Might Vermeer have used a device to help him create the intriguing aspects of his room-interiors?

It was first suggested in 1891 by James Pennel, and again much more recently by J. Philip Steadman, that Vermeer might have used a "camera obscura" to project an image of the room-interior scenes he planned to depict. An image produced this way could have been arranged to be the same size as the planned painting but would not have been very bright nor colorful. It is likely that Vermeer copied the image first in black and white and added the colors later.

What had this to do with Leeuwenhoek? Well, Leeuwenhoek's unusual hobby was the grinding of magnifying lenses to use in his microscopes. It has been conjectured that, through his acquaintance or friendship with Leeuwenhoek, Vermeer came to appreciate how magnifying lenses and mirrors could be used in the camera obscura to assist him in his art.

It was not unknown for artists of that time and later to use camera obscura techniques to assist with their drawings. However, the technique was not popular because it was believed that it did not create a real view of the world. Vermeer's exact representation in his paintings of the perspective revealed by this process was unique and not very popular at the time.

See:

1) http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html

2) American Scientist: March-April 2002 Vol 90 Number 2 page 177 "Camera Obscurities" by Andreas Teuber