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The painter nicknamed the «Sphinx of Delft», because of his modest and veiled life of mystery, lived in the Dutch city during the golden age of local painting, a period extending from the end of the 1620s to the French invasion of 1672, during the Dutch War.
In his time, Vermeer benefited from patrons but his art was known only in his region.It was not until the second half of the 19th cen- tury that the Impressionists and Proust put it in the spotlight.
The craze for his genre scenes then raised Vermeer to the rank of Rembrandt as the golden master of the Dutch century.
His production being limited, his works quickly took on immense value.
The Lacemaker, Johannes Vermeer, 1666–68, oil on canvas mounted on panel. Musée du Louvre, Paris
