One of the greatest paintings of its time IMHO, unlike many Dutch masterpieces of the era (portraits for the wealthy merchants), it captures a woman of low standing going about a routine task, in brilliant detail and composition.
I feel very privileged to find a community to discuss art after leaving the big R. May it long continue :)
I'm a newcomer to Vermeer but saw a documentary in cinema that explained a lot of the backstory to each piece, blew my mind!