Reviews (5)

Vermeer -- and Delft
The best art history tells us not only about the painter and the paint, but the surrounding events of life and the world as well. Since so little is known of Vermeer himself, the city of Delft, on which this book focuses so much attention, truly becomes the central character. We cannot know Vermeer, but we can know his daily life. This is a marvelously researched if somewhat dryly presented history that should set a bench mark for the popular study of popular artists.

All of Vermeer's paintings at an affordable price
The print quality though not a perfect color match in the paintings, is better than most. I've yet to find a Veermeer book that closely matches Vermeer's vivid use of color while at the same time closely matching the original colors. It's a well made book, amazing considering the low price.
The writing is rather dry and unemotionally scholarly albeit comprehensive, and can be somewhat boring. I would rather read a more thorough analysis of what each painting was intended to say and how it was made and composed, written with less emotional detachment. At the price though, it's a pretty good book.

Evocative and excellent
I saw and was transformed by the Vermeer exhibit in Washington, D.C. a few years ago. I bought this book along with Girl in Hyacinth Blue. While the print edition cannot begin to reproduce the "light" of his paintings, this excellent production brought back a flood of feelings and remembrances from show.

Illuminating Vermeer
This exceptional work showcases Vermeer's oeuvre with very high quality reproduction. Note especially the clarity of two wondrous Vermeer portraits, the Girl with the Pearl Earring and the Girl with the Red Hat; both have been recently cleaned and restored and are presented here with much of the the subtle values and luminous color characteristic of the originals. The landscapes are beautifully captured to scale: The Little Street shimmers with tincture of bricks and mortar, while The View of Delft generates a sense of lapidary majesty. The Lady Reading, the Milkmaid, the Woman in Blue, and the Woman Holding a Balance are simply splendid, as are the Astronomer and the Geographer.

Arthur Wheelocks's text incisively narrates Vermeer's threadbare story, givng historical context while providing insight about the paintings themselves. I'm not sure he should have included the controversial St. Praxedis, for many scholars have rejected its attribution to Vermeer. But his commentary as well as his methodology for dating the paintings is informed by the best scholarship, for Wheelock has been at the forefront over the last several decades in bringing Vermeer to the public at large.

Given the price, this book is a terrific value. It can be used on the coffee table and as an essentail companion when reading other volumes about Vermeer. Better still, take it with you as you visit personally all the Vermeers in the New York (the Metropolitan and the Frick) and Washington, DC( the National Gallery) museums.

Vermeer: A Visual Treat
This book offers a wonderful opportunity for those Vermeer lovers who were not fortunate enough to view the National Gallery of Art exhibit in 1995. A brief but informative overview of Vermeer's life is provided, along with large format reproductions of all of his existing works. Inlcuded in each description is the location of each work, along with the dimensions of the original. While my goal is to see all the Vermeers on display, this is a great reference companion. I keep it on my coffee table and refer to it often. It's a treasure. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Philip Steadman's remarkable book Vermeer's Camera cracks an artistic enigma that has haunted art history for centuries. Over the years, artists and art historians have marveled at the extraordinary visual realism of the paintings of the 17th-century Dutch painter Jan Vermeer. The painter's spectacular View of Delft, painted around 1661, and the beautiful domestic interior The Music Lesson seem almost photographic in their incredible detail and precise perspective. Since the 19th century, experts have speculated that Vermeer used a camera obscura, an early precursor of the modern camera. However, conclusive proof was never discovered, until now. In Vermeer's Camera, Steadman proves that Vermeer did indeed use a camera obscura to complete his greatest canvases. Part art-historical study, part scientific argument, but mainly a fascinating detective story, Vermeer's Camera argues:

Vermeer had a camera obscura with a lens at the painting's viewpoint. He used this arrangement to project the scene onto the back wall of the room, which thus served as the camera's screen. He put paper on the wall and traced, perhaps even painted from the projected image. It is because Vermeer traced these images that they are the same size as the paintings themselves.

