Jan Vermeer van Utrecht (16 February 1630 (bapt.) – c. 1696) was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

painter. Though he was born near

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, there is no known relation between this painter and

Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...

Biography

Vermeer was born in

Schipluiden Schipluiden is a village in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is the seat of the council of the municipality of Midden-Delfland. The village was founded relatively late in the 15th century and evolved around the Keenen ...

. His father died when he was 10 and he was raised by his step-grandfather in Rotterdam.RKD entry on Jan Vermeer van Utrecht
/ref> According to Houbraken he travelled to Italy with Lieve Verschuier and became friends with

Willem Drost Willem Drost (baptized 19 April 1633 – buried 25 February 1659) was a Dutch Golden Age Painting, painter and printmaker of history paintings and portraits. Biography He is a mysterious figure, closely associated with Rembrandt, with very few ...

and Johann Carl Loth.Johan vander Meer biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...

, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature He returned north in 1662, where he became a member of the Utrecht Guild of St. Luke in 1663 and became deacon of the guild 1664–1666. Houbraken tells a curious story about Vermeer van Utrecht in his biography of Jan Davidsz de Heem. In this story, on his return from Italy, Vermeer marries a widow who owns a

white lead White lead is the basic lead carbonate 2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2. It is a complex Salt (chemistry), salt, containing both carbonate and hydroxide ions. White lead occurs naturally as a mineral, in which context it is known as hydrocerussite, a hydrate of ...

factory. He is wealthy and has a carefree life until his wife dies and then his factory is burned by French soldiers. He manages to save a garland painting by De Heem that he once paid 2000 guilders for. This was an enormous sum of money, but Houbraken mentions that his grandfather had been a wealthy man, and until his factory was destroyed, Vermeer van Utrecht had been painting for pleasure, rather than professionally. The amount is meant as an indication of the fame and esteem of De Heem, rather than the wealth of Vermeer van Utrecht. Vermeer van Utrecht then applies to his benefactor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylestein, to give him a government post in return for this painting, which he offers to paint with the likeness of the young prince Willem III in the middle of the garland. The lord of Zuylestein was the governor of the young prince from 1659 to 1666, so this deal must have been done sometime between 1662 (Vermeer van Utrecht's return from Italy), and 1672 (the death of the lord of Zuylestein). Apparently, the deal is done, and several years pass, in which Vermeer van Utrecht did become an appointed member of the Utrecht regency (''Vroedschap''), but where he felt like a ''fifth wheel''. In 1672 the Utrecht council takes pity on him, and gave him the post of Toll-collector and controller of the river lock at

Vreeswijk Vreeswijk is a former village and municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht. The municipality merged with Jutphaas in 1971, and is now the southern half of the town of Nieuwegein. The former village was located on the Lek River, near whe ...

, where he later remarried. Jan van der Meer van Utrecht - Regenten van het Ambachtskinderhuis te Utrecht 1680

Houbraken never saw the painting that he wrote about, but this must be the painting now hanging in the

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (, ) is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Lyon. Located near the Place des Terreaux, it is housed in a former Benedictine convent which was active during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was res ...

, that was taken with the rest of the Royal painting collection as war booty to France a century later in 1795. Perhaps because of this story, Vermeer van Utrecht became known as a portraitist, and painted a portrait of the regents of various Utrecht institutions, among them the orphanage in 1680. He married Hendrina Hounietop in 1683 in Vreeswijk, which is where he died between May 1695 and September 1697 in

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vermeer Van Utrecht, Jan 1630 births 1696 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from Utrecht (city) People from Midden-Delfland