Kees Kaldenbach, Dutch art historian and Vermeer expert, has extensively researched the artist's connections to his hometown Delft. Among other things, he identified the tow barges, freight ships and herring busses that populate the View of Delft and even the specific time of the year which Vermeer represented.
(stÅ­mp) n. 1. The part of a tree trunk left protruding from the ground after the tree has fallen or has been felled. 2. A part, as of a branch, limb, or tooth, remaining after the main part has been cut away, broken off, or worn down. 3. a. stumps Informal The legs.
mid-14c., remaining part of a severed arm or leg, from or cognate with Middle Low German stump (from adjective meaning mutilated, blunt, dull), Middle Dutch stomp stump, from Proto-Germanic *stump-(cf. Old Norse stumpr, Old High German and German stumpf stump, German Stummel piece cut off), perhaps related to the root of stub or stamp, but the connection in each case presents difficulties.