Johannes Vermeer (October 1632 – December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. throughout his lifetime, he was a somewhat successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. Nonetheless, he created relatively few paintings and evidently was not rich, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death.

Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and regularly used very costly pigments. He is especially renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.

"Almost all his paintings seem to be set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various positions and they often portray the same people, mostly women.

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