Interesting supporting factoid about the lenses not mentioned in the article: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, inventor of the microscope, born in the same year (1632) l

Interesting supporting factoid about the lenses not mentioned in the article: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, inventor of the microscope, born in the same year (1632) lived two streets away from Vermeer in Delft. It was a tiny city back then, the men very likely knew each other, so Vermeer would have had access to the best lenses and the world's leading expert of that time.