Merry Society 

"Merry Society," by Johannes Vermeer, likely dates to the 1650s, and is oil on canvas. At this time, the Dutch Republic was at the peak of its wealth and power. Vermeer has rendered textiles with great care: the velvet of the man's cloak, the satin of the woman's skirt. While we can admire Vermeer's skill at illusion, we should also consider the immense labor involved in producing the objects he depicts. The dyes for these fabrics were traded from far afield. The textiles themselves were produced by skilled weavers, working long hours at the loom. Even the artist's own labor, grinding pigments and mixing paints, was skilled work. By attending to the materiality of this painting, we can appreciate not only Vermeer's artistry, but the economic system that made such images possible.