This is both a short history the Golden Age of Dutch painting and the Mauritshuis Museum and catalog of the exhibit held at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Each photo of a painting is accompanied by a full page of artist's biography and commentary on technique and subject matter. ( )

I had high expectations of this book going in and it did not disappoint. Griet a young woman of seventeen is sent from her family of mother, father, brother, and sister to go and work as a maid in the now famous painter Vermeer's household. Her father was a tile painter but lost his sight due to an accident at work involving the kiln. Now it's up to Griet to provide for the family as her brother is doing his apprenticeship and is not making anything yet. Her father can get some money from the Artist Guild which all members put into when they work for just such an occasion, but it's hard to accept the money. The best solution is that Griet goes and work for the head of the Guild, Vermeer.

It is an unusual household in that they are Catholic and Griet is Protestant. Also, there are a lot of children and Vermeer's wife Catharina is pregnant again with their seventh child. Catharina loves to have children, though governing them is not her strongest suit. Maria Thins, her mother, lives with them as well and she is really the one who runs things. Her servant Tanneke who has been with them for over ten years and does the cooking and cleaning of the house. Tanneke is lazy but loyal and Griet must handle her carefully. Griet was hired to clean the master's painting room with precision and leave everything the way it was. She will also do the laundry and help with serving and cleaning up the meals and help do the floors at night. The eldest child Cornelia is the one to watch out for as she has it in for Griet and wants to cause a great deal of mischief.

At the butcher's shop the butcher's son Pieter becomes interested in her and begins to court her, but she is not interested in him, for she is starting to fall in love with her master, Vermeer which is a death knell for someone like her as it can ruin her and end her job or her reputation if anything comes of it. Vermeer, however, seems to be devoted to his wife. But they become closer when he asks her to mix and grind the paints for him in secret as working with him might upset his wife. And when she sits for him in the famous painting they share something truly special that may bring about the ruin she had hoped to avoid.

This book is as beautifully written as the paintings on which it is based. It really puts you inside this world and makes you believe that this is how it must have happened. Griet is a young woman who is learning about the world and losing touch with her family with whom she had been so close as she only sees them on Sundays and the ways of the Vermeers are turning her head away from the values her family taught her or maybe they are just opening her eyes up to the world in a different way from the way her parents see it as when she looks at his paintings. Griet will have to make some big decisions or they may be made for her. ( )