Reviews (3)

Interesting, scholarly study
Did Vermeer use optical aids, like a camera obscura, in crafting his wonderful paintings: yes or no?

That is the question being asked here. This is a technical question, only, it adds or detracts nothing in Vermeer's ouvre and career either way. It's and interesting question though, and even an important one. What choices did Vermeer make in achieving greatness?

Steadman convincingly argues that Vermeer very likely used a camera obscura, in one form or another, in creating many of his paintings. This work starts with a thorough discussion of the inconclusive written records. Vermeer was certainly contemporary to people like van Leeuwenhoek, who pioneered microscopy, even lived in the same city at the same time. He had long exposure to trades where lenses were used regularly, and lived in a time when lenses were available commercially. All that is circumstantial and, unlike other authors, Steadman declines to read more into available facts than they said in the first place.

His real contribution is in his detailed analyses of Vermeer's paintings and their geometries, and in actual reconstructions of the rooms Vermeer portrayed and tools he might have used. This is the scientific method at work: present a falsifiable hypothesis, and create an experiment that confirms or denies it. "Is shadow in 'The Music Lesson' a credible, literal rendering of an actual scene?" His experiments from the late 80s, rebuilding rooms that match Vermeer's says "Yes." This is a delightful contrast to armchair guesswork by others, such as Wheelock, who never really checked but thought the shadows looked false.

This is a worthwhile historical and technical achievement, partially funded by the BBC for a TV special in 1989. It also stands in clear contrast to Hockney's later work on much the same question, "Secret Knowledge." Hockney asked, as an artist, do these tools give me the experience captured in the old masters' art? His answer, achieved by personal immersion, was also "Yes." I respect Steadman's rigor as a historian and experimentalist, but this work comes off a bit dry compared to Hockney's first-person report.

It's an interesting book on an artist about whom maddeningly little is known. It's thorough, and gives future art historians a very high bar to clear. If not for the hands-on liveliness of Hockney's book, I might have ranked this one even higher.

//wiredweird

A Detective Story for VermeerLovers
This treasure is actually a mystery novel in the guise of an art book! Steadman cleverly examines the long-held debate over Vermeer's alleged use of camera-like inventions to help create his masterworks. He does so by constructing models of the rooms, examining long-overlooked clues and engaging in some very pragmatic thinking. At times Steadman almost comes across as art history's answer to Lt. Colombo, which is a compliment. This is a very readable and enjoyable book for any art lover who also loves a good mystery, brain teasers, and practical application of optics. My only quibble is that additional illustrations and plates would have helped Steadman make his point better.

Did He or Didn't He?
Did the famous Delft artist, Johannes Vermeer, use the camera obscura to create his remarkably photographic paintings?People have been asking that question for a century or more.To help answer it, Philip Steadman has written this great little book.It is truly an enjoyable investigation of Vermeer's acquaintances, studio, and style.My favorite parts of the book are Steadman's photographic reconstructions of Vermeer's paintings.Did Vermeer use the camera?If he did, would that make him an artistic cheat or a visionary?I like a book that leaves me with some things to think about, and this one does the job. ... Read more

Book Description

The canonicity of Jan Vermeer's oeuvre was originally established within the general framework of modernist aesthetics. The specific concepts guiding critics were developed in the context of a reappraisal of Dutch painting in the nineteenth century, particularly in Germany and France. In this study, Christiane Hertel interprets the suppositions underlying Vermeer's canonization and also addresses the critical problem of locating his paintings in history. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

Excellent Non-Biography
Anthony Bailey's somewhat misleadingly titled Vermeer not-quite-biography is meticulously researched, lovingly detailed, and suffused with a powerful affection and appreciation for both Vermeer's painting and Dutch history. It is only ever less than fascinating when dealing with the old master himself.

So little is known of Vermeer as to leave his biographers only slightly better off than those of Shakespeare, imagining that this document indicated this mood, this painting signifies that political opinion...such supposition is not terribly interesting to the lay reader.

