een from above the quayside, across the slowly moving waters of the Schie river full of dark reflections, the distant centre of Delft is hit by early morning sun. Soon people shall be walking its streets, with their yellow cobbles and freshly washed tiles, as children play by front doors and servants go about their work, glimpsed in the gloom of a side alley.
These were created in 20 years, between 1654 and 1674. There are only 37 known paintings by Vermeer. A few are contested, an unknown but probably small number long lost, and one was stolen from Boston in 1990 and has never resurfaced. A few paintings can’t be lent. The Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum dithered over lending The Art of, eventually refusing to loan one of its star exhibits. This is the most important omission here, in what is the largest ever show of Vermeer’s work.