Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
Johannes Vermeer (1632 to 1675) · About 1654 to 1656
Christ sits at a table in a Dutch interior, one hand raised as he speaks. Mary sits at his feet on a low stool, chin in hand, listening. Martha leans in from behind with a basket of bread, complaining that her sister has left her to do all the work, and Christ gently answers that Mary has chosen the better part. The story comes from the Gospel of Luke, and it was a favourite subject for discussing the balance between action and contemplation. The figures are large and close, filling the canvas with warm reds, golds and greens.
This is the largest painting by Vermeer that survives and almost certainly the earliest, made when he was in his early twenties and still finding his way. There is none of the cool daylight and quiet domestic order of his later pictures. Instead the brushwork is broad, the shadows are deep and the colours glow with the influence of Italian and Flemish painting that he could have seen in Delft or Amsterdam. Look at the tablecloth, the folds of Christ's blue robe and the way the light pools on Mary's face.
For two centuries nobody knew it was a Vermeer. It was sold in Bristol in 1901 for a few pounds as a work by a follower of some other artist, and only when it was cleaned did the signature appear on the stool beneath Mary. The Coats family of Paisley, thread manufacturers, bought it and gave it to the gallery in 1927. It remains the only Vermeer in Scotland and a rare glimpse of the painter of the Girl with a Pearl Earring before he turned inward to his silent rooms.
Did You Know? The signature on Mary's stool was discovered only after the picture had been sold for about ten pounds as an anonymous work.
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