View of Delft

Johannes Vermeer painted 'View of Delft' around 1660–1661 from the south bank of the river Schie, catching his home town in the crystalline light of a morning just after rain. The Schiedam and Rotterdam gates, the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk, and the reflections in the water are rendered with a miniature-like precision that seems to borrow from the newly discovered camera obscura. One of only two cityscapes in Vermeer's tiny surviving oeuvre, it was immortalised by Marcel Proust as 'the most beautiful painting in the world' in 'In Search of Lost Time', where the character Bergotte collapses and dies gazing at its 'little patch of yellow wall'.

Exhibition Venue

Mauritshuis

The Hague, Netherlands