Woman with a Water Jug

Vermeer's Woman with a Water Jug from around 1662-65, at the Metropolitan Museum, depicts a woman at a window with a silver water jug and basin—objects associated with the ritual of hand-washing before or after a meal, or symbolically with purity. The painting represents the pinnacle of Vermeer's art: the serene figure, the cool light, the precisely rendered still life, and the large wall map create a harmonious composition that seems to capture a moment of perfect stillness. The painting was one of the first Vermeers to enter an American collection.

Vermeer's technique achieves a crystalline clarity in the rendering of the silver jug, the white headdress, and the blue map. The cool northern light from the window is rendered with scientific precision, modeling every surface with subtle gradations of tone.