A quiet room, light from the left and a woman lost in her work.
Johannes Vermeer – hand-painted paintings in oil on canvas
At SvetSlik.si you can order 32 paintings by Johannes Vermeer as hand-painted oil reproductions on canvas, painted by our own painters. Every painting comes in several sizes – 88 formats across the gallery, from 40 x 49 cm to 250 x 225 cm – or in a custom size you give us, and prices start at 450 €. Each canvas is painted to order, delivery takes 15 to 45 working days, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting for your approval.
Vermeer left no letters and no recorded words about painting, so the line at the top is not a quotation of his but a description of what we see in his paintings. He left only about 35 paintings, almost all of them small and slowly painted.
Vermeer’s periods – and what you will find in our gallery
Delft on canvas (c. 1658–1661)
Vermeer lived in Delft all his life and painted the town twice from outside as well. The Little Street shows houses and a courtyard where women go about their daily work, and View of Delft the large town on the water under clouds, today in the Mauritshuis in The Hague.
Quiet rooms (the 1660s)
He is best known for his interiors: light falls through a window on the left, and the room holds a single figure absorbed in her work. That is how he painted The Milkmaid, pouring milk in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. For the blue he used costly ultramarine made from lapis lazuli.
Faces and allegories (c. 1665–1668)
From the later years comes Girl with a Pearl Earring, perhaps the most famous face in Dutch painting, in the Mauritshuis. Then came The Art of Painting in Vienna, which Vermeer kept until his death, and The Astronomer in the Louvre, one of Vermeer’s rare scenes with a man.
The most famous Vermeer paintings at SvetSlik.si
The best known is Girl with a Pearl Earring. Right after it our customers look for The Milkmaid and View of Delft, and for a quiet wall Woman in Blue Reading a Letter.
Which Vermeer suits which room?
Most of Vermeer’s originals are small, so his paintings also look very good in smaller sizes, in a bedroom, a kitchen or a hallway. A townscape such as View of Delft carries a longer living-room wall. Bright, quiet paintings also work well in rooms with little daylight. Choose a painting about two thirds as wide as the furniture below it, with its centre about 150 cm from the floor.
Sizes, prices, custom size, stretcher and frame
Each painting has its own range of sizes, matched to the proportions of the original, and the product page shows the price of every size. Across the gallery there are 88 formats, from 40 x 49 cm to 250 x 225 cm, and prices start at 450 €. If your wall needs a different measurement, send us the width and height: we paint to your own size. We send the painting rolled, stretched on a wooden stretcher bar or framed; you choose the frame in our 3D application, which is only for that. For a gift, there is the wall art voucher.
How do we hand-paint a Vermeer?
Every painting is painted by hand in oil on canvas, layer by layer, following a high-resolution photograph of the original. With Vermeer the light matters most: soft transitions on the wall, tiny bright dots on bread or pearls, and pure blues and yellows. If something in the final photograph is not right, we correct it before dispatch.
Vermeer in brief
Johannes Vermeer was baptised on 31 October 1632 in Delft, where in 1653 he became a master of the painters’ Guild of Saint Luke. He died in December 1675, in debt, and his name was almost forgotten for two centuries until he was rediscovered in the 19th century. Read more in the Vermeer biography.
Frequently asked questions
Which are Vermeer’s most famous paintings?
The most famous is Girl with a Pearl Earring in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, followed by The Milkmaid, View of Delft and Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. All of them are available in our gallery as hand-painted oil paintings.
Who is the girl with the pearl earring?
Nobody knows. The painting is not a portrait of a particular person but a study of a face, which the Dutch called a tronie. That mystery is exactly what makes it so appealing.
Where can you see Vermeer’s original paintings?
In the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (The Milkmaid, The Little Street, Woman in Blue), the Mauritshuis in The Hague (Girl with a Pearl Earring, View of Delft), the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the Louvre in Paris.
How much does a Vermeer painting cost?
There are only about 35 originals, and they are in museums. A hand-painted copy in oil on canvas from SvetSlik.si starts at 450 €, depending on the painting and the size. It is a real painting, not a print.
Why is there so much blue in Vermeer?
He used ultramarine, a pigment made from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli that cost more than gold. With it he painted the milkmaid’s apron and the jacket of the woman reading the letter.
Which size should I choose?
Measure the furniture below the wall and choose a painting about two thirds of its width. Every painting’s page lists all its sizes with their prices, and if none fits, we paint your own measurements.
Do Vermeer paintings suit a small room?
Yes, because the originals are small, the smaller sizes come very close to the original size. Girl with a Pearl Earring or The Milkmaid also suit a kitchen or a bedroom.
How long does delivery take, and can I order a custom size?
Each painting is painted to order, so delivery takes 15 to 45 working days. A custom size is possible for every painting, and before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished painting.