A Devotion to Art
Kathryn Murphy | Literary Review | 7th November 2025
A new view on Vermeer. Married to a Catholic, it has long been assumed Vermeer was under their influence. Now it is claimed he was a Remonstrant, a Christian sect that, like the Catholics, was unable to worship publicly. This view prompts “beautiful” new interpretations. His Little Street, for example, is claimed to be a hidden Remonstrant church. Other paintings have supposed religious meanings. This helps explain what most characterises Vermeer’s work – “immanence – that simmer of the sacred in the everyday.”