The Milkmaid

Masterpiece series

This week in our Masterpiece series we dive into the Dutch Golden Age. After Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze last week, Wertical magazine is evoking 10 points of the ‘De milkmeid’ (The Milkmaid), iconic painting from Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer which:

1. was bought by Pieter van Ruijven, Vermeer’s patron when finished, between 1657-1658
2. represents an identified woman though art historian John Michael Montias suggests that it represents Tanneke Ervepoel, domestic of Vermeer’ mother in law
3. is a representation of domestic value
4. was painted by Johannes Vemeeer when the painter was 25
5. Excels in the representation of light that emphasizes the act of pouring as well as the still life in the foreground
5. was supposed to have a world map hanging on the white wall that was later removed by Vermeer
6. has a broken window tile ignored to intensifies the poor interior of the room
7. After many discussions was bought by the Rijksmuseum in 1908, place where the painting can still be seen
8. was exhibited in New York in 1939 for the World’s Fair and had to stay in the US until the end of World War II to avoid it to be taken by the Nazis
9. became the symbol of the French yogurt brand ‘La Laitiere’ that uses the painting as their trademark