Milkmaid

The Milkmaid was painted by Johannes Vermeer (Links to an external site.) in about 1657–58. The painting could be described as one of the last works of the Delft artist’s formative years (ca. 1654–58), during which he adopted various subjects and styles from other painters and at the same time introduced effects based on direct observation and an exceptionally refined artistic sensibility. The steady performance of domestic chores was often praised in Dutch literature and pictures of the period. It has been suggested plausibly that Vermeer’s kitchen maid is making bread porridge, which puts stale bread—there is an unusual amount of bread on the table—to good use by combining it with milk and a few other ingredients to make a filling mash. And yet, like milkmaids and kitchen maids in earlier Netherlandish Art, and like other young women in Vermeer’s oeuvre, his kitchen maid was meant to encourage the male viewer’s amorous musings, and to have her own thoughts of romance.

What are YOUR thoughts on this image? Consider her isolation and Vermeer’s use of color and light. How do these elements enhance our reading of the painting? Also, consider the fact she is standing by a window. Is this significant in terms of how we are to understand her relationship to God and the outside world?
sources:
You can find the image in the following link which is also talks about the painting as well.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/verm/hd_verm.htm