Astronomer identifies date and time of making a famous Vermeer painting

Astronomer Donald Olson, studying the position of light and shadow in a painting by Johannes Vermeer, said he could determine the precise time when the Dutch artist made it.

The painting that is the subject of the particular study is the View of Delft, and according to the astronomer and professor at Texas State University it would have been executed on Sept. 3, 1659, at eight o’clock in the morning. Olson analyzed the position of the light at length and came to the conclusion that the Dutch master would have made this work on that date and time, looking out of the second-floor window of the hotel where he was staying.

The astronomer was aided by Russel Doescher, a physics professor, in mapping locations during a visit to the city of Delft: he was thus able to determine the position of the sun that would have made possible the presence of the sunbeam illuminating the central clock tower of the church at the center of the painting.

In fact, his entire study is based on that sunbeam illuminating the tower. “Everything plays on that detail,” Olson said. “It indicates the position where the sun has to be for the ray of light to be visible. The arrangement of the light and shadows is the reliable indicator of the sun’s placement.”

The painter is looking north: this means that the light is coming from the southeast. The scene therefore takes place in the morning. The clock on the facade of one of the buildings indicates seven o’clock, but at that time clocks did not have a minute hand or the only hand visible seems closer to eight o’clock.

Scholars then calculated the dates when the sun’s position in the sky at eight o’clock in the morning could have created the shadows visible on the clock: only two times, namely April 6-8 and September 3-4. Looking, however, at the tree crowns painted by Vermeer, they do not seem to refer to the month of April. From this further observation, therefore, the two days of September remain.

The work is considered the most famous cityscape of the Dutch Golden Age; even Marcel Proust called it the “most beautiful painting in the world.” It is preserved at the Mauritshuis in The Hague.

Image: Jan Vermeer, View of Delft (oil on canvas, 96.5 x 115.7 cm; The Hague, Mauritshuis)

Astronomer identifies date and time of making a famous Vermeer painting

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.