The Milkmaid

Vermeer is considered one of the principal Dutch genre painters of the 17th century. His work displays an unprecedented level of mastery in its illusion of reality, and his figures with their calm, solemn air, which add a level of mystery to his paintings. A poem written in 1667, which alludes to the explosion of the Delft municipal arsenal in 1654, led to the misleading notion that Vermeer was the student of Carel Fabritius, the foremost painter of Delft who died in the same explosion. Leonard Bramer, who was also a prominent painter in Delft and friend of Vermeer's family, could also have been his teacher, although his work consists of mostly large easel paintings executed in the dark style of Carravaggio. Despite the mastery of Vermeer's work, it did not have lasting effect on other artists, as he had no known pupils.