Vermeer's Little Street - Delft

Don't think you will recognise the little street from the painting of the same name at a single glance. That is virtually impossible, because the buildings have been radically changed in many places. This is also the case at numbers 40 and 42. The façades bear no resemblance to those in the painting. No resemblance? Look closely and you will discover a gate that is also depicted on the famous canvas.

An Amsterdam historian was able to reconstruct that this must have been the location based on the dimensions of the buildings. Life has changed considerably here. In the seventeenth century, the separation between the private domain and the outside world was not as strict as it is today. The street served as an extended living room, which we see reflected in the painting. In modern times, each house is a kind of closed bastion. Yet there is also a typically Dutch phenomenon: open curtains. In most European countries, residents prefer to close their shutters and curtains to prevent passers-by from seeing into their homes. Many Dutch people, on the other hand, seem to want to show off their living rooms, even though many windows have an opaque layer applied at eye level. The idea is not to allow passers-by to peer in.
Please respect the residents' privacy and don't look in people's windows. The Dutch are quite tolerant and Delft has a friendly character, but there's a limit.