Art historians have long believed that the latter, Pieter van Ruijven—a wealthy citizen of Delft—contributed to Vermeer's success by purchasing much of his work. They now believe that his wife, Maria, played a more important role
Historians know little about Vermeer's work. As the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam prepares to stage a major retrospective on the artist, museum curators claim that the Dutch painter's main patron was, in fact, a woman, rather than a man, as has long been assumed.
The patron in question is said to be Maria de Knuijt, the wife of Pieter van Ruijven. Art historians have long believed that the latter, a wealthy citizen of Delft, contributed to Vermeer's success by purchasing much of his work. They now believe that his wife, Maria, played a more important role in the career of the most famous figure of the Dutch Golden Age (along with Rembrandt), according to The Art Newspaper.