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Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1662
Johannes Vermeer painted this around 1662 in Delft. A young woman stands at a table, one hand on a window and the other on a metal water pitcher that rests on a basin. Light comes in through the window from the left. Nothing dramatic happens, which is typical of his work.
The details repay attention. A blue cloth lies over the chair and its colour is reflected in the side of the pitcher. The red carpet on the table warms the gold underside of the basin. A map hangs on the wall behind. The woman wears a white headcloth and a dark blue dress, and she looks out through the window.
The painting is small, only about 46 by 41 centimetres. It was given to the Metropolitan Museum in 1889 as part of the Marquand collection, and it is one of a small number of Vermeer paintings in American collections. Fewer than forty paintings are generally accepted as his, which is part of why each one is studied so closely.
From the museum record
| Artist | Johannes Vermeer |
|---|---|
| Date | ca. 1662 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Size | 18 x 16 in. (45.7 x 40.6 cm) |
| Museum | The Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| Credit line | Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1889 |
| Accession number | 89.15.21 |
| Licence | Open Access (CC0) |
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection record. Facts such as dates, sizes and credit lines come from that record. The write-up above was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the museum record and standard references. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
