My grandparents enjoyed art museums and I, cherishing their company, would happily go along with them to the museum. We weren’t art scholars; we were just passing an enjoyable Sunday afternoon amid the beauty of the world’s art treasures. I was young and I decided that my favorite artist was Fragonard. His frilly, pink and pale green paintings with silly subjects suited my young tastes just perfectly. The act of picking a “favorite” artist made subsequent visits to the museums much more interesting. I noticed on the placards of the paintings that Boucher was similar in style and a contemporary of Fragonard, and although Fragonard reigned supreme in my mind, I had just added another artist to my list. And so it began…

Once in college, with a few extra electives available to me, I took two semesters of art history. My visits as a young child to the museums had made a difference. My own personal history with some paintings helped me to place them in the history of art. I remembered the time I discussed with my Grandfather the European fondness for painting St. Sebastian. We seemed to find St. Sebastian everywhere and I had a hard time understanding all the arrows. Even though in art class, I still didn't understand the plethora of arrows jutting from the body of St. Sebastian, the paintings were familiar.

Fragonard was left behind as I matured. My next favorite, and he has remained my favorite artist is Vermeer. Although knowing little about his life, scholars are certain of the date of his birth, marriage, and death. They know he lived in Delft, grew up in the home of an art merchant and most say that Jan Vermeer was a convert to Catholicism. His body of work is very limited, about three dozen paintings and these are only known because of a writer in the 19th century, known as Thore Burger painstakingly searched through the private art collections and salons of Europe identifying the work of Vermeer.

Vermeer’s paintings, although not exciting, in the sense of Turner or El Greco, had a quality which invited me to return. At first, I couldn’t understand my attraction to his art work. He painted ordinary scenes of daily life: A maid pouring milk from a pitcher; a woman opening a letter. But, I kept coming back to have another look at the “ordinary” picture. I didn’t experience this attraction with other Dutch Still Life. I admired the skill of the still life artists, in depicting the clarity of a wine glass. But, Vermeer had something else beyond quality and skill. He had the ability to catch a moment in time; a serene, contemplative moment in time. I began to understand my attraction. His art, although not overtly Catholic, was intrinsically Catholic. Vermeer expresses the Catholic belief of ”sanctification in your daily life” so well, without sermonizing.
The art scholars confirm this perspective even if they don’t intend to:
“Everyday raised to the extraordinary level of poetry.”
Dr. Christopher Brown, Director of the Ashmolean Museum
or
Dr. Simon Lee summing up Vermeer’s works:
“Capturing the simple and turning it into the monumental.”
Lecturer Redding University
(Kultur, The Dutch Masters Vermeer)

These phrases sum up what we Catholics try to achieve in our homes and in our work, turning the ordinary work of everyday into the supernatural. The ordinary is our contact with God, by turning to him, offering our day to Him, and bearing the Crosses of life. If we put up with the everyday annoyances because He did so much more for us, living a human life, with its sacrifices and annoyances, our everyday can be raised "to the extraordinary level of poetry," the poetry of the mystics.

In Vermeer's works, I see the expression of a Catholic man. Not all the art professionals agree with me. At the National Gallery of Art (D.C.) website, I read:

"In April 1653 Vermeer married into a Catholic family and seems to have converted to Catholicism shortly before that date to placate his future mother-in-law, Maria Thins.”

I have to humbly disagree. I believe Jan Vermeer's artwork is the testimony of a lively Catholic faith of his own choosing.

Good timeline: