Compare two images - Essay Example "Vermeer did not do a preparatory drawing to be filled in by color. The first stage of his paintings consists of a structure of clearly contrasting light and shade where form emerge without drawing," Arasse (1993, p.52). One of his celebrated paintings, Mistress and the Maid clearly expresses the suppressed motion and activity, where maid brings a letter to the already letter-writing mistress and both seem to be aware of the importance of incoming letter. The letter writer has stopped writing while gazing at the letter in maid's hand. It is a painting full of motion, activity, and both women are caught in mid-conversation. Vermeer, born in 1632, son of a silk merchant, had excess to the world of fashion and fine clothes and his paintings reflect this knowledge in a sophisticated and effective way. They grant opulence to the painting and its dcor. Exceptionally luminous figures, almost three dimensional against the dark background are highly coherent in their fashion and movements.
