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Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, 1654-56, by Johannes Vermeer
You could pass this painting without noticing it is by one of the most popular artists in history, Vermeer â for it is so different from his famous enigmatic scenes of a servant pouring milk or a girl turning her face towards us. But look again. This may seem a more conventional religious scene, yet the story of Christ visiting an ordinary home, where Mary sat to listen to him while Martha got on with her chores, resonates tellingly with his more familiar realist scenes. Maybe all his women are Marys or Marthas. Closing in on this scene, the depiction of Martha holding a basket of bread is pure Vermeer: take away the holy visitor and she could be in one of his Dutch interiors. Yet the inwardness of Mary, too, is of a piece with his absorbed women reading letters or playing the virginals. This may not be Vermeerâs most hypnotic work, but its Biblical message may be the key to all his art: the Vermeer Code.