Everyone familiar with the Dutch painter Vermeer knows that many of his paintings tell a story, or more often only hint at the story. They are a little like the engravings or other prints that would included as illustrations in a novel printed a hundred years ago, or even the cover of a contemporary paper-bound book.
The twentieth-century artist Norman Rockwell also painted pictures that told stories. But of course his paintings are very different from those of Vermeer. For one thing, I think most people would say that the Norman Rockwell paintings are much more obvious.
A book by Francis-Noël Thomas called The Writer Writing contains some comments on Vermeer (but not on Rockwell) that to me seem to suggest that the two painters had more in common than we usually think. It's just that the cultural distance makes it more difficult to appreciate the element of caricature and perhaps mild good-natured satire in some of Vermeer's works.
Vermeer's paintings give the impression, to us at any rate, of being snapshots of daily life in 17th Century Utrecht. But of course it is quite clear that there is nothing spontaneous about these paintings; they are very carefully arranged and posed. Furthermore, in at least some cases, what the paintings show is very different from daily life in the Netherlands as Vermeer would have known it.
Francis-Noël Thomas's commentary addresses primarily a painting by Vermeer called The Art of Painting. The painting was probably not titled by Vermeer, but the title has a mildly satirical tone, since what the painting shows is very different from the art of painting as Vermeer himself practiced it. (It is also sometimes titled The Artist's Studio.) The painter in Vermeer's picture has a large ass encased in baggy black trousers seated on a stool in front of his easel. His clothing is out of date and in addition is highly unsuitable for the work he is engaged in. Thomas refers to it as "a kind of Halloween costume." (In fact, this seems a suitable phrase to characterize the clothing worn in some of Vermeer's other paintings, such as "the Alchemist" and "the Astrologer.")
The artist in the painting is creating what was known as a "historical" painting, meaning one representing a subject from religion, mythology, or national history. By Vermeer's time, historical painting had become much less popular than genre painting --- painting depicting everyday life, as Vermeer himself did (more or less), although it was considered more "elevated." More "cultural," we might say today. In this case, the artist is painting a portrait of Clio, the muse of history. The model for Clio, a naïve young woman, is holding a book and a trumpet, to symbolize her role.
Thomas lists a number of other comical aspects to the painting. Although most art critics have not looked this painting as caricature, I think tht once one's attention has been drawn to the various comical features, it is hard not to see Vermeer, at least in his work in this particular painting (and I believe others as well), as the Norman Rockwell of his time.