The Milkmaid

Can you feel it. The sunshine is so warm and gentle on my left side, pouring through a big window and making the whole room glow. Everything is so quiet, except for the soft sound of milk being poured from a heavy jug. Glug-glug-glug, it goes, a creamy white stream splashing into a bowl. I can almost smell the delicious, crusty bread sitting in a basket on the table. It looks so real, you might think you could reach out and tear a piece off. The woman pouring the milk is so focused and calm, taking care to do her job just right. Her hands are strong and steady. For hundreds of years, I have held this single moment perfectly still for everyone to see. I am not just any picture. I am a painting, a quiet moment that has lasted for hundreds of years. My name is The Milkmaid.

The person who brought me to life was a wonderful painter named Johannes Vermeer. He was a very patient and careful artist who lived a long, long time ago, way back around the year 1658. He lived in a cozy town in a country called the Netherlands, in a place called Delft. Johannes loved to watch people doing their everyday jobs. He didn't paint kings in shiny armor or big, noisy battles. Instead, he thought that the quiet, hardworking people, like the woman pouring milk, were the most special subjects of all. He took his time with his brush, dipping it into bright yellow paint to create the woman's top. He mixed a brilliant blue for her apron. My favorite part is what he did with the bread. He painted tiny, sparkling dots of light all over the crust. These little dots make the bread look so real and crunchy that you almost want to take a big bite. He saw the beauty in simple things, and he wanted everyone else to see it too.

For many, many years, I have had a very special forever home. I live in a huge, beautiful building called the Rijksmuseum, which is in a city named Amsterdam. People from all over the world travel on planes and trains just to come and visit me. When they stand in front of me, they usually grow very quiet. They stop rushing and just look. They see the calm look on the woman's face and the bright sunlight filling the room. I think I remind them that even a simple job like pouring milk can be full of beauty and care. I am here to share a secret with you. I want to show you that there is wonder all around, in the sunlight, in a loaf of bread, and in the kind work of helping others. Just look closely, and you will see it too.