Image: public domain, courtesy of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Little Street

Johannes Vermeer, c. 1658

Vermeer painted real houses in his home town of Delft, and his aunt lived in the house on the right. A woman sews in a doorway, another bends over a washtub in the alley, and two children play by the house.

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Did you know?

In 2015 a historian found the exact spot, Vlamingstraat 40–42 in Delft, using a 1667 register of canal dredging taxes.
Vermeer's aunt sold tripe for a living, and the narrow passage beside her house was called the Tripe Gate.
Look at the old walls: you can almost feel the bricks, the patches of whitewash and the cracks.
Only two townscapes by Vermeer survive: this one and his famous View of Delft.
Vermeer's mother and sister lived on the same canal, almost directly across the water.
In 1921 the oil businessman Henri Deterding bought it for 625,000 guilders and gave it to the Rijksmuseum.

About the artist

Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) was born in Delft and spent his whole life in that Dutch town.

He is famous for quiet, light-filled interiors such as The Milkmaid and Girl with a Pearl Earring, and only about 35 of his paintings are known today.

He worked slowly and lovingly on each picture, and at home he and his wife Catharina had a big, lively family of eleven children.

Johannes Vermeer ›

Where it is today: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam · Museum page