Allegory of the Catholic Faith, ca. 1670–72
Johannes Vermeer
Oil on canvas · 45 x 35 in. (114.3 x 88.9 cm)
A woman in white and blue amid tapestry, globe and crucifix on a chequered floor.
Vermeer stages faith as theatre: a woman in white and blue rests a hand on her breast amid a crucifix, a glass orb and a great tapestry drawn back like a curtain. Rare among his works for its symbolism, it keeps his hallmark cool light and chequered floor.
What you're looking at
It is dense with objects that all mean something: a glass orb hanging from the ceiling that reflects the window, a snake crushed under a cornerstone, a bitten apple, a chalice, the tapestry pulled aside like a stage curtain. Vermeer painted it for a Catholic patron in a Protestant city, where Mass was held in private, which is why the faith on show here is staged in a domestic room rather than a church.
On a Frame TV
About 7:9. Matted file: the clean crop takes the hanging orb, which is the object the whole composition is arranged around. Cool light on a dark ground — better in a dim room.
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Other works in the collection, starting with Johannes Vermeer.
