Maria Thins

Maria Thins was a prosperous Catholic woman in Delft, the mother of Catharina Bolnes and mother-in-law of Johannes Vermeer. Her property and household supported Vermeer’s large family, and inventories and legal records from her home provide important evidence about the painter’s domestic and financial world.

Maria Thins was born in Gouda. Thins lived with her daughter Catharina Bolnes and son-in-law Johannes Vermeer in Delft and appears to have provided substantial financial support to their household; inventories and legal records make her an important figure in reconstructing Vermeer’s domestic world.

In Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, Her duties place her between Vermeer’s volatile wife Catharina, his practical mother-in-law Maria Thins, their children and the patron Pieter van Ruijven.