About this work
(*De Schilderkunst*), c. 1666–1668 Oil on canvas, 120 × 100 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The first thing the eye meets is a heavy tapestry curtain, drawn aside like a theater drape to reveal the room beyond. The drawn-back curtain opens a view of a studio bathed in light from an unseen window on the left; on the back wall hangs a detailed map of the Netherlands; and in the foreground a chair and cloth-covered table lead the viewer's gaze inward to where the painter, his back to us, sits at his easel, beginning work on a half-length portrait of a girl standing at the window.
That girl is dressed as Clio, the muse of history — identifiable by her attributes: a book representing historiography, and a trumpet standing for the proclamation of fame.
Vermeer works in a limited but powerful palette dominated by blues, yellows, and reds, with the model's blue costume and yellow elements forming a vibrant focal point against the more muted background tones. Above it all, a large tapestry curtain to the left, a crystalline chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a black-and-white tiled floor stage the action with architectural clarity.
The marble tiled floor and the splendid golden chandelier are examples of Vermeer's virtuosity in perspective; each object reflects or absorbs light differently, achieving the most accurate rendering of material effects.
Vermeer created *The Art of Painting* between 1666 and 1668, during the height of the Dutch Golden Age.
It is one of only two known allegorical paintings in Vermeer's oeuvre, and as such is more overtly layered in terms of meaning.
Vermeer had begun his career as a history painter but abandoned that category altogether by 1656 in favor of genre scenes — which makes it all the more striking that he chose Clio, muse of History, as his model here, quietly complicating long-standing assumptions about the painting's subject.
He considered it among his most personal work, never selling it even in debt; after his death, his widow Catharina bequeathed it to her mother specifically to prevent its sale to creditors. Scholar Albert Blankert's assessment has stood: "No other painting so flawlessly integrates naturalistic technique, brightly illuminated space, and a complexly integrated composition." The painting's own provenance mirrors its ambitions — *The Art of Painting* was finally moved from temporary status into the permanent collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in 1958
