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Milkmaid Analysis Essay

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The image of this milkmaid is an intricate symbol of her sexual availability1,2 (13) perceptible by several elements throughout the image. Milkmaid is an oil on canvas, Dutch painting done by Johannes Vermeer in 1657 and finished in 1658. It is a realism modeling painting of a woman, who is a milkmaid, standing around a still life image of a table of food in a kitchen pouring milk out of a pitcher into a bowl around the food. In this essay, I will explain my analysis and interpretation of this painting through describing elements and defining my own meaning from thoughts on research.
The composition of the image is observable by directions of lines throughout the image. There are a few diagonal lines in the image that give the viewer perspective …show more content…

The shade of blue he uses is very dominant as it ties her apron and sleeves to the table cloth and to the cupids on the baseboards. The redness of the pitcher matches her skirt, the floor, her facial skin tones, and the footwarmer, and blends in with the yellows used to paint the bread. The colors in bread also causes the viewer to flow to the yellow and gold color in her shirt and to the gold decoration on the wall behind her and to the left. This image has rustic colors consuming the background. The walls are light gray, dark and gloomy with a few spots of what appears to be brown …show more content…

The negative space is a representation of something missing in her life. The foot warmer and the cupid and traveler figures on the horizontal line are strategically placed in the negative space to represent the man and sex that is currently missing from her life. The cool shades of blue flowing across the image gives lonely, sad tones with the depressed lighting. She expresses her availability by showing skin on her arms as she slightly smiles leaning toward the viewer. She has a soft and supple body which is sexually desirable by a male from her time. Jan Vermeer’s painting expressed the woman’s romantic wishes very well in all aspects of the elements she

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