The Milkmaid
We need to focus on the mottled effect in the paintings made by Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), the first painter who tried to reach a ‘photographic’ quality. Vermeer had understood that the eye and its inseparable ‘camera obscura’ do not see the things in the same way so this is no more a plain technical resource, it has become a new way to look. There were a few things he preferred to paint just as they can be seen through that ‘camera obscura’. This is a real Vermeer, with its typical blue-yellow harmony (though the map of the Netherlands and the white porcelain tiny pitcher are missing). The woman is looking downwards to the dark opening of the jar, to the thin splash of dense milk which seems to be suspended…
