The Art of Painting

Johannes Vermeer

Painted

c. 1666–68

Collection

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Behind a drawn-back curtain a painter with his back to us paints a model crowned with laurel: she is Clio, muse of history, and the map on the wall shows the seventeen provinces of the old Netherlands. Vermeer kept this picture until his death despite his debts, and it is read as his statement of the glory painting can win in history.

Object record (Wikimedia Commons) · Public domain

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