Bread and pointillés

**Rough crust, scintillating light.** The bread is one of Vermeer’s most celebrated passages of _pointillé_ technique: small raised dots and flecks suggest daylight sparkling across rough crust. The Metropolitan Museum essay calls this one of his most effusive uses of the effect, joining optical sparkle with tactile texture. The abundant bread also supports the Rijksmuseum’s interpretation that the maid may be making bread pudding from dry bread and milk. **References:** Walter Liedtke, Metropolitan Museum of Art essay; Rijksmuseum Vermeer exhibition texts; Rijksmuseum collection record SK-A-2344; _Occupational Medicine_ 73, no. 6 (2023).

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