The Art of Painting is a famous painting by Johannes Vermeer and known also as The Allegory of Painting or, less common, the Painter in his Studio. Vermeer executed it as oil on canvas with the dimensions 130 cm × 110 cm, i.e. 51 in × 43 in and is, thus, the largest painting by Johannes Vermeer. As no date is given, we have to estimate: 1664, 1668 or 1673 are most commonly mentioned, but also 1661 has been suggested. As many parts of his life, the exact date is likely to remain a secret in Vermeer’s biography.

The original Dutch title is De Schilderconst, thus, The Art of Painting, but Allegory of Painting is often preferred over the literal translation as we see much more than an accurate picturing of a painter in a studio, painting a female model holding a trumpet and a book in her hands. The gently shining sunlight highlights her face and determines the focus of the painting. The painter though, turns the back to the viewer, sits in the middle of the room, but not in the middle of the painting. The latter is occupied by the space lying between the model and the artist, yet filled with the interaction of both: the posing model and the concentrated seeming artist studying his muse.

Vermeer's ultimate masterwork with its thrilling chandelier was 'The Art of Painting' painted ca. 1666-1668, now in the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum (detail on the right). It was in Vermeer's posession at his death but it was kept hidden from the 1676 inventory. The painting was transferred to the posession of her mother Maria Thins on February 24, 1676. The painting was then sold in a Delft auction on March 15, 1677.

The Art of painting is exhibited at Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. No other paintings of Vermeer are exposed there.