Schloss hinter Bäumen

5. April 1653

Married: Catharina Bolenes

20 April 1653

Marriage to Catharina Bolnes and conversion to Catholicism

Vermeer married Catharina Bolnes of Schipluiden; to win the consent of her devout and wealthy mother Maria Thins he converted to Catholicism, and the mediation of the painter Leonaert Bramer helped. The couple had fifteen children, four of whom died young.

29 December 1653

Joining the Guild of Saint Luke

Vermeer became a member of the Delft Guild of Saint Luke, the painters' trade association; the guild's records make clear that he did not pay the usual admission fee. It was a year of plague, war and economic crisis.

1672

The “Year of Disaster”: war and the collapse of the market

In 1672 the Rampjaar, a severe economic downturn, struck the Dutch Republic after French troops under Louis XIV invaded from the south and troops from Münster and Cologne from the east. Vermeer's sale of a painting that year was his last, and five years passed before circumstances improved.

1675

A sudden death in December 1675

Vermeer's widow wrote to the creditors that during the war he had been forced to sell paintings at a reduced price; falling into despondency, in December 1675 he lost consciousness and died a day and a half later. What exactly happened remains unclear.

1675

Died