But in his detailed recreation of 17th century Delft and his lush and delicate descriptions of the major canvases, Bailey makes up for the limitations of his subject. This period of Dutch history is so rich it seems almost a shame to spend so much of the text on a figure about whom so little is known, and Bailey recounts it beautifully.

An excellent book, then, unless one really wants a biography of Vermeer.

Gentle and Serene
Anthony Bailey is the ideal author to write about Vermeer: like his subject's paintings his prose is quiet, calm, introspective, and serene. He illuminates Vermeer and his work, but as in the paintings discussed the light is gentle, and golden, never harsh - like a good poet, Bailey leaves plenty of room for the reader to reflect on his/her reality as he describes his subject.

It's wonderful to think of Vermeer painting his silence-drenched, calm and mysterious images amid the noise and tumult of his house filled with eleven children. Perhaps his paintings were a world of perfect order and quiet that he could retreat to when his messy and noisy surroundings became overwhelming. I also liked Bailey's point that perhaps Vermeer painted so few images because almost all of his best work had sunlight streaming through a window, and the Dutch climate doesn't offer too many sunny days to paint from!

The book opened with a bit more 15th and 16th century Dutch history than I would have cared for, but hold tight, once he switches his focus to Vermeer's paintings the book takes flight, and you will never look at the paintings in the same way again. The black and white reproductions don't do the paintings justice however - I'd recommend having a book of color reproductions of the paintings (there are only 37 known Vermeers!) next to you as Bailey gently helps you see these familiar images in wonderfully new ways.

THE MASTERY OF DELFT -- THE MASTERY OF ANTHONY BAILEY
I'm certainly no expert on the non-fiction genre and definitely no expert on art history but I do know a well-researched and enjoyable piece of work when I come across it. I came in the backdoor on this one having become fascinated by Vermeer after reading Tracy Chevalier's Girl With A Pearl Earring. I followed that one up with Susan Vreeland's Girl In Hyacinth Blue and then came across Anthony Bailey's book. What a wonderful way to continue my journey into this author's own portrait of this master painter and what a surprise to find that it contains black and white and some color pictures of Vermeer's paintings as well.

While very little is known about Vermeer's life, through the genius of Bailey, you come away from this book feeling you know the man. What we do know is that he lived in the mid 17th century, was a Reformed Protestant until he married the Catholic Catharina Bolnes and fathered 11 children as well as 35 masterpieces. At a time when painters were in abundance in Delft and industry was striving, the picture of Vermeer is still that of a struggling artist trying to feed and clothe a large family. It is a wonder, Bailey points out, that amidst all the noise and commotion that must have gone on in his house and the financial problems that must have weighed heavily on his shoulders, that he was still able to paint such masterpieces that put the beholder at ease merely by their stillness. Vermeer was never an "all-inclusive artist" notes Bailey and none of his paintings incorporate a single flower. He favored the use of the "local colours" of yellow, white and blue. Bailey also notes that he was "fond of rendering the effects of sunlight and sometimes succeeded to the point of complete illusion."

The author mentions the trademarks found in Vermeer's paintings -- the white wine jug, the map on the wall, the bowl of fruit on a carpeted table, finials in the form of a lion's head at the back of the chair and, my personal favorite, the black and white floor tiles that helped the artist establish perspective. He also explains Vermeer's possible use of the camera obscura to focus his view. There were so many interesting things presented by the author, one of which was the different way Vermeer signed his name. Bailey shows five different signatures all playing around with the V and M in Vermeer's name. Another thing I found engrossing was how Vermeer put things into his paintings and then painted them out. We can only see this now because of modern X-ray and infrared equipment.

I could go on and on about all I learned after reading this book but some of the more interesting parts occur after Vermeer's death and have to do with Hitler's possession of some of these masterpieces as well as Van Meegeren's forgeries of Vermeer's works in the 1900's. Of the 35 known Vermeer works, one painting, The Concert, is still missing, having been stolen in 1990.

