Johannes Vermeer, "The Milkmaid," oil on canvas, about 1657–58
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Sunday, Tuesday – Thursday 9:30 am – 5:30 pm, Friday – Saturday 9:30 am – 9:00 pm
Through Sunday, November 29
Recommended admission: $20
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org
When we were kids, we loved this picture our grandparents had on their wall, first in their Brooklyn apartment and later in their one-story Fort Lauderdale home. It showed this zaftig woman pouring milk into a bowl. We were little, so we didn’t really know much about it, only that it kept calling out to us, continually capturing our attention. It was many years before we came to learn that it was of an early masterpiece by a Dutch painter named Johannes Vermeer (1632-75), so it was with much trepidation and excitement that we recently approached the real deal. In honor of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage from Amsterdam to New York, the Rijksmuseum has lent the painting to the Met; the work has not been on view in the city for more than sixty years. And we’re happy to report that it lives up to all our expectations and childhood wonderment. Painted around 1657-58, “The Milkmaid” is a triumph of light and shadow, of color and composition, photographic in quality. Blues, greens, and reds dominate the lower half of the frame, with earth-toned colors balancing out the upper sections. In the center, a young woman gently pours a trickle of milk, as if considering her sexuality. The Met has supplemented the exhibit with all five of its Vermeer holdings – “A Maid Asleep,” “Young Woman with a Water Pitcher,” “Woman with a Lute,” “Allegory of the Catholic Faith,” and “Study of a Young Woman” – along with works by such Vermeer contemporaries as Pieter de Hooch, Nicolaes Maes, and Gerard ter Borch, placing it in historical context. Seeing “The Milkmaid” up close and personal is an absolute thrill.