This is the biggest canvas by Vermeer, displaying an intimate scene inside an artist’s workshop with his model, lit by a source of light from the left

The female model is believed to represent Clio, the muse of historical writings in Greek mythology. She wears a laurel crown and carries a trumpet in her right hand (both symbols of triumph); the tome in her left hand should be the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides: Such attributes for Clio were detailed in the work Iconologia by the Renaissance scholar Cesare Ripa

Hung on the wall in the background is a map of the Low Countries (consisting of today’s Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg). In the middle of the map is a prominent crease running from top to bottom, believed to symbolize the separation of the Dutch Republic from the rest of the Seventeen Provinces in late 16th century (West is placed at the top of the map here, as was the practice at the time of Vermeer)

The top part of the golden chandelier is in the shape of a double-headed eagle, symbol of the Habsburg Dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire which ruled over the Low Countries before the Dutch Revolt. The Habsburg proclaimed themselves to be the protector of the Catholic Church. Vermeer was one of the extreme minority living in the breakaway provinces who converted to Catholicism. That there is not even one candle on the chandelier may suggest that Catholicism was strongly suppressed in the Dutch Republic at the time

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Apparently Vermeer liked this work so much that he never sold it even while indebted. After his death in 1676, his wife Catharina transferred the painting to her mother so that the creditors would not be able to possess it for debt repayment. But in this case, the liquidator Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a famous scientist and friend of Vermeer, decided that the transfer to the mother-in-law was illegal

For more than 200 years the painting was passed from owner to owner. Then during World War II after the invasion of Austria by the Nazi, it was acquired by Hitler in November 1940 for his personal collection. At the end of the war it was found in a salt mine along with other works of art, and eventually repatriated by the US to Austria in 1946

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Salvador Dalí created a surrealist work in 1934 titled The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used as a Table, in which Vermeer’s right thigh is elongated out of proportion and on its top is placed a wine bottle