Brief Biography-Jan Vermeer (Johannes Van der Meer), son of merchant Reynier Vermeer, was born in Delft. He was married to Catharina Bolenes, with whom he had eleven children. There have been suggestions that Carel Fabritius tutored him, which is uncertain; however, Fabritius influenced him; Vermeer also had three Fabritius paintings on his death. In addition, there is evidence of using a Camera Obscura in some of Vermeer’s images. In 1653, the Guild of Saint Luke admitted him, and between 1662 and 1671, he became a headman of the Guild on four occasions.
Vermeer had a small output; only c. thirty-five works were accredited to him, painted over twenty years. He supported his family through his father’s business after he died and was not known to have sold any of his paintings during his life. He gave most of his work away to clear debts. Vermeer was almost forgotten until the late nineteenth century when a French art critic named Théophile Thoré-Bürger supported his paintings in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts. He initially attributed many pictures by Jan Steen and De Hooch to Vermeer. His works are ranked next to that of Rembrandt today.
A family of Vermeer painters from Haarlem are not said to be related to Jan Vermeer of Delft.