Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Kitchen Maid/Dutch/J. Vermeer/Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

In the original painting, you will be amazed by all the details, from a broken window pane, nails and holes on the wall, faded tiles near the ground, feels of materials of copperware, crunchy bread and its crumbs, till texture of her ironed headpiece, feel of weight of her drapes, fluidity of the milk... and you are drawn into her intensity of focus and hearing the milk pouring into the brown earth ware. Now if your eyes take into its color, the kitchen maid is dressed in unrealistic combination of bright colors as a tropical parrot; white, red, blue, green and yellow.

The source of light comes via the window from the left of the painting as in most of Vermeer’s remaining 35 paintings today. The light is the basic element of the composition in a painting and Vermeer is a master in its use. His light is no theatrical or dramatic but a transparent and general source that enlightens the scene. It adds a distinctive grey, blue-ish metallic notes to the painting. The young lady here is almost depicted as a figure in the context of bible stories or religious mythology.

倒牛奶的女人/荷蘭/維美爾

在掛在荷蘭國家博物館牆上的這幅維美爾的倒牛奶的女人，你會看到不可思議的細節像是窗戶玻璃的破裂，牆壁的洞與釘子，右邊接近地板的藍色年久失色的磁磚，銅器的金屬光澤，麵包和麵包屑，漿過熨過的頭巾，重的長裙，流動的奶；　是的，你幾乎可以聽見牛奶倒入陶器的聲音。接著是它的顏色，這個結實的荷蘭女人身上穿戴有白，紅，藍，綠，黃色，就像熱帶的鸚鵡那麼得鮮豔。

維美爾今天總共留下的35幅畫大部份都如同此幅的光源，從左邊照進來。光是構圖的基本要素，維美爾是個中的大師。他的光不是強烈對比與戲劇式的光，而是透明澄澈，把整個房間或場景加上淡淡灰藍，金屬般的光澤。畫中的主角專注的一刻，像是聖經或是神話故事裡的人物。