Horoscopes: I fall fickle on either side of the fence on this one. But we are about to enter my sign, Libra, so it’s only right that the emblem (the scales or a balance, the only symbol of the zodiac that’s represented by an inanimate object) should take center stage today.

This is Woman Holding a Balance (c. 1664) by Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675), a Dutch master who veered off from typical Dutch-ness. Sure, his style started in the artistic tradition of his homeland in the 17th century, but a) his choice of subjects, and b) his original vision, make him unclassifiable. This is just the kind of beautiful, mute scene he specializes in: it’s everyday, intimate and has no ‘story’. She seems removed from us as she stands holding a balance in her hand.

The technique, it’s clear, is like none other. It’s not so much the fact the Vermeer is painting from life (nothing unusual there) but in his obsession with its accurate translation: the pin-sharp precision and impeccable ‘realness’ comes from his use of a camera obscura, an optical box that can project images of a scene onto a screen. Then there’s the surface, which from a distance looks molten, silken and creamed onto the canvas. But a closer look lets us see something different: dotted touches of light-colored paint onto what were still just-wet colored layers. This pseudo-pointillism shakes the surface into life and has each object in the picture responding individually to the light. See the strands of pearls and the gold chain glowing on the table.