Vermeer’s women with wine

Vermeer’s depictions of both wine and women, as well being important works in the study of wine and women’s history, contain iconographic references to class and temperance. In honour of International Women’s Day, we take a look at one of his works.

Women and wine are recurring subjects in the work of the Dutch artist, Johannes Vermeer (1632 – December 1675.) Vermeer’s father was an innkeeper and art dealer, and thus Vermeer himself may have been more familiar than most with wine and its associated paraphernalia.

In The Glass of Wine c.1658-60, a cloaked male figure grasps a white tin-glazed container, used for holding wine. Originally made in Faenza, Italy, these vessels had become increasingly….