The Impeccable Puzzle of Vermeer’s Milkmaid
A brilliant painting infused with suggestive hints
It looks like a simple scene. A woman stands pouring milk from a clay jug. Before her on a small table is a loaf of bread in a wicker basket, along with several other tufts of old loaf. She may be preparing bread pudding, soaking the ingredients before baking.
The mood is quiet, concentrated on the woman in her occupation. With a little imagination, it’s possible to hear the trickle of the milk as it falls from the jug’s spout.
Johannes Vermeer is an artist known for the utmost care he took over the placement of elements in his paintings. This image is no different. Through the clarity of the composition and the lingering sense of solitude, the painting seems to propose an impeccable puzzle. Can it be solved?
Eloquent Arrangement
The Milkmaid is a type of painting known as a “genre” work, a style popular in Dutch art at the time, one that celebrated the lives of ordinary people engaged in everyday occupations or pastimes.
