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The connection between the impressions of the artist's childhood and his life-history on the one hand and his works, as reactions to those impressions, on the other is one of the most attractive subjects of analytical examination (7).
This statement of Freud is as true now as it was when it was written. The temperament, character, and pathology of artists are as varied as those of other human beings, while the material at our disposal is of necessity very sparse compared with the free association of patients. Attempts at drawing general conclusions from the study of one specific artist therefore seem rather hazardous. The accumulation of individual studies of many artists, through psychoanalysis of the living, as well as studies of the works of artists no longer living, may gradually furnish enough material for some generally valid conclusions about the creative process. In the meantime a deeper understanding of the different levels of meaning of a work of art enhances our enjoyment of it. Hypothetical reconstructions of an artist's basic conflicts from his works have to remain very tentative, but no more so that many hypothetical historical reconstructions. Speculative interpretations are as appropriate and indispensable for us as they are for art historians, or historians in general.
This paper examines the works of Jan Vermeer, the seventeenth century Dutch painter, an artist who lets us know comparatively little about his fantasy life, but offers us an unusual opportunity to study his defenses. Since his defenses serve the purpose of disguise, the interpretative hypotheses