Silver Coin Jan Vermeer Girl with Pearl Earring 2009 Proof

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Masters of Europe series

This exclusive silver (rectangular) coin issued by the Cook Islands in 2009 from the Masters of Europe series features a coloured painting by Jan Vermeer on the reverse - Girl with a Pearl Earring. The portrait on the coin includes a Swarovski pearl. The obverse is accompanied by the inscriptions "OLD MASTERS OF EUROPE", "JOHANNES VERMEER" and the year "1632 - 1675". The obverse shows a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the face value.

The coin comes in a blue gift box with grey and silver trim along with a certificate of authenticity in a limited edition of only 5000 pieces for the whole world!

Jan Vermeer

Jan Vermeer van Delft, also Joannis van der Meer (baptised 31 October 1632, Delft - 15 December 1675, same place) was a Dutch Baroque painter.

He was baptized in the Protestant church Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. His father's original name was Reynier Janz Vos and only later changed his surname to Vermeer for unknown reasons. He worked as an innkeeper, and after his marriage he claimed to be a silk manufacturer. Perhaps this is why many of Vermeer's paintings feature a variety of fabrics and tapestries. However, Vermeer the Elder also bought and sold paintings and was a member of the Guild of St. Luke.

Vermeer and his family, members of the lower middle class, lived in a large house, a coaching inn called Mechelen. Jan's grandparents were illiterate and Jan's mother was illiterate. Jan was born the second child and only son. Jan's motivation to become an artist and his beginnings are shrouded in mystery, but he had to spend six years in the studio of a master who was a member of the Guild of St. Luke (i.e. the Guild of Painters) before he could join the Guild himself in 1653, signing and selling his own works. Some scholars even believe that Vermeer went to Amsterdam or Utrecht to study. Vermeer married Catharina Bolnes, who was a Catholic, in 1653 (it is uncertain whether John converted after the wedding). The marriage produced a total of eleven children who were brought up in the Catholic faith.

Vermeer's early work shows the young painter coming to terms with the religious, mythological and genre painting influences of the Utrecht School, which was based on Caravaggio. Vermeer's mother-in-law owned a modest collection of paintings by the Utrecht masters. She was also a distant relative of the Utrecht painter Abraham Bloemart. Shortly afterwards, the tide turned and Vermeer focused on painting scenes from everyday life. Painters such as Gerard Terborch, Nicolas Maes and Pieter de Hoogh gained fame with similar subjects. Yet Vermeer's paintings are different: the figures in the pictures are captured as if in a single and unique moment, which gives them an unusual dignity and vividness.

In his early years as a painter, Vermeer seems to have made a living - like his father - by selling other painters' works of art. On average, he produced only two canvases a year, yet on every occasion he is credited as a painter on various lists. Later he was undoubtedly considered an expert, so he was invited to estimate the price of paintings, but his own paintings also sold for a very high price.

Vermeer did not create much even in his most glorious times, but he sold well. When the French traveller Balthasar de Monconys visited his studio in 1663, Vermeer could not show him a single work of his own. When they later visited the house of the baker Hendrick van Buyten, a collector of Vermeer's works, de Monconys noted in his diary that he had seen "a painting with a single figure" for the incredible price of 600 guilders.

In 1669, Vermeer was visited twice by the wealthy young art connoisseur Pieter van Beckhout, who noted that he had seen some examples of Vermeer's art, the most remarkable aspect of which was the perspective. For the periods 1662-1663 and 1670-1671, Jan Vermeer was repeatedly elected to head the Guild of St. Luke. During this period he was also - together with Hans Jordaens - summoned to The Hague, where his task was to assess the authenticity of a number of paintings that were sold as works by famous Italian masters, including Raphael Santi and Michelangelo. In 1660 the Vermeer family moved from the Mechelen Inn to a smaller house on the Oude Langendijk, owned by Jan's mother-in-law. During the French invasion in 1672, the income of the family with eleven children decreased rapidly. Wartime was not kind to the art trade, and Vermeer's financial problems apparently took their toll. He painted even less than before, and it is likely that concerns about the future also affected his health. He died in 1675, leaving behind a widow, eleven children and considerable debts.