Senhora e a Empregada Doméstica (Mistress and Maid / Lady with Her Maidservant Holding a Letter / Vrouw en Dientbode Met Brief) - Johannes Vermeer

Senhora e a Empregada Doméstica (Mistress and Maid / Lady with Her Maidservant Holding a Letter / Vrouw en Dientbode Met Brief) - Johannes Vermeer
Frick Collection Nova York Estados Unidos
OST - 90x78 - 1666-1667

Mistress and Maid (c.1667) is a painting produced by Johannes Vermeer, now in the Frick Collection in New York City. The work of Johannes Vermeer, also known as Jan, is well known for many characteristics that are present in this painting. The use of yellow and blue, female models, and domestic scenes are all signatures of Vermeer. This oil on canvas portrays two women, a Mistress and her Maid, as they look over the Mistress' love letter.

Johannes Vermeer was born in 1632 in Delft, Holland. He worked and lived in Delft all his life, although it is possible that he may have done an apprenticeship in another town such as Amsterdam or Utrecht for six years. A major stepping point in Vermeer's career was in 1653 when he joined the Guild of Saint Luke as a master and professional painter. Vermeer painted at a somewhat leisure pace, producing two to three paintings a year and there are 35 known to exist today. Vermeer's work shows that he was most likely a fan of the camera obscura, as parts are in focus as others slightly blur. There is also an intensity to his colors that supports the use of the obscura. Vermeer died at a relatively young age, 43, in 1675. He suffered most likely from a stroke or stress-induced heart attack. The slow rate at which he produced paintings restricted Vermeer from becoming wealthy during his lifetime, and he died in debt.

Vermeer chose a large canvas for this composition, which presents two women pondering a newly arrived letter. Depicting an interior domestic scene like so many of Vermeer's images, the painting explores the relationship between mistresses and maids and the writing and receiving of letters, two popular themes in the art and literature of the period. It also demonstrates Vermeer's technical virtuosity: bravura strokes suggest the pleating of the yellow mantle; shorter, bold strokes signify the flickering light reflected on the glassware; and dots of impasto convey the shimmer of the pearls. An observed lack of modeling, especially in the mistress's profile and hands, is a feature that has caused some scholars to declare the painting unfinished. While the figures are not as highly finished as in earlier paintings by Vermeer's oeuvre, this assessment stems from a misunderstanding of the artist's stylistic evolution. The soft articulation of her form imbues the figure with a sense of movement−her mouth open and on the verge of speech, her hand rising to her chin in thought, her eye addressing the maid and at the same time gazing past her.  It has also been suggested that the painting's dark background meant that the work was incomplete at the time of Vermeer's death and the background filled in, by another hand, to make it saleable. Infrared reflectography (IRR) of the canvas, conducted in 2018, refutes this and reveals that Vermeer originally included a multi-figural pictorial element in the background, possibly meant to represent a tapestry, which he later painted out to better focus attention on the woman's interactions.