The Milkmaid (1658) is one of Vermeer’s early works that portrays a young maid pouring milk into a bowl. It is the simplicity of this scene that captivates the viewer. Bread and a wicker basket cover the table in front of the girl. Two copper and wicker baskets and a small frame are the only objects hanging from the whitewashed walls. In the lower right corner there is a 17th century foot warmer set against the tiled back wall. This setting brings a calm, tranquil mood to the painting.
            Vermeer was unconventional in his choice of portraying a lower class scene. Most artists of this era, such as de Hooch, painted upper-middle class and bourgeoisie settings. Moreover, Vermeer was one of the few artists to paint a scene with one subject of this quality. However, it is not only the unique subject matter that sets The Milkmaid apart from other works of this time, but it is the way in which Vermeer captured the image of this girl. He has caught her in a moment of concentration as she measures the milk pouring into the bowl. Her face is serine and innocent, which gives the viewer the idea that Vermeer just happens to be there while she is performing one of her daily chores. One can see the maid’s rough clothing, made of cheap cloth and worn with age. As the light hits her yellow blouse, the viewer can see the uneven stitching along the arms and shoulders. Her rolled up sleeves give way to her strong arms, flexing as she steadies the jug of milk.
Even more impressive is Vermeer use of light throughout this piece. Vermeer’s genius in the rendering of light is his true talent. His works are often characterized simply by the light in the painting. According to Koningsberger, the main difference in Vermeer’s light in comparison to other artists, is that he uses natural light. He does not make idealize or manipulate it as other artist did in their works. Vermeer paints the light as it would truly appear. The light source comes from the window, where he even stresses the lower class image by adding a crack in the glass. Vermeer renders the light in such a way that highlights the different textures throughout the work. The cool milk, coarse bread, rough wicker and smooth brass can all be felt through Vermeer’s light. The bare, white, walls are emphasized by the light, and the viewer can see the nails and nail holes left behind. One can see where the whitewash has been chipped and even a ring of rust where a nail used to be.
Vermeer used the white background to highlight the girl’s figure. The light radiates from the maid’s cap and collar and off of the wall. The right side of the wall contrasts the left to stress the outline of the figure. Through X-rays art historians have found that Vermeer used a thin, white line around the girl’s figure to highlight her presence. It was also found that Vermeer had originally painted an object, probably a map, over the maid’s head, and a clothes hamper where the foot warmer is now.

Vermeer’s color choice and texture were very important in this piece. He used earthy, tranquil forms of yellows, blues, greens and reds. His brushstrokes, unlike most of his paintings, were bold and harder. Vermeer used an interesting technique in depicting the texture of the bread. He used three layers of paint, “the lowest one is a thick, lumpy layer of lead white. Over this he applied a thin reddish glaze through which the peaks of the lumps from the lower layers protrude in the form of white dots. Finally he added more highlights with small dots of whitish-yellow paint on top of the red glaze” (Wheelock 88) Vermeer used various forms of this example on many other objects in the painting.
One of the new inventions during the 17th century was the camera obscura. This device used a lens through which the image would be projected and was often used for sketching, but also “heightened the sense of color [and] contrasts of light and dark” (Wheelock 88). It is believed that Vermeer may have used the camera obscura on several paintings including The Milkmaid, but there is no recorded data stating this as a fact. Also, according to Wheelock, images of cupid are painted on the tiles bordering the wall in the lower right corner. The tiles, along with the foot warmer, are associated with the love the maid has for nourishing others, and her “devotion to her task” (Wheelock 110).