"Young woman with a jug of water (1660-1662)" By The Dutch Artist Johannes Vermeer (Jan Vermeer)

 

Young woman with a jug of water (1660-1662)

Young Woman with a Jug of Water is a Baroque oil painting on canvas between 1660 and 1662 by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (Jan Vermeer). The dimensions of the painting are 45.7x40.6 cm. It is currently located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

This Painting is one of those that was painted in the early and mid-1660s, where the artist moved away from emphasis to axonometry and geometric order. He moved to simpler forms, using only one figure and emphasizing the use of light. The artist often depicted women doing some household chores, and in the same surroundings: a white wall, a map on it, a window, a table covered with a carpet. At the same time, the characters perform such simple actions as in the presented picture: a woman opens a window, holding a jug with her other hand. Scattered daylight pouring into the room softens facial features and contours of objects, fills with depth of paint.

As Van Gogh wrote, "... above everything is a marvelously blue sky and the sun, which streams the radiance of a light greenish-yellow color; it is soft and charming, like a combination of sky blue and yellow in a painting by Vermeer of Delft." Vermeer was attentive to detail: the jug reflects the blue drapery, and the surface of the basin is a carpet. The Czech writer Karel Capek spoke about the master’s paintings he saw: “... no one else could notice this clear, transparent light of Holland, as if washed with dew, this silence, bright dignity and intimate sanctity of the hearth, where it smells of iron, soap and femininity ".

The painting was purchased by the American collector Henry Gurdon Marquand in 1887 from the Paris Gallery for only $800, becoming the first of Jan Vermeer's works to be shown in US art collections. Marquand donated this masterpiece, along with others from his collection, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.