The competition between the illusion of reality and the physical evidence of the brushstroke transports us into a different realm, that of Painting. 3) and Clio's white neck, the artist leaves the trace of his brushstrokes, calling attention to his manner of painting. While the illusionism is total in many areas of the painting, in others, such as the reflections on the lamp, parts of the tapestry and hair, the pieces of material on the table (fig.
One of the most important factors which contribute to the success of this work is the contradiction which it sets out between the illusion of reality and its pictorial physicality. The manipulation of the perspective is also typical of Vermeer, who has situated a vanishing point just in front of the figure of Clio, beneath her right arm, in order to direct our gaze, like that of the artist, towards her (fig. With this device, the artist tempts us to stretch out our hand to completely reveal the scene and become physically involved with it. The curtain covers one corner of the map, a small part of the trumpet and part of the table and chair. The tapestry which hangs like a curtain to the left of the painting is folded towards the spectator so that we enter into the composition. Vermeer was brilliantly capable of confusing real and fictive space with a mastery comparable to Berni ni or Velázquez. Whatever the case, the true protagonist of this painting is its illusionism. According to this reading, the painting is demonstration of an allegory of painting's commitment to history, rather than the artist's skills, whose power lies in their capacity to turn the transitory into the eternal, and which the artist used to acquire fame and honours. Some recent authors, particularly Sluijter, have called attention to the fact that it is unlikely that, given the sort of works which he produced throughout his career, Vermeer would make such an affirmation. Since Hultén called attention to the fact that the young woman represents Clio, there has been widespread acceptance of the idea that Vermeer is alluding in this work to the relationship between painting and history: history inspires the artist and, furthermore, according to the prejudice prevailing in artistic circles since Antiquity, is its most important subject-matter, entitling artists to a position of prestige within society. The map and the lamp may, along with Clio, be further references to history or simply reflections of a taste for these objects which contained an element of nostalgia for the days when the Netherlands were united. As in the majority of interior paintings, it is difficult to know when an element should be read in a symbolic manner. The light hanging above the artist is crowned by a double-headed eagle, symbol of the Hapsburg dynasty which since the sixteenth century had governed the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands that appear in the map on the end wall (and which still governed the southern provinces). The mask which appears on the table is traditionally used as a symbol of imitation and thus of painting. These accessories refer to fame and its perpetration through writing and would have allowed any contemporary spectator who was well informed in emblems to have identified the woman as Clio, muse of History. The composition shows a painter, presumably Vermeer himself painting a model who poses with a crown of laurel on her head a trumpet in one hand and a book in the other. We do not know what motivated Vermeer to produce it, but his family's efforts to retain it at a period of economic difficulty indicate that it was a picture of which the artist and his descendants were particularly proud.
Paradoxically, this painting is exceptional within the artist's oeuvre, both in its allegorical subject and for being one of the largest of all his paintings. Vermeer's extraordinary technical mastery, the crystal-clear light which illuminates the scene, the purity of the volumes and the unique psychological distancing of the figures are all characteristics of his work that here reach an extraordinary level of refinement. Alejandro Vergara Vermeer and the Dutch Interiorįew paintings in the entire history of art seem as perfect as this one.
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