"Trompe l'Oeil: Paintings that Fool the Eye by Masters from Vermeer to Dali," October 10–30, 1953, no catalogue? Washington. "Prisma der bijbelse kunst," May 17–August 12, 1952, no. "The Michael Friedsam Collection," November 15, 1932–April 9, 1933, no catalogue. Though apparently an illusionistic device, the tapestry at left would also have been understood as part of a very large hanging, drawn aside to reveal a normally secluded space (Liedtke 2007). The room itself, with its high ceiling, marble floor, and a large altarpiece based on a work by Jacob Jordaens (possibly identical with one in Vermeer's estate), was meant to be recognized by contemporary viewers as a private chapel installed within a large house or some other secular building. The glass sphere, hanging from a ribbon, was a popular decorative curiosity in this context, it may be viewed as a symbol of heaven or God.
The table is transformed into an altar with the addition of a chalice, crucifix, and a Bible or, more likely because of its proximity to other objects used for the Mass, a missal. The nearby apple, which has been bitten, stands for original sin. In the foreground, Vermeer shows the "cornerstone" of the Church (Christ) crushing a serpent (Satan). She rests her foot on a globe, published in 1618 by Jodocus Hondius, to illustrate Ripa's description of Faith with "the world under her feet". A hand raised to the heart indicates the source of living faith. The female figure represents the Catholic Faith, wearing white, a symbol of purity, and blue, the "hue of heaven". For many of the allegorical motifs, Vermeer must have turned to Cesare Ripa's emblem book, Iconologia (Rome, 1603), translated in a Dutch edition by Dirck Pietersz Pers (Amsterdam, 1644). The choice and interpretation of the imagery included here would have been discussed by the artist and his patron. In The Met's canvas, Vermeer shifts his late style toward a more classicist and schematic manner.
The latter work is also allegorical in subject, but only nominally, as it was intended mainly as a virtuosic display of the artist's abilities. It is unlike any other work by Vermeer, though it shows compositional similarities to The Art of Painting (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) of about 1666–68. Painted about 1670–72, this picture presents an allegory of Vermeer's adopted religion, and was probably made expressly for a private Catholic patron or for a schuilkerk, a hidden Catholic church.
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