I culminated my fascination of Vermeer with a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art this week to see the Delft/Vermeer exhibit. Having just read Bailey's book, I felt quite knowledgeable not only concerning Vermeer but all things Delft in general. Upon exiting the exhibit, I walked directly into the gift shop where Anthony Bailey's book was not only on sale but being purchased by all those around me. So not only do I congratulate this author on a work well done, but also on the best timing possible for publication that one could imagine.

I'll end this review with my favorite lines from the book -- those that sum up Vermeer's life in the eyes of Anthony Bailey. "He remains in some respects, the missing man in some of his own paintings: the person who has just left the room, or who is expected at any moment. He is impatient to be found, to be seen, but while he waits, he paints stillness."

Anthony Bailey has made Johannes Vermeer come alive for me with interesting stories, things that might have been and a wonderfully descriptive Delft region by which Vermeer was obviously inspired. To me he is no longer lost, but found on the pages written by Bailey.

A Dutch Treat
Anthony Baily's biography of the elusive Vermeer is really a study of the Netherlands, or more specifically, the town of Delft, in the mid-seventeenth-century. I suppose there is no other way to write a biography of a man of whom so little is known, and Baily's efforts are resoundingly successful. His descriptions of city scenes, cultural events, churches, houses, markets, etc., are rendered with astonishing skill and verve. His thumbnail history sketches are always lively and never seem rushed. There are surely more detailed studies of Vermeer's work, but Baily is far more interested in placing the artist in his context than he is in producing the definitive read of the master's painting. And while readers interested in all of Dutch culture in the Golden Age might find Simon Schama's "Embarrassment of Riches" a more detailed and global work, I think Baily is by far the superior writer, and the reader comes away with a full and stimulating picture of Vermeer's world. ... Read more

Product Description

The complete collection of 35 paintings from Jan Vermeer, a master of Dutch art. His paintings mostly show women in their daily work. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A succinct but dazzling portfolio of Vermeer
Norbert Schneider has written many excellent books on art and among them is this small volume in which he addresses ALL of the paintings of Vermeer. Though the book is short (96 pages) it mirrors the output of the artist - he only painted thirty five works! Schneider's commentary is intelligent, brief, and in obvious adoration of the Dutch School of painting and Vermeer in particular. Not only is each painting reproduced with surprising accuracy of color and clarity, but Schneider provides many details of each work, opening the Pandora's box of each of these little masterpieces with microscopic precision. As is gratefully the tradition at Taschen Books, the price is so affordable that in addition to adding to your own library, this very special art book can be an elegant and dignified gift for your friends! ... Read more

Book Description

A witty, profound homage to Western art and an escorted tour of the masterworks beloved by all.

Ranging over hundreds of years—and countless styles—with breathtaking virtuosity, George Deem has repainted the history of Western art. Deem's special gift is to paint, with witty sympathy, his own "revisions" of famous works, revisions that look like the originals but transform them in some way.

Now, in the most comprehensive collection of his work ever assembled, the amazing scope of Deem's devotion to his subject, art itself, can be seen. The greatest American and European artists are represented; their work, at first glance, seems uncannily perfect. Here is an exquisite Vermeer, looking so much like the original that it takes a moment to realize there is no woman holding a water pitcher in the corner of the room. And here is Cubist Cache, Deem's tour de force imagining of what Parisians do with their cubist art when they go away on vacation.

As a special feature the book includes a die-cut, ready-to-assemble version of Deem's quotation of Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, a cube in which we view the famous picnic from all four sides and from above.

This is the perfect gift book for art lovers. On one level it offers a delightful excursion through the famous paintings that everyone loves. On another, we marvel at the virtuoso display of artistic technique, in which no style or era can resist Deem's fond embrace and witty act of quotation. And finally, here is a body of work that, in affirming the richness and variety of its subject, reaffirms the pleasure we take in painting. 80 color illustrations. ... Read more

Book Description

In this strikingly beautiful book, leading Vermeer scholars examine the life and works of this seventeenth-century Dutch master, analyzing his evolution from a painter of religious and mythological images to an artist who explored the psychological nuances of human endeavor. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

