page_title: The Art of Painting
section_title: Symbolism and allegory
hierarchical_section_title: The Art of Painting / Description / Symbolism and allegory
context_page_description: The Art of Painting, also known as The Allegory of Painting, or Painter in his Studio, is a 17th-century oil on canvas painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is owned by the Austrian Republic and is on display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
  This illusionistic painting is one of Vermeer's most famous. In 1868 Thoré-Bürger, known today for his rediscovery of the work of painter Johannes Vermeer, regarded this painting as his most interesting. Svetlana Alpers describes it as unique and ambitious; Walter Liedtke "as a virtuoso display of the artist's power of invention and execution, staged in an imaginary version of his studio ..." According to Albert Blankert "No other painting so flawlessly integrates naturalistic technique, brightly illuminated space, and a complexly integrated composition."
  Many art historians think that it is an allegory of painting, hence the alternative title of the painting. Its composition and iconography make it the most complex Vermeer work of all. After Vermeer's Christ in the House of Martha and Mary it is his largest work.
context_section_description: Vermeer had a theoretical interest for painting. The subject is presumed to be Fama, Pictura, or Clio, the Muse of History, evidenced by her wearing a laurel wreath, holding a  trumpet, possibly carrying a book by Herodotus or Thucydides, which matches the description in Cesare Ripa's 16th century book on emblems and personifications entitled Iconologia. However, according to Ripa History should look back  and not down as in this painting. Following Vermeer's contemporary Gerard de Lairesse, interested in French Classicism and Ripa, there is another explanation; he mentions history and poetry as the main resources of a painter. The woman in blue could be representing poetry, pointing to Plutarch who observed that "Simonides calls painting silent poetry and poetry painting that speaks", later paraphrased by the Latin poet Horace as ut pictura poesis. If so, the map is representing history.
  The double-headed eagle, symbol of the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, which possibly adorns the central golden chandelier, may represent the former rulers of the Low Countries. 
  The large map on the back wall has a prominent crease that divides the Seventeen Provinces into the north and south. (West is at the top of the map.) The crease may symbolize the division between the Dutch Republic to the north and southern provinces under Habsburg rule. The map  shows the earlier political division between the Union of Utrecht to the north, and the loyal provinces to the south. This interpretation might have appealed to Hitler who owned the painting during the war. According to Liedtke a political interpretation of the map and the Habsburg eagle is unconvincing; they overlook other motives. 
  The map could suggest though that painting has brought fame to the Netherlands; ships sailing over the folds suggest that.
caption: Is that a double eagle on top of the chandelier?[29]
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