View of Delft

View of Delft (c. 1661) by Johannes Vermeer. Its palette is led by silver (#dddfda, 32%) and pale grey (#c7c5bd, 21%), with accents of taupe, dark taupe and rich orange brown. Overall the canvas is light, muted and warm.

Color note

Vermeer used natural ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli and one of the most expensive pigments of his day, far more freely than his contemporaries, even in shadows and underlayers. Cool ultramarine against warm lead-tin yellow is his signature pairing.

Palette

#dddfda MG 206 silver 31.6% of canvas
#c7c5bd MG 212 pale grey 21.2% of canvas
#918673 MG 182 golden umber 17.7% of canvas
#5b4d40 MG 176 taupe 11.9% of canvas
#b0c9e2 MG 093 pale muted blue 7.3% of canvas
#352e27 MG 177 dark taupe 5.1% of canvas
#8e5948 MG 158 rich orange brown 5.1% of canvas

Color families

Brown 43%, White 32%, Gray 12%, Blue 7%, Orange 4%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.73
Contrast: 0.58
Vividness: 0.027
Warmth: +0.65
Complexity: 154 cells
Hue range: 0.45
Focus: 0.00

Composition

52% of the visual weight is in the left half, 72% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.18 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 54% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 22% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: c. 1661
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 96.5 × 115.7 cm
Genre: cityscape
Collection: Mauritshuis, The Hague

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