I think Vermeer is a much better painter than Rembradt
Well, if two points determine a line then Mike Venezia is making an effort to include more works by the artists he is writing about this year for his Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series. This volume on Johannes Vermeer includes sixteen works by the artist, who only produced about 40 paintings in his life, along with almost a dozen other works by his contemporaries. Apparently there is less known about the life of Vermeer than any other artist in this series, so this particular volume is precluded from providing a decent biography. This works out fine because Venezia makes more of an effort to explain how Vermeer's paintings work and I always like it when the books in this series can provide some substantive "art appreciation" lessons along with the cartoons. It is interesting that Vermeer's works were mistaken for those of Rembrandt and Pieter de Hooch because when you compare their paintings it is clear Vermeer's work is unqiuely different. In fact, given the senese of quiet and stillness he creates in his works, you may well end up thinking that Vermeer was the best of the bunch from the Golden Age of Art that reigned in Holland during the 17th century. Rembrandt is a great first name (or last name for that matter), but I sure am surprised to discover I think Vermeer was a better painter.

An essential book for art lovers!
I was fortunate enough to have seen the now-legendary Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. during the winter of 1995-96. 21 out of the 35 (or 36) extant paintings by Vermeer were included in the show, offering a unique opportunity to see the bulk of Vermeer's amazing works in a single space, something that no one has experienced since 1696, when @20 of his paintings were auctioned in Delft. Given the rarity and fragility of Vermeer's works, it is unlikely that such an event will ever be repeated. All who were unable to make it to the show, however, have this splendid book as a document of this unique event. This book will remain the standard work on Vermeer for many decades, and represents the fruit of several years' labor by art historians on two continents. Because so little is in fact known about Vermeer the man (in truth, we have no idea at all what Vermeer's education, interests, and personality were like), the catalogue essays fill this gap by contextualizing Vermeer's work within the history of Dutch painting, the development of perspective, and the fascinating tale of Vermeer's "rediscovery" in the 19th century and his richly-deserved rise to worldwide fame. The essays and catalogue entries may be too technical for some readers, as the authors have expended a lot of effort to reconstruct Vermeer's exact technique, something which can only be gleaned from careful study of the paintings themselves (no drawings by Vermeer have survived, nor have any statements he may have made about painting). This extensive scholarly apparatus, while illuminating and occasionally even riveting (the essay dealing with Vermeer's rediscovery is a great detective narrative!), tends to obscure the strange, even uncanny emotional charge that his images are suffused with. Vermeer's personal world - so limited in content yet unforgettably haunting and evocative - is one of stillness and peace suffused with tension. Each image contains remarkable spatial and temporal ambiguities that make simple scenes like a lady writing a letter while her maid looks away or two people standing near a piano (The Music Lesson) vibrate with dramatic tension. Sadly, the somewhat passionless writing encases the pictures (all of which are superbly reproduced) in a rhetoric that does not address the fundamental issue: What is it about these paintings that is so powerful that their maker was rescued from total obscurity and has inspired poetry, novels and countless studies? I was hoping to find some discussion of the psychological meaning of these images, but the traditional (overly scholarly and dry) art history within did nothing to help me understand my passion for the "Sphinx of Delft." That said, the book is a masterpiece of empirical research on the artist (barring some new discovery, it is unlikely that we will ever have any more facts about Vermeer and his world than can be read here), exquisitely designed, and distinguished with beautiful reproductions. The volume is certainly one of the few bestsellers in the field of the art book - when I attended the show, the paperback print of the book was totally sold out and the hardcover was flying off the shelves (it is odd that the book has not been reprinted in paperback). Johannes Vermeer is THE text to have on this artist and is unlikely to be superseded anytime soon. Immerse yourself in Vermeer's world and you will be transformed. Seeing this exhibition changed my life, and I treasure this book as a means of recapturing the awe and joy that overwhelmed me at the time. I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I have.

