Four Ways Vermeer’s Work Can Make Its Mark in Your Home

Even with only about three dozen paintings to his name, Johannes Vermeer is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. (His Girl With a Pearl Earring painting caused a craze on a recent two-year world tour.) Painted with utmost care and the clarity of a photograph, Vermeer’s paintings mostly depict ordinary domestic scenes, often of ephemeral figures in the crisp northern light inside two rooms of his home in Delft, Netherlands. Although you may think you and the 17th-century Dutch artist are worlds apart, you may be surprised to see how his paintings can shape your home’s interior for the better.

                    Shown: The Girl With a Wineglass (1659-60)

 

1. Install a stained glass window. In Vermeer’s day, stained glass windows were plentiful. Glass was expensive, so windows were made from small pieces of glass held together by lead strips. While stained glass is still made today, it’s often associated with religious buildings or those small decorative artworks held in place by a suction cup.

A stained glass window isn’t just a beautiful piece of art, it’s functional as well. It adds pattern and color, and depending on the glass, it can provide privacy without blocking light.

 

The stained glass windows in this kitchen are a beautiful focal point and help elevate the other traditional materials in the space.

 

 

Stained glass isn’t only for exterior windows. It’s a great addition to an interior transom, as is this piece found on a doorway in a second floor hallway.

Crown glass also gives you an old-world look but without color. Resembling the thick bottom of a bottle, it’s made of cylindrical glass that’s blown into a globe shape, then flattened.

Shown: The Procuress (1656)

 

2. Invest in an Oriental rug. Look at most any Vermeer (or 17th-century Dutch painting for that matter), and you’re likely to see an Oriental rug. Vermeer probably included them to demonstrate his talent in rendering all things intricate. While this one is shown draping a woman’s legs, most in his day were used as table coverings instead of on the floor.

 

Like stained glass, Oriental rugs are prized works of art and will amp up any room.  Patterns, colors, weaving techniques and styles vary greatly. Some have larger, more prominent designs, like this example.  Others are more elegant, finely detailed and less pronounced.

If you don’t like the idea of walking on something so exquisite, hanging a rug on the wall is another way to enjoy its beauty. This one serves as a headboard.

 

Shown: The Music Lesson (1662-65)

3. Checker your floor. Vermeer’s home clearly had checkered floors, and the plucky pattern also showed off his prowess in expressing perspective and depth in his paintings.

 

Prominent in 17th-century Holland, checkered floors have never gone out of style. Graphic and bold, they easily skirt between traditional and contemporary, and make a handsome statement.

Checkered floor patterns can vary in scale, but 12-inch squares set on a diagonal are the norm. Smaller squares can look overly busy if the palette is high-contrast like a black and white, but they can work in smallish spaces. This bathroom floor sports 6-inch marble tiles.

If you find checkered floors too adventurous for your taste, you can curb the graphic effect by installing a light border between the dark-valued tiles and selecting an accent color instead of black.

Shown: Young Woman Standing at a Virginal (1670-72)

4. Embellish with a blue and white tile. The city of Delft is renowned for its blue and white pottery. An imitation of Chinese pieces imported by the Dutch East India Company, it’s also known as delftware. The pieces originally had tin glazing, which turned an opaque white when fired. Cobalt blue ceramic glazed patterns were added for decoration. Popular imagery includes windmills, flowers and pastoral figures.

Delftware includes pottery, plates and serving pieces, ornamentals, as well as tile. Here in Vermeer’s painting, delft tile, also known as Dutch tile, is used as baseboard skirting on the wall.

Unless you build a windmill on your property, probably nothing will evoke the aesthetic of the Low Countries more than delft tile.

This kitchen uses delft tile as a full-height backsplash behind the cooking area. It’s a spectacular complement to copper pots too.

Delft tiles are perfect for fireplace surrounds. Be aware that traditional Dutch tiles tend to be thicker and sized differently from U.S. factory-made tiles, so depending on your application, you’ll need to plan ahead to accommodate appropriate spacing.

Interested in incorporating these ideas into your home?

Wolford Building and Remodeling won numerous Awards

from the Building Industry Association Greater Louisville in 2015!

Let us remodel or build your dream home!

http://www.wolfordbuilthomes.com