – 1 per student

1. Copy face only onto buff copy paper ahead of time. Buff paper purchased at Paper Zone. 2. Prismacolor pencils may be ordered online through Currys.com by color. Allow for delivery time. 3. Copy the large face (one for each class) and glue it onto at least a 12” x 18” white paper to use as the demonstration drawing. Students will follow along on their paper as the volunteer illustrates each step on this large paper. Use a black felt pen to draw so students can see the lines. This project will take 30 minutes at least.

To create the texture boards: Materials: Gesso 6” x 9” matt board scraps paint brush texture stamps or objects which will create texture when pulled through the gesso (comb, toothpicks etc.)

Instructions: 1. In choosing or creating your textures, use those of similar type. For example, fine, medium or coarse. 2. Paint the gesso onto the matt board somewhat thickly. Experiment to discover how much is needed to create textures which show up when used like a rubbing. 3. Choose 3 different looking textures and impress them into the gesso. This will give some variation and interest to the look of the implied texture in the drawing.

Instructions: 1. Each student has a sheet of buff colored paper with the face of a girl on it. Volunteer will draw on the larger demonstration paper with the face on it, the same as the student paper. 2. Proceed step by step with the class to draw in the headdress, neck, collar, earring, ear and shoulder. Follow the guide in the production notes to draw in the rest of the parts. 3. Begin by coloring the face without the texture board under the drawing.  Color the white of the eyes, collar, earring and highlight on lower lip.  Color the brown pupil of the eye.  Color the black iris of the eye.  Color the lips red, going around the white highlight. 4. After the facial features have been colored, slip the textured matt board under the drawing. 5. Proceed to color in the headdress with blue and yellow pencils.

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 Color the first part of the turban blue, the next 2 parts are Spanish orange.  Color the long drape of the turban goldenrod.  Color the dress Spanish orange. 6. Try not to move the texture board under the drawing while coloring, but it may be moved in between. When all the parts have been colored, remove the texture board from under the drawing. 7. A bit of blue may be added to the right side of the earring as shading. 8. Cut out the silhouette. This could be finished in the classroom at a later date if time runs out. 9. Glue it to the black background paper with the straight edge along the bottom aligning with the bottom edge of the black paper. 10. Sign your work.

Jill Bogle, 2004

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