A humble nail

**Small mark, large role.** The nail or nail-hole high on the rear wall is one of the tiny surface details that give the room its lived-in credibility. Vermeer’s wall is not blank: it is punctuated by nail holes, plaster variations, stains, and cracks, details often discussed as part of his controlled naturalism. Some conservation-oriented interpretations also connect such wall marks with workshop practice and compositional planning, though the precise function of this particular mark remains interpretive rather than certain. **References:** Rijksmuseum collection record; _Occupational Medicine_ 73, no. 6 (2023), on nails and nail holes in the wall; Metropolitan Museum of Art essay by Walter Liedtke.

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