Status Updates From Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found

Biographical details and speculation re Vermeer’s childhood and family life in Delft; his marriage to the Catholic Catharina of Gouda; the influence of Italian / Renaissance art on the Dutch style; the religiosity of Vermeer’s early paintings such as Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (1657-9)

Formation of the Dutch Republic / United Provinces during the wars against Catholic Spain; the relationship of Vermeer to the Van Ruijven family who owned majority of Vermeer’s major works; a description and summary of the Remonstrants, Collegiants, Arminians, against the Dutch Reformed Church before and after the Synod of Dordt (1616-19)