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35-652: The original veduta , which serves as the blueprint for this view, depicts Vienna in either 1759 or 1760 on a hot summer day with high society mingling in the shade of a green wall separating the gardens. The domes of Karlskirche , St. Stephen's Cathedral tower , and the dome of the Salesian Nuns' Church serve as vertical landmarks. The foreground shows the gardens of the Belvedere Palace. Other prominent landmarks visible in Bellotto's oil painting that still exist today are

70-488: A cityscape or some other vista. The painters of vedute are referred to as vedutisti . This genre of landscape originated in Flanders , where artists such as Paul Bril painted vedute as early as the 16th century. In the 17th century, Dutch painters made a specialty of detailed and accurate recognizable city and landscapes that appealed to the sense of local pride of the wealthy Dutch middle class. An archetypal example

105-454: A camera obscura for this very purpose. A third piece of evidence is found in Girl with a Red Hat . Without a camera obscura, the light on the lions' heads would be rectangular, as the light would be coming from a window with rectangular panes, but Vermeer has painted the light as circles, an effect that would be created by viewing the image through a lens. Because of the diffused highlights painted on

140-491: A camera obscura, but there are several clues that could point to its usage. In The Officer and the Laughing Girl, the man appears to be significantly larger than the woman, which could be a result of using a camera obscura. Another piece of evidence pointing to Vermeer's use of a camera obscura is his detailed maps, which would be very difficult to reproduce without the aid of optical technology. Other artists were known to use

175-623: A letter to his friend Jean-Louis Vaudoyer who had just published an article about the painter, Proust reminded him of his mention of Vermeer in Volume One and described how he felt when he saw the painting for the first time in October 1902: Ever since I saw the View of Delft in the museum in The Hague, I have known that I had seen the most beautiful painting in the world. At the end of May 1921, Proust viewed

210-477: A significant role in urban planning discussions, particularly in the debate over the construction of high-rises near Vienna's historical center. Plans to construct high-rises near Vienna's historical center have been a topic of discussion but are always tied to the protection of the Canaletto view. In 2017, UNESCO added Vienna to the watchlist after plans for a 75-meter-high-rise development (Heumarkt-Tower) within

245-499: Is Johannes Vermeer 's View of Delft . The Ghent architect, draughtsman and engraver Lieven Cruyl (1640–1720) contributed to the development of the vedute during his residence in Rome in the late 17th century. Cruyl's drawings reproduce the topographical aspects of the urban landscape. As the itinerary of the Grand Tour became somewhat standardized, vedute of familiar scenes like

280-678: Is a bridge between the Rotterdam Gate and the Schiedam Gate, which has a clock on its roof. Behind the Schiedam Gate is a long red-roofed arsenal now known as the Legermuseum . The buildings are reflected in the calm harbour of the river Schie , which was colloquially known as the Kolk (pond). On the lower left side of the painting, five people are waiting to board a passenger barge to take them to Rotterdam, Schiedam, or Delfshaven. The passenger barge

315-888: Is one of three known paintings of Delft by Vermeer, along with The Little Street and the lost painting House Standing in Delft , and his only cityscape. According to art historian Emma Barker, cityscapes across water, which were popular in the Netherlands at the time, celebrated the city and its trade. Vermeer's View of Delft has been held in the Dutch Royal Cabinet of Paintings at the Mauritshuis in The Hague since its establishment in 1822. A technical analysis shows that Vermeer used calcite , lead white , yellow ochre , natural ultramarine , and madder lake pigments. The landscape

350-596: The Delft Thunderclap (explosion). Pieter Claeszoon van Ruijven , a lover of architectural paintings, commissioned View of Delft along with The Little Street. Van Ruijven was a native of Delft and only eight years Vermeer's senior. He may have been introduced to Vermeer by his brother, Jan van Ruijven, the notary who documented Vermeer's marriage to Catharina Bolnes. It is known for certain, however, that in 1657 van Ruijven lent Vermeer 200 guilders . He left 500 guilders in his will for Vermeer and specifically worded

385-566: The Habsburg dynasty . The artist embellished the perspective of his work, likely to please his patron, Maria Theresa . Buildings associated with the patroness were slightly enlarged or repositioned, notably the dome of the Salesian Nuns' Church, whose foundation stone was laid at the birth of Maria Theresa. The tower of the Elisabethinenkirche  [ de ] , shown on the far right of

