View of Delft, c. 1661
Johannes Vermeer
Oil on canvas · 96.5 x 115.7 cm
A hometown skyline rendered with almost photographic patience with light.
Vermeer's rare cityscape shows his hometown across the harbour under a huge, changeable sky, its walls catching a break of sun after rain. Marcel Proust called it the most beautiful painting in the world — a still, radiant portrait of a place.
What you're looking at
Two-thirds of it is sky. The town is a narrow band across the middle, freshly rained on, with one stretch of roof catching sun while the rest stays in shadow. Look closely at the boats and the near wall: Vermeer builds the highlights out of separate small beads of thick paint, the same trick as the bread in the Milkmaid. Proust made a character die in front of this painting, staring at a little patch of yellow wall.
On a Frame TV
About 6:5, so this needs the matted file — the clean 16:9 crop would take most of the sky, and the sky is two-thirds of the painting. Cool and bright with a wide tonal range; it holds daylight well.
Mauritshuis · Visit it in The Hague →
- 4K master file (3840px+)
- Samsung Frame TV–ready crop
- Phone wallpaper crop
- Printable art card
Public domain · one .zip, no sign-up
More like this
Other works in the collection, starting with Johannes Vermeer.
