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A Short Break in Delft with Gillian Hull
Delft is one of the Netherlands’ most beautiful and historic cities. Perhaps, like me, you have read Tracy Chevalier’s enchanting, cameo-like novel ‘The girl with the pearl earring’, in which the author writes of Griet, employed as a servant girl by the artist Vermeer to clean his studio.
The story is set against the background of 17th century Delft much of which still remains as the historic centre of a thriving modern city. I first fell in love with Delft’s glorious architecture some years ago and, reading of Griet, I determined to return and steep myself in the narrow streets and ancient buildings with which the servant girl was familiar in her daily life.
Delft, originally written without the final ‘t’, is from the verb ‘delven’, to dig, and was begun in the 11th century, when the existing peat bog was drained for cultivation. It eventually became a successful trading town known for its butter and beer! With the Reformation, William the Silent led the struggle against their Spanish rulers and was offered a home in Delft, which had given him support. |
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The town’s success continued despite a disastrous fire in 1536 destroying two thirds of the buildings, while a gunpowder magazine exploded in the following century causing huge damage and loss of life. Despite all this Delft contributed to Holland’s ‘Golden Age’ in the 17th century, producing thinkers, scientists, and painters of whom Jan Vermeer is probably the best known.
Together with Dutch friends, also familiar with the book, we began our exploration in the main Market Place. At one end is the Town Hall, a very elegant early 17th century building, while at the other is the New Church, topped by the second tallest tower in the Netherlands. Griet would have known both buildings. William of Orange (the Silent), assassinated by a spy for the King of Spain in 1584, is buried in the New Church, with subsequent members of the House of Orange. Last time, on entering the church, we were asked by a guide “Ah, you have come to see our dead Oranges?” This time the church was closed and the square full of activity preparing for the funeral of Prince Bernhard who had recently died at the age of 93.
The old city is a maze of narrow streets and canals lined by the typically Dutch variety of facades with handsome gables, which have much in common with East coast Scotland. We found the site of Vermeer’s birthplace, where he was born in 1632 and, across the Market Square, his home on Oude Langendijk. The house here has also been rebuilt. Griet would cross the square to go to the Meat hall to buy for the Vermeer family. The building later became the Corn Exchange and is now a student bar. Next door she visited the Fish Market; fish is still sold on this site, a tradition going back to the 14th century. Behind the Town Hall is the Waag, where goods over 10 lbs had to be weighed.
Jan Vermeer died in 1765 and is buried in the Old Church near the Prinsenhof, former home of William of Orange. The church’s 13th century tower began to lean before it was finished, but is still standing! A visit to Delft provides much to admire and explore, and associations for those who enjoyed reading of Griet and Vermeer.
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