Essential Home

In Vermeer’s time, the virtuous Dutch home had risen to the level of sanctuary, the seat of the individual soul where all domestic and good citizenship values were modeled and passed on.  Unlike European countries at the time, women’s work was highly valued and so was the play of children. Sewing, like spinning, was considered an attribute of Biblical origins, and cleanliness, washing and sweeping were associated with spiritual cleanliness and purity.  So too was the purity of children who were dressed plainly in frugal, hand-me-down clothes.  All these values and thoughts – and so much more – are rendered easily, naturally and, to my eye, with such great love that Vermeer has quietly made his viewer an active participant in The Little Street‘s silent townscape narrative.