The Delft artist Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) made his world-famous painting “The Little Street” around 1660. It offers a peaceful view on what initially does not seem to be a very special part of Delft, with two houses along a canal separated by two archways. However, it is a masterly painting with a very exciting composition and section. This masterpiece rightfully has a prominent place in the Gallery of Honour of The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
In 2015 art historian Frans Grijzenhout published his impressive research on the original location of these houses in Delft, that is to say, the numbers 40 and 42 in the Vlamingstraat. (The Little Street of Vermeer, Rijksmuseum)
The correctness of this conclusion and the question if Vermeer painted an existing reality anyway, is subject of a continuing discussion on the life and artwork of Johannes Vermeer.