Review
This book contained crucial information aboout the Dutch genre painter Johannes Vermeer. It would be helpful for both a reseach paper or report,as well as for educational purposes. It ranged from biographical information to his professional work. The book was well done and nicely written as well. This one source provides vast information. Included are paintings done by the artist. I think most readers would be able to handle the vocabulary of this book. When finished with this book you will definetly be informed about the artist Jan Vermeer.

vermeer, a door to another world
vermeer's paintings are a door to another world. you see just a small panel with some touches of brush. how familiar this world is, you see the same windows, maids, tables, wine glasses etc. as countless other painters have drawn. but how astonishing this world is, inside these small paintings a wholely new world is. this book will show you the whole world vermeer's paintings create inside small space of canvas, with kindly, easy explanations and full enough illustrations. you may find other catalogues of vermeer's paintings. but if you have this book, ohters are only burden on your bookshelves. ... Read more

Book Description

The exquisite paintings of Jan Vermeer, with their luminous colors and gradations of reflected light, are admired by art lovers everywhere. This lovely book examines the creative process and technical means by which the great seventeenth-century Dutch painter achieved his remarkable pictorial effects. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

11 year old didn't like this book
i didnt perticuarly like this book.vermeer is a great artist and they didnt put many illustrations of his work.it was very informative yet not a very good book, it was boring.

Not recommended
As a book that claims to shed light on Vermeers painting techniques, I found 'V & the art of Painting' pretty disappointing. Arthur Wheelock appears to be well established in the role of art critic and researcher and this perspective comes across strongly throughout the book. However there were few illustrations and the actual information on painting techniques covered in this book, appeared to me to be largely stating the obvious.
I don't think you could fault the author's background research on Vemeer and his work, but I wouldn't recommend this book to any artist or student trying to discover Vermeer's actual painting methods. ... Read more

Book Description

Edward Snow's A Study of Vermeer, first published in 1979 and herepresented in an expanded and elaborately revised version, starts from a singlepremise: that we respond so intensely to Vermeer because his paintings reach sodeeply into our lives. Our desire for images, the distances that separate us,the validations we seek from the still world, the traces of ghostliness in ourown human presencethese, the book proposes, are Vermeer's themes, which hepursues with a realism always in touch with the uncanny. As Snow traces the manycounterpoised sensations that make up Vermeer's equanimity, he leads us into aworld of nuances and surprise. A Study of Vermeer is passionate and visual in its commitments. Snow works fromthe conviction that viewing pictures is a reciprocal actsymbiotic,consequential, real. His discussions of Vermeer's paintings are conducted in alanguage of patient observation, and they involve the reader in an experience ofdeepening relation and ongoing visual discovery. The book has been designed tofacilitate this process: over eighty illustrations, fifty-nine in color(including two full-page foldouts), accompany the text so that the details Snowilluminates will be continally in view. Here is a book to enthrall not onlystudents of Vermeer, but anyone who feels the exhilaration of what Czannecalled "thinking in images." ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Snow Job
If you like things analyzed in exhaustive detail - to death, actually - Edward Snow's "A Study of Vermeer" is the book for you. If half of what Snow thinks is going on in these paintings is really there, then the mystery of Vermeer's low 30 plus lifetime production of paintings is answered. He was busy spending years planning each canvas to amaze and confound future art historians, critics, and english professors who take a fancy to his work, before ever picking up a brush. Who was Vermeer the man? You won't find it here. What historical, sociological or personal influences shaped his work? Except for brief passing mention of the "vanitas" not a clue can be found in this book. I award him 3 stars because he did motivate me to really, really look at these marvelous paintings to see what he (Snow) was talking about. Oh, and he credited a few of his students for their readings of the paintings during his course on Vermeer at Rice University, which he used in rewriting this expanded volume. Guess he couldn't figure out when the youngsters were serious or just pulling the old professor's leg.

