If I were to go to New York, my first stop would be to see The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer’s masterpiece on loan from Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on view through November 29, 2009. This is the first time that the painting has traveled to the United States since it was shown at the 1939 World’s Fair. The exhibition also features additional works by Vermeer and other 17th-century Dutch artists, including Gerard ter Borch, Peter de Hooch, Nicolaes Maes, Hendrick Sorgh and Hendrick van Vliet.
Vermeer and his contemporaries often used symbols to convey meaning, and in their day, milkmaids were often thought to be sexually available. (Licentious women!) But if Vermeer’s milkmaid were entertaining amorous thoughts while performing her chores, perhaps these are only being discreetly alluded to by a cupid figure that’s been depicted next to the footwarmer on the floor behind her.
Update: here’s a link to an amazing podcast — WYNC / The Leonard Lopate Show / September 18, 2009.
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