Oh that is lovely. And the map behind them is fascinating.

I think that's one of the paintings that made David Hockney theorize that the old masters may have used glass lenses to create some of their paintings from life, because of the fine detail. And there is an almost lens-like warping to the perspective in that painting.

"Ten gallons, mevrouw, same as in town."

There looks like there's some flirting going on in that picture.

I believe Hockney was talking about the camera obscura.

I've always loved this one.

I love this painting. And with Vermeer, particularly, I love how the group of finished products illuminates the process - that same studio corner over and over again, dressed with different props and the same people in different clothes or the same clothes combined in new ways. You really get a sense of him directing and assembling the scene he wanted to paint, opening or shutting the window slightly differently to get the light right.