Vermeer: A Pronunciation Guide to Dutch Names and Terms around Vermeer

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NEW: Hear the names of 170 Dutch and Flemish painters

Hear Dutch Names and Terms concerning The Painter Vermeer
- A Pronunciation Guide

Vermeer

2
Johannes Vermeer

2 3 (1632-1675)
Johannes

In conjunction with Jonathan Janson's beautiful, extensive The Essential Vermeer,
the website about the seventeenth-century Dutch painter.

You might also be interested in hearing the names on my Rembrandt and Early Flemish and Dutch Painters pages.

Girl with A Pearl Earring
Mauritshuis, The Hague

Study of A Young Woman
Metropolitan Museaum of Art, New York

Vermeer and his Family	Vermeer's Clients and Patrons	Painters of Vermeer's Milieu
Johannes Vermeer Jan Vermeer Catharina Bolnes (Vermeer's wife) hear	Nicolaes van Assendelft Willem van Berckel Hendrick van Buyten Jacob Dissius Maria de Knuijt (Dissius' wife) hear	Willem van Aelst Gerrit Dou Carel Fabritius Pieter de Hoogh Nicolaes Maes hear
Digna Baltens (Vermeer's mother) Reynier Jansz. Vos (Vermeer's father) Gertruijt (Vermeer's sister) Maria Thins (Vermeer's mother-in-law) hear	Cornelis de Helt Johannes Renialme Pieter Claesz. van Ruijven Herman van Swoll hear	Gabriel Metsu Frans van Mieris Gerrit ter Borch Emanuel de Witte hear
Other Painters	Men of Culture and Science	Men of History and State
Dirck van Baburen Leonaert Bramer Abraham Bloemaert Cesar van Everdingen Gerrit van Honthorst hear	Pieter Teding van Berckhout Dirck van Bleyswijck Hugo de Groot (Grotius) Christiaan Huygens hear	Willem van Oranje = Willem de Zwijger ("the Silent") Maurits Frederik Hendrik 'de Stedendwinger' hear
Samuel van Hoogstraten Caspar Netscher Anthonie Palamedesz. Hendrik Terbrugghen hear	Constantijn Huygens Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek J.P. Sweelink Joost van den Vondel hear	Johan van Oldenbarnevelt Jacob 'Vadertje' Cats Johan de Witt hear
	Simon Stevin Jan Adriaensz Leeghwater Goropianus hear	Willem Barentsz. Piet Hein Michiel de Ruyter "Bestevaer" hear
Cities and Towns	Delft
Amsterdam Delft Den Haag Dordt (Dordrecht) Leiden hear	De Oostpoort De Oude Langendijck De Vliegende Vos Mechelen hear	Stadhuis (City Hall) Papenhoek ("Papists' Corner") Voldersgracht Beestenmarkt (Cattle Market) Sint-Lucasgilde (The Painters Guild) hear
Haarlem Utrecht Rotterdam Schipluiden hear	Oude Kerk Nieuwe Kerk Donderslag (Thunderclap) hear

'Mechelen' is the Dutch name of a Belgian town famous for its lace, 'Malines' in French, 'Mechlin' in English.
'Donderslag' (Thunderclap) refers to the 1654 explosion of the Delft municipal gunpowder depot that killed many, fellow painter Carel Fabritius among them.

Various Terms
doorkijkje fijnschilders gulden (guilder) hear		stuijver (5¢ 'nickel') 'Het Straatje' tronie hear

Dutch Names of Paintings
De Schilderkunst hear (The Art of Painting) Het Straatje hear (The Little Street) Meisje met de Parel hear (Girl with The Pearl [Earring]) Gezicht op Delft hear (View [on] of Delft) In Vermeer's time, 'tronie' was a common word for 'face' - but nowadays it means 'ugly face' or 'face of unpleasant person.' The common word for 'face' in modern Dutch is 'gezicht,' which also means 'view.'