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420-504: The Mauritshuis at the time, Johan Steengracht van Oostcapelle, instructed the minister not to bid on it as it would not fit in the cabinet. On the other hand, the director of the Rijksmuseum , Cornelius Apostool, urged the minister to ask the king William I for money to buy it. The painting was then sold to the Dutch government in 1822 by S. J. Stinstra of Amsterdam for 2900 guilders. However,

455-854: The Roman Forum or the Grand Canal recalled early ventures to the Continent for aristocratic Englishmen. By the mid-18th century, Venice became renowned as the centre of the vedutisti . The genre was pioneered by Luca Carlevarijs , and its greatest practitioners belonged to the Canal and Guardi families of Venice. Some of them went to work as painters in major capitals of Europe, e.g., Canaletto in London and his nephew Bernardo Bellotto in Dresden and Warsaw . In other parts of 18th-century Italy, idiosyncratic varieties of

490-534: The Schwarzenberg Palace and the Lower Belvedere Palace . As many Belotto's works, the picture was created using a camera obscura on paper and then transferred to a larger conventional painting, the technique nowadays creates a feeling of authenticity. This representation served not only as a faithful cityscape but also carried political symbolism. The painting reflects Vienna's development under

525-628: The States General argued over whether or not to reduce the country's military budget. William II wanted to keep the soldiers who had fought in the war against the Spanish in case they decided to attack again, but the States General felt that the country was already in too much debt to afford a military. Dutch society was split into two factions – those who supported the House of Orange, and those who supported

560-442: The vedute , Pannini's veduta morphed into the scenes partly or completely imaginary elements, known as capricci and vedute ideate or veduta di fantasia . Giambattista Piranesi was the foremost master of vedute ideate etchings . His topographical series, Vedute di Roma , went through many printings. In the later 19th century, more personal "impressions" of cityscapes replaced the desire for topographical accuracy, which

595-553: The North-west and View of Delft from the South-west (1615), Carel Fabritius in A View of Delft (1652), Egbert van der Poel in View of Delft Explosion of 1654 (after the explosion of 1654 ), and Pieter Wouwerman in View of the horse market in Delft (1665). Vroom was most known for his seascapes, which is why his views of Delft focus on the river Schie rather than the buildings of

630-455: The States General. After William II died and the States General assumed power, people who wanted to show support for the House of Orange commissioned artwork of William of Orange's tomb, which was housed in the Nieuwe Kerk. The Niewe Kerk is brightly illuminated in View of Delft to show support for the Dutch monarchy. Delft was also painted by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom in View of Delft from

665-481: The buildings and in the water, art historian Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr. believes that Vermeer did use a camera obscura to create View of Delft . Other historians are not as convinced. Art historian Karl Schütz insists that Vermeer never used a camera obscura in any painting. Vermeer's illumination of the Nieuwe Kerk shows his support (or his patron's support) for the House of Orange . From 1648–1650, William II of Orange and

700-618: The confines of the cultural heritage site were approved. The World Heritage Committee ruled that the plans for the Heumarkt area threatened the characteristics that saw the city placed on the World Heritage List in 2001. Bellotto's original painting is now housed in the Museum of Art History in Vienna . Another Canaletto view based on Bellotto's cityscape can be found in Dresden . This view from

735-610: The document so that Catharina Bolnes would not inherit the money. Vermeer was the only person named in the will who was not part of his or his wife's family. After van Ruijven's death, View of Delft was inherited by his daughter Magdalena. It was auctioned by her husband Jacob Dissius on 16 May 1696 for 200 guilders. This works out to about $ 21,000 in 2024. In the eighteenth century it was owned by merchant Willem Philip Kops. After his death it passed on to his wife, who in turn after her death in 1820 passed it on to her daughter, Johanna Kops, who finally decided to auction it. The director of

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770-479: The genre evolved. Giovanni Paolo Pannini was the first veduta artist to concentrate on painting ruins . The Dutch painter Gaspar van Wittel (who worked in Rome, where he was known as Vanvitelli) and others painted veduta esatta , i.e. exact vedute , which was a topographically accurate depiction of a cityscape or monument and in which the human and animal figures played a secondary role. His collaborators included Hendrik Frans van Lint , who would become one of

805-469: The hero Swann work on a biography of Vermeer (which he writes out Ver Meer ). In volume 5 (The Prisoner , published 1923), he lets the writer Bergotte die in front of this painting. Before, Bergotte had taken inspiration from Vermeer's technique: "That's how I ought to have written ... My last books are too dry, I ought to have ... made my language precious in itself, like this little patch of yellow wall ('petit pan de mur jaune')". On 1 May 1921, in

