'The Little Street' or 'View of houses in Delft' is a quiet calming piece by the Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer, c.1658. This view of the Baroque lifestyle is very typically Dutch - even today houses along the Delft resemble this particular architecture. The architecture was very important for this time as along the canals in Amsterdam it is very compact in space due to numerous middle-class competitors of land, therefore houses were generally built upward rather than outwards with generous areas of glass, making it very unique. The uniqueness of the style of the houses on the delft, at this time in the nation, reflects the new found independence of the Dutch from the Spanish. I like this piece for the simplicity in which it resembles the growing secular spirit of the Dutch during their Golden Age. I also admire how vermeer drew on the baroque, with a unrealistic sense - which exaggerated the shutters, and the windows of the house to the right, in turn focusing our attention on the architecture as the subject rather than the people. The dress of the three women shown was very typical to the sober, secular Dutch spirit. Again in the Baroque style, each in movement of their daily lives.