Vermeer Relatives
Beatrix Gerrits Vouck Balthasar Claes Gerrits Beatrix van Buy Jan Reynersz. Neeltge Goris hear		Claes Corstiaensz Tanneken Balthus Reynier Balthens Digna Baltens hear		Reynier Janz. Vos Anthony Janz. Vermeer Maertge Jans Jan Heymensz. van der Hoeve Gysbrecht van der Hoeve hear - take 2

Vermeer's Close Family		Catharina Bolnes' Close Family
Reynier Janz. Vos Digna Baltens Johannes Vermeer Gertruy Vermeer hear		Maria Thins Reynier Bolnes Catharina Bolnes Trijntje (Catharina's nickname) Willem Bolnes (Catharina's brother) hear

Vermeer's Children				More Names from Tracy Chevalier's Girl with A Pearl Earring
Maria Elisabeth Cornelia Aleydis Beatrix hear		Johannes Geertruy Franciscus Catharina Ignatius hear		Tanneke Griet Maertge Aleydis hear		Agnes Frans Liesbeth Pieter Willem Papenhoek (Papists' Corner) hear - 2

Vermeer Mentioned
Dirck van Bleyswijck's Description of Delft (1667) has Arnold Bon's elegy to painter Carel Fabritius that mentions Vermeer in its last stanza:

Soo doov' dan desen Phenix t'onzer schade			Thus did this Phoenix, to our loss, expire
In 't midden en in 't beste van zyn swier,			In the midst and at the height of his powers,
Maar weer gelukkig rees' er uyt zyn vier			But happily there arose out of the fire
Vermeer, die meesterlyck betrad zyn pade.			Vermeer, who masterly trod in his path.

hear

Music from The Time of Vermeer

Piet Hein
There is a well-known song about admiral (and pirate) Piet Hein (also spelled Heyn) and his 1628 capture of the Spanish silver fleet; the song may well be recent, but it could also be something that Vermeer and the people in his paintings were familiar with.
The stockholders of the West India Company made something like 50 to 75% on their investment in the year of the Silver Fleet (sources differ on the amount.)

Piet Hein, Piet Hein,
Piet Hein zijn naam is klein,		... his name is short
Zijn daden benne groot,		His actions ('deeds') are big ('benne' is a slang term of 'to be' - note the similarity)
Zijn daden benne groot,
Hij heeft gewonnen de Zilvervloot.		He has captured ('won') the Silver Fleet
Hij heeft gewonnen, gewonnen de Zilvervloot,
Hij heeft gewonnen de Zilvervloot.

hear

Hear a few very nice pieces of keyboard music from Vermeer's time, played on the Virginals by Mr Joop Klaassen of the Netherlands at The Essential Vermeer

Almande de Symmerman
Courante Daphne
Malle Symen
Jan Sweelink
Susanne van Soldt
hear - 2

Muselaer
Spinet
virginaal
klavecimbel (harpsichord)
Ruckers
Louis van Emmerik
Het Vleeshuis ("The Meat Hall" lit.: house)
hear

Composers
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Jacob van Eyck
Dirck Janszoon Scholl
Servaas Koninck
hear

instruments
luit (lute)
cister (cittern)
citer (cither)
gitaar (guitar)
viool (violin)
hear

klavecimbel (harpsichord)
blokfluit (recorder)
trompet (trumpet)
hear

Der Fluyten Lusthof (collection of compositions for solo recorder by Jacob van Eyck)
De Nederlantsche Gedenckclanck (songbook)
De Muiderkring (private musical and literary party)
De Amsterdamse Schouwburg (theatre)
hear

Constantijn Huygens (private secretary to the Stadholders, poet, musician, composer and art connoisseur)
Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (poet)
Gerbrand Adriaanszoon Bredero (playwright and poet)
Maria Tesselschade (poetess and musician)
hear

Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painters

(You'll have an opportunity to see slight variations in spelling and hear some names repeated in different contexts.)
NEW: Hear the Names of 170 Dutch and Flemish Painters

