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Jan Vermeer
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(1632-1675)
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Chronology
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1615 Reynier Janszoon Vos, by occupation a silk worker,
marries Digna (or Dymphna) Baltens in Amsterdam. They then settle in
Delft, where Reynier later (in 1641) purchases and runs the "Mechelen",
an inn on the Market Square.
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1622 Carel Fabritius (1622-1654) is born in
Midden-Beemster.
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1626 Jan Steen (1626-1679) is born in Leiden.
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1631 Reynier Janszoon Vos starts dealing in paintings, and
is enrolled in the Delft artists' guild, the Guild of St. Luke.
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1632 Jan Vermeer, the second child of Reynier Janszoon Vos
and Digna Baltens, is born. Their first child was a daughter.
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) is bom in Delft. Later in life
he will be Ver-meer's executor. He is a cloth merchant by trade, but
starts amateur experiments with optical instruments such as the
microscope. He make various discoveries, such as bacteria (1676),
spermatozoa (1677) and red blood cells in fish.
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1648 The Thirty Years' War comes to an end with the Treaty
of Westphalia.
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1650 William III of Orange is born.
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1652 Vermeer's father dies. Carel Fabritius is made a
member of the Guild of St. Luke.
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1652-54 First Anglo-Dutch naval war.
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1653 Vermeer marries Catharina Bolnes, the daughter of
Maria Thins. The marriage is witnessed by the painter Leonaert
Bramer.
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1654 The Delft magazine explodes on 12 October, killing
the painter Carel Fabritius. On 29 December, Vermeer is admitted as
a Master Painter to the Guild of St. Luke.
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1656 First dated work of Vermeer's (The Procuress,
Dresden, Gemaldegalerie).
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1657 Vermeer borrows two hundred guilders.
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1662 Vermeer is elected as syndic (hoofdman) of the Guild
of St. Luke.
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1663 The French nobleman Balthazar de Monconys, an
alchemist and lover of art, visits Vermeer and writes about this
encounter in his Journal.
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1665 —67 Second Anglo-Dutch naval war.
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1667 The Spanish Netherlands are occupied by Louis XIV. In
response, the Netherlands form a triple alliance with England and
Sweden, thereby forcing Louis XIV largely to abandon his conquests.
Dirck van Bleyswijck mentions Vermeer in his Beschrij-vinge der
Staat Delft (Description of Delft).
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1668 Second dated work of Vermeer's (The Astronomer,
Paris, Musee du Louvre).
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1669 Third dated work of Vermeer's (The Geographer).
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1670—71 Vermeer is re-elected as syndic of the Guild.
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1670 Vermeer's mother dies, leaving him his parents' inn,
the "Mechelen".
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1672 Louis XIV invades the Netherlands from the Lower
Rhine with an army of 100,000 men. The only way the Netherlands can
defend themselves against the advancing
troops is to open the dykes and flood land. Vermeer lets the "Mechelen"
for 180 guilders a year. He also journeys to The Hague, where,
together with Johannes Jordaens, he is employed by the Elector of
Brandenburg to value Italian paintings.
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1675 Vermeer travels to Amsterdam to borrow one hundred
guilders. He dies in December, and is buried in the Oude Kerk in
Delft. He is survived by eleven under-age children, eight of whom
are still living at home. He is deeply in debt at the time of his
death, and as a result his widow has no alternative but to be
declared bankrupt. Delft city records show that Van Leeuwenhoek is
appointed as curator of his estate on 30 September 1676.
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1688 Vermeer's widow, Catharina Bolnes, dies.
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