A Vermeer to remember

Today is the last day of the Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence exhibition that has been running since October at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. I managed to see it just in time yesterday and what an experience it was.

There were four paintings by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) including this one, The Lacemaker, which was completed around 1670. It was loaned to the exhibition by the Musee du Louvre, Paris. Some say it is the Louvre's second most important painting after the Mona Lisa. It was much smaller than I had imagined at just 24cm x 21cm and is said to be his smallest painting.

The Vermeer paintings were complemented by 28 other beautiful works by other famous Dutch masters such as Jan Steen, Pieter de Hooch, Samual van Hoogstraten, Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou and Nicolaes Maes depicting women of the 17th century in their homes.

What an inspiration this was to an aspiring artist like me.