Vermeer, a converted Catholic, marries his wife, Catharina, and lives in the home of his mother-in-law in what is called the Papist Corner. There are two aspects of his life that I think contributed to his style and choice of subject in his painting.
Vermeer and his wife had a reasonably good marriage, they had 15 children, 11 survived. But his wife was prone to outbursts. His mother-in-law really ruled the home, and paid the bills. With so many children to care for, and the fact that Vermeer did not support himself very well financially through his painting, history suggests that he painted for a patron, Pieter van Ruijven, who collected about half of his work. So, perhaps he painted to please van Ruijven.
Or perhaps, he painted to capture on canvas the domestic bliss that eluded him in life. His wife was unstable and prone to flashes of temper, having had a childhood marked by a violent father. So, when I look at Vermeer's work, I see women who are serene in settings of simplicity, something that the painter captured on canvas, which he envisioned in his mind. He enjoyed the solitude of his studio, and the silence of his subjects.
The Girl With the Pearl Earring, if you believe the book and film, suggest that the painting was commissioned by his patron, and arranged by his mother-in-law, against the express wishes of his wife, who tried to destroy the finished work with a knife to the canvas out of jealousy.
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