The Lacemaker

Vermeer, Jan, The Lacemaker. c. 1669-1670
Oil on canvas transferred to panel
23.9 x 20.5 cm (9 13/32 x 8 1/2 in.)
Musee du Louvre, Paris


To discover without rising a veil: there is nothing behind what is merely given here. I should not try to explain the unexplainable. Is it not enough to feel her delightful concentration, the perfectly chosen yellow of her dress, the traces of an image so undoubtedly beautiful? Permanence through colorfulness through an instant.