The Milkmaid

In the pictureLight coming through the window on the left falls on the white wall and the woman. She wears a white cap, a yellow bodice with green sleeves pushed up above the elbows, a blue apron and a red skirt. A thin stream of milk falls from a red earthenware jug into a low pot. On the table, covered with a green cloth, are a bread basket and pieces of cut bread, a blue-patterned earthenware jug and a crumpled blue cloth. A basket and a brass bucket hang on the wall, a foot warmer sits on the floor at the right, and a row of blue painted tiles runs along the bottom of the wall. Even nails and nail holes are painted on the white wall.

BackgroundIt was painted in Delft around 1660. Vermeer left only some thirty-odd paintings in his lifetime, and most of them capture a quiet moment inside a home. The small dots, like grains of light, on the bread crust and the basket were his way of rendering glints of light, and they are especially prominent in this painting. Maids in paintings of the time were often mocked as lazy or flighty, but here she is shown as neat and absorbed in her work. It is a small painting, a little over 45 centimeters high, and the Rijksmuseum bought it in 1908.

Puzzle tipThe white wall that takes up a large area at the upper right is the hardest part. First fit the areas with clear colors, such as the woman's yellow bodice, blue apron and red jug, then fill in the window grid on the left and the bread and basket on the table. The green tablecloth and red floor are even in color, so join them from the edges. For the white wall, use the fine cracks, the nail holes and the shading that brightens farther from the window as clues. The recommended piece count is about 100.