Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting

Musée du Louvre’s “Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting” is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated art exhibitions to open in 2017. This is a unique opportunity to view twelve masterpieces by Dutch genre painter Johannes Vermeer, representing a third of his known body of work, including such beauties as The Lacemaker, The Milkmaid and The Geographer.

The exhibition goes a step further by juxtaposing every Vermeer painting against several paintings by his contemporary genre painters. There are brilliant works from Gerrit Dou, Gerard ter Borch, Jan Steen, Pieter de Hooch, Gabriel Metsu, Caspar Netscher and Frans van Mieris. In doing so, the exhibition seeks to show Vermeer as part of a larger network of Dutch genre painters, all of whom inspired and vied with each other to create these exquisitely detailed interior scenes.