“The Glass of Wine” Johaness Vermeer

Due to the fact that this will be my last article, I have thought that it might be better to leave the curiosities and best parts to the end. In this article I am going to talk to you about some interesting things I have found about my painting and I hope you enjoy them.

First of all I would like to tell you if you know how big the painting is. Why am I telling you this? Well, because when I began working on it, I thought that it was pretty big, however, it was not until later that I realized how small it is. You can see it below:

Johaness Vermeer- 17th century

You might now probably be thinking the same as me. How can it be so small? I think that this happens because usually we chack the online and they look bigger than what we think and when we realize how small they are, we think that it is impossible. The paintings size is: 65 x 77 cm.

Another curiosity is that when I first began working on “The Glass of Wine” I was not sure, whether I was doing the right painting, due to the fact that there is a very similar painting of Vermeer “The Girl with the Wine Glass”. You can see below that in fact, they look very similar:

Johaness Vermeer- 17th century

Johaness Vermeer- 17th century

As you can see, the name of the paintings is very similar and the tiled florr and the stained glass are both very similar. Important to meantion is the fact that wine appears in both paintings, as well as the same wine pitcher. We can see that although it is true that a third person has been introduced, the man is not wearing a hat, the woman does not have a headdress and we can see her face. Many of the characteristics remain similar: the window is open and as we have said in a previous article, this was a symbol of temperance; the wine, which was a forbidden pleasure and a painting hanging at the back of the wall.

Finally, I just want to insert a song related to the 17th period so that you can get an idea of what kind of music was listened and played.

\”The Lady Nevils Delight\”

To conclude, I just want to add that I hope you have get a wider overview about the painting of “The Glass of Wine” as well as about the period because sometimes, when we learn about an artist the period has an important influence. If you hve any doubts, just write some comments I am pleased to help you.

References:

• Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wine_Glass
• The complete interactive Vermeer Catalogue, http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/glass_of_wine.html
• The complete interactive Vermeer Catalogue, http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/music/10-GLASS-Lady%20Nevils%20Delight-smp.mp3

“The Glass of Wine” Johaness Vermeer

In the first part of the article, I have given you a brief introduction about the apinting and then we have analyzed the painting in more detail. In this second part, I will like to center in the painting technique used in “The Glass of wine” and I will also like to mention where did Vermeer take his inspiration from.

Johaness Vermeer- 17th century

The painting technique used is oil on canvas and it contains figures situated in a bright light and spacious interior. The figures are situated in the middle ground rather than in the foreground. It is important to understand that Vermeer was only 27 when he painted “The Glass of Wine” and it is considered one of Vermeer’s mature works. Therefore, although many scholars have stated that this is not one of Vermeer’s best painting, I think that when analyzing an artist, we should take all his works into consideration in order to make a conclusion. But we cannot forget that, as we change throughout the years, artists also change their technique and style.

But, did Vermeer come up with the idea of this painting or did he take it from a former artist? Well, it is said that Vermeer took the idea from the older master’s work “A Dutch Courtyard” 1657. Vermeer only took the idea of a woman drinking wine, as well as the figures drinking around a table. But the aims of both artists were completely different as we can see below:

Pieter de Hooch- 1657

Johaness Vermeer- 17th century

Taking into consideration both paintings, we could conclude that Vermeer’s work breaks away from the one of Pieter de Hooch. Vermeer has set his painting in an interior because from now on interiors are going to be where painters are going to center and they are going to leave the outdoor aside. Here Vermeer gives a far more elegant and higher-class setting than Pieter de Hooch. We can see that it is far more elegant due to the clothes of the figures, the patterned tablecloth and the stained window, which suggests a wealthier setting. However, we can see that the idea has been taken from the Hooch because the main idea remains similar.

Moreover, comparing this work to this earlier paintings, Vermeer’s brushwork in “The Glass of Wine” is subdued, although the clothes and faces of the figures are depicted with smooth outlines. More detail has been given to the tablecloth and to the window, where he has applied detailed linear brush strokes. As we have mentioned before, this was not considered Vermeer’s finest but as I have mentioned, when we want to get a whole idea about an artist, all his works must be considered in the same way.

To sum up, in this second part I have tried to give you a more technical analysis of the painting and as I have said in the previous article, the last article will be centered in some curiosities about the painting itself, together with other paintings.

References:

• Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wine_Glass
• The complete interactive Vermeer catalogue, http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/glass_of_wine.html

“The Glass of Wine” Johannes Vermeer

Johaness Vermeer- 17th century

The artist of the painting “The Glass of Wine” is Johaness Vermeer (1632-1675). He painted “The Glass of Wine” between 1658-1660. The painting is also known as “Lady and Gentleman drinking Wine” or in Dutch “Het Glas Wijn” and it portrays a seated woman and standing man in an interior setting. Nowadays, the painting can be found in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. The work is typical of the genre painting (images of domestic life, views of households, courtyards…) of the Delft School developed by Pietr de Hooch around 1650. It is a painting of the Baroque style, which it is characterized by its great drama, deep color, intense light and dark shadows.

But what does the painting suggest? It is important to take into consideration that the predominant figure in Vermeer’s works is usually the female character. However, sometimes the male figure intrudes into a domestice scene. This painting as can bee seen, is set in a daylight burgeois room and there is a man encouraging a young woman to dring wine. Wine is in my opinion the central motif in Vermeer’s work due to the fact that it was a forbidden pleasure for women. If a woman was intoxicated on wine, it was considered as a kind of sin. Furthermore, alchool was the first steo towards whoring.

If we now have a thorough look at the painting, we can see that the lute laid aside and the scattered sheet of music add a sexual undertone offset by the couple’s heavy clothing. The emblem of the 27th century was “If music be the food of love” (taken from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”). However, as we can see, their bodies are hidden behind fabrics and folds. His body is covered with a cloak and as we can see, he has not taken his hat yet. Her body is covered under a heavy dress and she is also wearing a headdress. Moreover, as it can be noticed, there is no physical contact, the man is the only one looking at the lady but she cannot see him because of the headdress and the glass that she is holding as can be seen in the image below:

Johaness Vemeer- 17th century

As we have seen, there are characteristics that imply that the couple like each other, they feel a kind of desire, but at the same time, we can see that the heavy clothes mean that there is nothing between them. The open window is emblazoned with an emblem of temperance and it is important that we center in the window, because although it is open, there is not even a glimpse to the outside world. Scholars have suggested that the painting should be analized as a straightforward seduction.

To sum up, we have seen how one has to look carefully at the painting in order to be able to have a critical analysis of the painting, as there are many things related to sin, sex and temperance. In my opinion it is difficult to know whether the couple are attracted to each other or not because I think that their state of mind remais hidden and it is us, the ones who have to decide what kind of relation they have. Perhaps Vermeer wanted the viewer made their own conclusions as well as letting us being creative about it. If you want to learn more about the painting, I will write a second part about the painting technique, and finally, I will made a thir part with some curiosities that I have found.

References:

• Wikipedia,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wine_Glass
• The complete interactive Vermeer catalogue, http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/glass_of_wine.html