Rijksmuseum authors made grave mistake in the 2023 Vermeer catalogue
In 2023 the Rijksmuseum published a major Vermeer catalogue to celebrate the majo exhibition which attracted a worldwide audience. Because of the large number of interior scenes in Vermeer paintings the question of Vermeer’s own interior in relation to his paintings is quite relevant.
In the catalogue, author and editor Pieter Roelofs wrote the article “Closer to Vermeer, A look inside the family home of the Delft painter” (Pages 42-95) in which he made a grave mistake.
Screenshot
He chose to put aside all former archival research done by archival researcher John Michael Montias and art historian Kees Kaldenbach, author of a large Vermeer web site. Instead he gave credence to the “meticulous archival research” by Hans Slager pointing at the tiny house Trapmolen next door, across the Molensteeg alley. This was a terrible mistake because that Slager theory has now proven by Professor Frans Grijzenhout to be erroneous!
Even a layman could see that that house would have been too small to contain the owner, mother Maria Thins (divorcee of Bolnes), her daughter Maria Bolnes, her husband the painter Johannes Vermeer (in his own studio), their maid-of-all-works and then the endless series of children, of which 11 survived their baby years.