Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence

This October, 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer takes centre stage in an exhibition examining the intimate world of domestic life that featured so frequently in his paintings. An artist celebrated for his carefully-crafted images of young women in domestic interiors, widely regarded as some of the most distinctive aspects of Dutch art of the time, Vermeer is renowned for his use of light and colour and his ability to draw in the viewer.

This exhibition brings together a selection of Vermeer’s key works, including The Lacemaker, a remarkable painting usually displayed at the Musée du Louvre in Paris and now on loan to the UK for the first time.

Also on show are paintings by artists such as Gerrit Dou, Quiringh Gerritsz van Brekelenkam, Gerard ter Borch and Pieter de Hooch. The display features four pieces by Vermeer himself – there are only 37 works thought to have been painted by him in the world.

Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence is on show at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge from 5 October–15 January 2012 and admission is free. You can find out more about the exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum website or in the October issue of BBC History Magazine.