Based on the shadows on the buildings in the piece, and re-examining the reading of the clock on the clock tower, Olson and his students were able to determine that the painting was likely completed in September 1659, and depicts the town at 8:00 in the morning. In 2020 Professor Donald Olson of Texas State University published research shedding new light on the date and time captured by the painting. The top half of the painting is dominated by a cloudy sky, with a dark cloud suggesting a rain shower has just passed.Īlthough some art historians such as Norbert Schneider believe that Vermeer created this painting using an optical device-possibly a camera obscura, or a telescope-to capture the detail, art historian Karl Schütz is vehement that 'At no phase of the work on any of his paintings did Vermeer make use of a camera obscura.' Time of Day Six people are seen standing on the quayside. Unlike other paintings of Delft which feature a busy harbor, Vermeer only painted a few boats. To the left is the tower of the 'De Papegaey' (Parrot) brewery (since demolished) and, to its left, the top of the tower of the Oude Kerk ('Old Church'). The Nieuwe Kerk was where Vermeer was baptized, and where his mother and elder sister were buried. It is a morning scene, with the sun to the east (viewer's right) illuminating the Protestant Nieuwe Kerk ('New Church', right of centre).

Behind the Schiedam Gate is the long red-roofed arsenal (the Armamentarium). The artist is looking back to the city to the northwest, with the Schiedam Gate in the middle of the composition, and the Rotterdam Gate and its barbican to the right, all reflected in the water of the harbour. The landscape 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, across the river Schie.

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. The use of pointillism in the work suggests that it postdates The Little Street, and the absence of bells in the tower of the New Church dates it to 1660–1661. It 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.

The painting of the Dutch artist's hometown is among his best known, painted at a time when cityscapes were rare. View of Delft ( Dutch: Gezicht op Delft) is an oil painting by Johannes Vermeer, painted c. A photograph taken in 2019 from approximately the point where Vermeer painted the painting.

Vermeer by Karl Schütz