The Story
Pieter Claesz van Ruijven (1624-1674) and Maria Simonsdr de Knuijt (1623-1681), Delft; ? their daughter, Magdalena van Ruijven (1655-1682), Delft; ? her widower, Jacob Dissius (1653-1695), Delft;{Montias 1989, pp. 246-262, 359, doc. } his sale, Amsterdam, 16 May 1696, no. 32, fl. 10 or no. 33, fl. 48;{Hoet and Terwesten 1752-1770, vol. 1 (1752), p. 35; Montias 1989, p. 394, doc. } …; collection Gerrit Willem van Oosten de Bruyn (1727-1797), Haarlem;{According to the sale catalogue Van Oosten de Bruyn, Haarlem (V. </em>_, no.
} his widow, Maria Croon (1729-1799), Haarlem; sale Van Oosten de Bruyn, Haarlem (V. </em>_, no. 7, fl. 1,040, to Pieter van Winter (1745-1807), Amsterdam;{Priem 1997, p. } his daughter, Lucretia Johanna van Winter (1785-1845), Amsterdam; her widower, Jonkheer Hendrik Six (1790-1847), Lord of Hillegom, Amsterdam; their son, Jonkheer Jan Pieter Six (1824-1899), Lord of Hillegom, Amsterdam;{Archive Six family, inv. No. CS53207-002.
Executed in oil on canvas, measuring height: 54.3; width: 44; depth: 9, the surface rewards close looking. Johannes Vermeer builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
