View of Delft

Vermeer's only known cityscape is one of the most celebrated topographical paintings in Western art. Seen across the Schie river from the south, the city of Delft is rendered with extraordinary atmospheric truth — cloudy skies casting shifting light across rooftops, the Schiedam Gate and Rotterdam Gate reflected in still water, the Nieuwe Kerk's tower gleaming in sunlight. Marcel Proust called it the most beautiful painting in the world.