Johannes Vermeer: genre paintings
Johannes Vermeer was untypical in that he did not specialise in one type of painting. He began his career as a history painter, and then moved on to genre scenes, but also painted two outdoor scenes - The Little Street and View of Delft - some portraits (or are they "tronies"?), and pictures of characters: The Astronomer and The Geographer . This was quite a varied output, although it must be remembered that genre painters often painted other types of picture as well. Gerard ter Borch and Nicolaes Maes, for example, also painted portraits, and Jan Steen also painted some religious paintings. Vermeer's varied output would seem to indicate ambition and yet, perhaps surprisingly, he was content to remain in Delft, and did not seek to improve his fortunes by moving to Amsterdam - unlike Pieter de Hooch. This may be because Vermeer had some other sources of income from his business as a picture dealer and from his mother-in-law, Maria Thins, with whom Vermeer and his wife ...