Die Malkunst

References to themes and motifs from antiquity have been identified or suggested on several occasions in Jan Vermeer’s oeuvre. This question is discussed here against the backdrop of Dutch art treatises, with The Art of Painting taking center stage. The painting is interpreted as a tribute to Dutch art, with the much-discussed face mask in the painter’s studio tracing back to Hellenistic depictions of satyrs and thus representing the ancient sculpture that served as a model particularly for Dutch painters.