eight
Gerrit ter Borgh Carel Fabritius Pieter de Hoogh Gabriel Metsu hear	Nicolaes Maes Rembrandt van Rijn Jan Steen Michael Sweerts hear
20
Willem van Aelst Hendrik Avercamp Ambrosio Bosschaert Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Coorte hear	Aelbert Cuyp Carel Fabritius Karel Dujardin (French name) Jan van Goyen Frans Hals hear
Meyndert Hobbema Pieter de Hoogh Gabriel Metsu Jacob Ochtervelt Rembrandt van Rijn hear	Jacob van Ruisdael Gerard Terborch Willem van de Velde Jacobus Vrel Emmanuel de Witte hear
56
Willem van Aelst Hendrick Avercamp Dirck van Baburen Gillis Gillisz de Bergh Paulus Bor hear	Ambrosio Bosschaert Leonaert Bramer Adriaen Brouwer Hendrick ter Brugghen Hendrick van der Burgh hear	Adriaen Coorte Aelbert Cuyp Gerrit Dou Willem Drost Karel Dujardin (French name) hear
Pieter Janssens Elinga Cesar van Everdingen Carel Fabritius Jan van Goyen Frans Hals hear	Maerten van Heemskerck Bartholomeus van der Helst Jan van der Heyden Meyndert Hobbema Gerard van Honthorst hear	Pieter de Hoogh Samuel (van) Hoogstraaten Gerard Houckgeest Willem Kalf Philip Koninck hear - 2
Judith Jansdochter Leyster Nicolaes Maes Gabriel Metsu Frans van Mieris Jan Miense Molenaar hear	Caspar Netscher (German name) Jacob Ochtervelt Adriaen van Ostade Antonie Palamedesz Egbert van der Poel hear	Rembrandt van Rijn Jacob van Ruisdael Pieter Jansz Saenredam Godfried Cornelisz Schalken Hendrick Sorg hear
Jan Steen Michael Sweerts Gerard Terborch Willem van de Velde Jacob van Velsen hear	Johannes Verkolje Daniel Vosmaer Jacobus Vrel Emmanuel de Witte Philips Wouwermans hear	**************** Balthasar van der Ast Jan de Bisschop Adriaen van de Velde Jan Baptist Weenix hear
164

NEW: Hear the Names of 170 Dutch and Flemish Painters

Karel de Moor 2
Paulus Potter 2 - his most famous painting: De Stier 2 ('The Bull') at Het Mauritshuis 2 in The Hague
Jacob Isaacsz. van Swanenburgh 2
Adriaen van Witvelt 2
Pieter van der Faes 2 (Peter Lely 2)
Hercules Segers 2 (also written as: Seghers)
Johannes Torrentius 2 (Johannes Symonsz van der Beek -or- Johannes Symoonis van der Beek 2)
Jacob Knyff (Knijff) 2 3 - Leendert Knijff 2 3 also as: Leonard - Wouter Knijff
Lourens Alma-Tadema 2 3 (19th century)

Rembrandt - Early Flemish and Dutch Painters

Painting terms (modern)
schilder (a painter) schilderen (to paint) schilderij (a painting) hear		verf (paint) penseel (small paintbrush) kwast (average paintbrush) kleur (color) ezel (easel) hear

Notes to Jargon
The root of the painting words is "schild," meaning "shield" and derives from the Germanic custom to paint warriors' shields.
The Dutch word for 'paint' is 'verf,' from the same root as the German word 'Farbe,' which came to mean 'color.'
The English word 'easel' derives from the Dutch word 'ezel'; the Dutch word also means 'donkey.'

Han van Meegeren

In the 1930s, an hitherto unknown Vermeer painting was offered to Vermeer authority Abraham Bredius

who came to believe it was the real thing; a few more turned up in the following years. Bredius had previously rejected Van Meegeren's original work - the forgeries were in part a revenge on Bredius. In 1945, one was found among Hermann Göring's possessions, sold to him by Han van Meegeren, who was then accused of collaboration with the nazis; but Van Meegeren explained the painting was a forgery that he had traded with Göring for 200 Dutch paintings looted in 1940, and to prove it he produced another 'Vermeer' while under house arrest.
More from Jonathan Janson's The Essential Vermeer.
Van Meegeren Catalogue - Another
A Dutch Van Meegeren site

Han van Meegeren
De Emmausgangers (the most famous and best forgery)
Nachtlokaal (a series of his own work)
Abraham Bredius (gave his blessing)
hear

Van Meegeren at work on "Christ amongst The Doctors"

Han van Meegeren, Nachtlokaal #2,
ca. 1925, Private Collection

nachtlokaal

2 3 4 (5) - an old-fashioned word for 'nightclub'
zwoele dames

('sultry ladies')

Rembrandt
Sailors and Ships of the 17th Century --- More Dutch names --- Old New York
English, Dutch and German Words from A Common Root --- Hebrew Words in Dutch

media

beauty

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Don't be a dief (thief) / dievegge (female thief) - diefstal (theft) - stelen (to steal) - heler (dealer in stolen goods) - hear Dutch - 2

Hear Dutch Names and Terms concerning The Painter Vermeer - A Pronunciation Guide

Music from The Time of Vermeer

Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painters

Han van Meegeren

Hear Dutch Names and Terms concerning The Painter Vermeer
- A Pronunciation Guide