Nationality: Dutch

Birthdate: October 1632

Date of Death: 15 December 1675

GMC Ranking: 4

Johannes Vermeer also known as Jan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy; at his death, his wife was left in debt.

Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and frequently used very expensive pigments. He is particularly renowned for making masterful use of light in his work. "Almost all his paintings", Hans Koningsberger wrote, "are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women."

Vermeer's artworks were largely overlooked by art historians for two centuries after his death. A select number of connaisseurs in the Netherlands did appreciate his work, yet even so, many of his artworks were attributed to then better-known artists such as Metsu or Mieris.

Upon the rediscovery of Vermeer's work, several prominent Dutch artists modelled their style on his work, including Simon Duiker. In the 20th century, Vermeer's admirers included Salvador Dalí, who painted his own version of The Lacemaker and pitted large copies of the original against a rhinoceros in some surrealist experiments.

Vermeer's reputation and artworks have been featured in both literature and in films. Tracy Chevalier's novel Girl with a Pearl Earring (1999), and the 2003 film of the same name, present a fictional account of Vermeer's creation of the famous painting and his relationship with the equally fictional model.

Many artists are inspired by the famous painter, for example, culinary photographer Aimee Twigger draws on Vermeer's chiaroscuro for her gustatory journeys through recipes.