840-559: The image, would not have been visible from this vantage point, but Canaletto included it, likely due to financial support from the empress. Two observatories, no longer in existence today, were also depicted to honor the Habsburgs as patrons of the sciences. Despite Vienna's growth in the 19th century and the city's transformation from a fortified town, the overall impression of the Canaletto view remained largely intact and served as inspiration for numerous artists. The Canaletto view has played

875-629: The king had it exhibited in the new Dutch Royal Cabinet of Paintings established at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and not in Amsterdam as expected. The reasons for this decision are not known. It is assumed that William I simply liked the painting or that he saw the depiction of the Nieuwe Kerk as a reminder of his ancestors. Marcel Proust greatly admired Vermeer, and particularly this painting. The painting features in his novel In Search of Lost Time . In Volume One, Swann's Way (published 1913), he lets

910-514: The leading vedute painters in the first half of the 18th century. Through his more realistic representation in the vedute he executed at the end of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th century, the Flemish painter Jan Frans van Bloemen anticipated developments during the 18th century, when there was a shift away from the classically oriented Roman landscapes of French vedute painters in Rome such as Gaspard Dughet . In later developments of

945-523: The right bank of the Elbe River below the Augustus Bridge also played a significant role in urban planning discussions, particularly in the debate over the reconstruction of Dresden's city center, heavily damaged by air raids in 1945. Veduta A veduta ( Italian for 'view'; pl. : vedute ) is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of

980-480: The right, but Vermeer depicted it closer to the center to make it more prominent. There are no bells in the tower in this painting as those would not be added to the church until after the painting was completed in 1661. The Nieuwe Kerk was where Vermeer was baptized at one to two weeks old, and where his mother and elder sister were buried. In the background is the top of the tower of the Oude Kerk ("Old Church") which

1015-433: The town after 40,000 kg of gunpowder exploded, killing hundreds of people including Carel Fabritius. Despite the devastation, the two churches still stand. Unlike other paintings of Delft which feature a busy harbour, Vermeer only painted a few boats. Vermeer also painted Delft from the south side instead of the more popular north side, as the south side was the only part of the town where buildings were left untouched by

1050-493: The town. Like Vermeer's painting, Fabritius's A View of Delft features the Nieuwe Kerk. This painting was likely meant to be seen in a perspective box through a peephole as a trompe l'œil (trick of the eye), which would trick the viewer's eye into seeing a three-dimensional view of the street. Van der Poel's painting shows both the Nieuwe Kerk and the Oude Kerk, as well as the chapel of the hospital of St. George. The scene depicts

1085-429: Was built around 1246, making it Delft's oldest parish church. Vermeer is buried there. Historians have hotly debated whether or not Vermeer used a camera obscura . A camera obscura, meaning "dark chamber," was a closed room with a small hole covered with a convex lens through which light could pass, casting a reverse image onto the wall that the artist could then trace. There is no documentary evidence that Vermeer used

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1120-465: Was painted from an elevated position to the southeast of Delft, possibly the upper floor of the Mechelen tavern where the artist's studio was located. To the very right of the painting is a medieval brick building called the Rotterdam Gate, in front of which are two herring busses . It is one of two gates on Delft's south side, the other being the Schiedam Gate, shown in the middle of the composition. There

1155-476: Was pulled by a horse and could hold up to thirty people. Vermeer painted his initials, VM, on the red interior of the barge. To the barge's right are two women talking to each other. Vermeer originally painted a third person next to them, but later changed his mind and painted him out. Behind the Rotterdam Gate is the illuminated spire of the Nieuwe Kerk . In reality, the Nieuwe Kerk would be positioned more toward

1190-701: Was satisfied instead by painted, and later photographed, panoramas . There was a sizeable community of émigré artists active in Venice, such as Antonietta Brandeis , the Spanish painters Martín Rico y Ortega , Mariano Fortuny , Antonio Reyna Manescau and Rafael Senet and the Peruvian painter Federico del Campo . These artists responded to the large international market for their city views of Venice, and they made such big names for themselves through this genre that they painted nothing but Italian views. Demand for Federico del Campo's views, particularly from English tourists,

1225-422: Was so strong that he painted several views multiple times, and the same can be said of Reyna Manescau, that repeated the same urban landscapes in many occasions with minimal variations. View of Delft (Vermeer) View of Delft ( Dutch : Gezicht op Delft ) is an oil painting by Johannes Vermeer , painted c.  1659–1661 . The painting of the Dutch artist's hometown is among his best known. It

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