"Christ in the House of Martha and Mary"

In his own way, Vermeer was conveying the theological struggle between Protestants and Catholics that raged not only within his own country, the Netherlands, but also within himself. As a recent convert to Catholicism, after his marriage  in 1653, it is unsurprising that one of his first works would depict this Biblical scene. Interestingly, some art historians have suggested that owing to the canvas size, which is the largest of all Vermeer's surviving works, it seems likely that this was a commission for a hidden Catholic church. People who followed the Pope's religion were persecuted in much of Northern Europe and forced to hide their spiritual convictions and services in secret basements or disguised lofts.