Google is honoring the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer , considered one of the greatest painters of all time.
Google is paying tribute to one of the greatest Dutch painters of all time: Johannes Vermeer . On this day, in 1995, an eponymous exhibition opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, featuring 21 of his 35 extant works.
Vermeer began to develop his distinctive style in the 1650s motivated by Dutch traditions. He captured the commonplace with radiant and exquisite detail, creating iconic works such as “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” (1665), now on display at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands.
Vermeer’s artistic techniques continue to be debated among experts. Some historians suggest that he traced images projected from a camera obscura , but there is no physical evidence to support those arguments.
Doodle references
The ‘Doodle’ that Google has prepared to honor Vermeer includes three references to his greatest works: the one on the left refers to “The allegory of painting” (1666-1668), the medium is influenced by the work “Woman writing a letter, with his maid “(1670-1671), and the one on the right relates to an X-ray that revealed a hidden Cupid in” Girl reading a letter in an open window “(1657-1659).
You can learn more about this historic painter on the Google Arts & Culture page , where the company assembled a giant Vermeer collection : 36 paintings from 18 museums in 7 different countries.