View of Delft is an oil painting by Johannes Vermeer, painted ca. 1659–1661. The painting of the Dutch artist's hometown is among his most popular, painted at a time when cityscapes were uncommon. It is one of three known paintings of Delft by Vermeer, along with The Little Street and the lost paintingHouse Standing in Delft. The use of pointillism in the work suggests that it postdates The Little Street, and the absence of bells in the tower of the New Church dates it to 1660–1661. Vermeer's View of Delft has been held in the Dutch Royal Cabinet of Paintings at the Mauritshuis in The Hague since its establishment in 1822.
Description
The landscape was painted from an elevated position to the southeast of Delft, possibly the upper floor of a house on the quayside across the riverSchie. The artist is looking back to the city to the northwest, with the in the middle of the composition, and the and its barbican to the right, all reflected in the water of the harbour created in 1616–1620. Behind the Schiedam Gate is the long red-roofed arsenal. It is a morning scene, with the sun to the east illuminating the Protestant Nieuwe Kerk before its bells were replaced in 1660. The New Church in Delft is the burial place of William the Silent and other members of the House of Orange-Nassau. To the left is the tower the "De Papegaey" brewery and, to its left, the top of the tower of the Oude Kerk. Some barges are drawn up on the quayside, with a few people passing by. The top half of the painting is dominated by a cloudy sky, with a dark cloud suggesting a rain shower has just passed. It is believed that Vermeer created this painting using an optical device—possibly a camera obscura, or a telescope—to capture the detail. In July 2020, Professor Donald Olson, of Texas State University, published research shedding new light on the date and time captured by the painting.
The painting may have been bought by Pieter van Ruijven and inherited by his daughter Magdalena. It is known to have passed through the collection of her husband Jacob Dissius. It was auctioned in 1822, and bought for 2,900 guilders for the new Dutch Royal Cabinet of Paintings established at the Mauritshuis. The painting features in Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time, in the death scene of the writer Bergotte in The Captive. Bergotte takes inspiration from Vermeer's technique: "That's how I ought to have written .... My last books are too dry, I ought to have ... made my language precious in itself, like this little patch of yellow wall." Proust himself greatly admired Vermeer, particularly this painting. When seeing the work for the first time, Proust is quoted as saying: In 2011, the painting was featured on gold and silver commemorative coins issued by the Royal Dutch Mint.
