A Maid Asleep

Artist
Johannes Vermeer
Year
ca. 1656–57
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
34 1/2 x 30 1/8 in. (87.6 x 76.5 cm)

A young woman has fallen asleep at a table, her head resting on her hand beside a wine jug and a half-filled glass. The Metropolitan Museum’s only painting by Vermeer, it is a study of quiet domestic stillness — the earliest known example of the serene interiors that made his name.