<P> Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes . "Almost all his paintings are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women ." </P> <P> He was recognized during his lifetime in Delft and The Hague, but his modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death . He was barely mentioned in Arnold Houbraken's major source book on 17th - century Dutch painting (Grand Theatre of Dutch Painters and Women Artists), and was thus omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries . In the 19th century, Vermeer was rediscovered by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré - Bürger, who published an essay attributing 66 pictures to him, although only 34 paintings are universally attributed to him today . Since that time, Vermeer's reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age . </P> <P> Relatively little was known about Vermeer's life until recently . He seems to have been devoted exclusively to his art, living out his life in the city of Delft . Until the 19th century, the only sources of information were some registers, a few official documents, and comments by other artists; for this reason, Thoré - Bürger named him "The Sphinx of Delft". John Michael Montias added details on the family from the city archives of Delft in his Artists and Artisans in Delft: A Socio - Economic Study of the Seventeenth Century (1982). </P> <P> Johannes Vermeer was baptized in the Reformed Church on 31 October 1632 . His father Reijnier Janszoon was a middle - class worker of silk or caffa (a mixture of silk and cotton or wool). As an apprentice in Amsterdam, Reijnier lived on fashionable Sint Antoniesbreestraat, a street with many resident painters at the time . In 1615, he married Digna Baltus . The couple moved to Delft and had a daughter named Geertruy who was baptized in 1620 . In 1625, Reijnier was involved in a fight with a soldier named Willem van Bylandt who died from his wounds five months later . Around this time, Reijnier began dealing in paintings . In 1631, he leased an inn, which he called "The Flying Fox". In 1635, he lived on Voldersgracht 25 or 26 . In 1641, he bought a larger inn on the market square, named after the Flemish town "Mechelen". The acquisition of the inn constituted a considerable financial burden . When Vermeer's father died in October 1652, Vermeer took over the operation of the family's art business . </P>

Which artist was the main inspiration for other baroque artists