A Breathtaking Study of Vermeer
This revised and enlarged edition is an unusually thoughtful, intelligent and eloquent offering from a scholar of remarkable insight and rare passion. Until I read the book (in one night as I couldn't put it down), I didn't know why I had always liked Vermeer. Dr. Snow's book is a journey of pleasure and discovery. Light, space, colour, desire and luminous revelation fairly crackle with intensity. An historic contribution to the art world, or as Dore Ashton observed, "an authentic contribution to the literature (yes, literature!) of the visual arts". ... Read more

Book Description

This book is not only a fascinating biography of one of the greatest painters of the seventeenth century but also a social history of the colorful extended family to which he belonged and of the town life of the period. It explores a series of distinct worlds: Delft's Small-Cattle Market, where Vermeer's paternal family settled early in the century; the milieu of shady businessmen in Amsterdam that recruited Vermeer's grandfather to counterfeit coins; the artists, military contractors, and Protestant burghers who frequented the inn of Vermeer's father in Delft's Great Market Square; and the quiet, distinguished "Papists Corner" in which Vermeer, after marrying into a high-born Catholic family, retired to practice his art, while retaining ties with wealthy Protestant patrons. The relationship of Vermeer to his principal patron is one of many original discoveries in the book. ... Read more

Book Description

Lawrence Gowing's classic study has long been treasured forthepainterly sensibilities he brought to this greatly loved body of work.Finallythe text is available again, with a new foreword and fresh reproductionsofVermeer's paintings. ... Read more

Book Description

Vermeer ’s World By Irene Netta

Jan Vermeer (1632 –1675) is widely acknowledged as one of the most important painters of the 17th century. His paintings of genre scenes and landscapes are famous throughout the world for their exquisite use of light. Vermeer ’s World gives a fascinating insight into the life and works of the Dutch artist. With its reproductions of the 35 paintings known to be authentic, the book also functions as a catalogue of the artist ’s work. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

If you loved GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
you will want to own this book. You will find out how much is really known about Vermeer and see pictures of all the paintings you read about. You will be surprised at how much you recognize. A copy of this sent with Girl With a Pearl Earring will make a fabulous gift. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Vermeer and His Peers
Is there anything new to say about the great Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer? Scholars have been obsessed with his paintings for years. To my delight, this book by Bryan Jay Wolf actually offers fresh insight into the issues that preoccupied the artist--and well as other Dutch painters in the seventeenth century. Issues of commerce, domesticity, private space, gender--and new innovations in technique, some of the most important in the entire history of painting.

The book is wonderfully illustrated, not just with images by Vermeer, but also by de Hooch, Metsu, Luiken, Netscher, Ter Borch, Rubens, Dou, van Hoogstraten, and Steen--and closer to our own time, paintings by Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, even Charles Addams--as Wolf explains the lasting impact of this strange and elusive artist. A must for anyone interested in Vermeer or in the social history of Dutch art. ... Read more

Book Description

Through a historical analysis of Vermeer's method of production and a close reading of his art, Daniel Arasse explores the originality of this artist in the context of seventeenth-century Dutch painting. Arguing that Vermeer was not a painter in the conventional, commercial sense of his Dutch colleagues, Arasse suggests that his confrontation with painting represented a very personal and ambitious effort to define a new pictorial practice within the classical tradition of his art. By examining Vermeer's approach to image-making, the author finds that his works demonstrate the concept of painting as a medium through which the viewer senses the ungraspable and mysterious presence of life. Not only does this concept of painting carry on the traditions of Classical Antiquity and the High Renaissance, but it also relates to Catholic ideas about spiritual meditation and the power of images.

Arasse shows that although Vermeer usually uses secular subject matter commonplace among his contemporaries, his treatment of iconography, light, and line, for example, varies greatly from theirs. Iconographical elements tend to hold meaning in suspense rather than to explicate; dazzling light emanates from interior objects; sfumato renders the presence of objects without depicting them. Discussing these and other aspects of Vermeer's art, Arasse locates the painter's genius in the reflexive, meditative nature of his works, each of which seems to be a painting about painting.

Book Description

More than three centuries after he created them, the exquisite, enigmatic paintings of Johannes Vermeer continue to intrigue. In this volume, scholars, conservators, and scientists investigate Vermeer`s art and the milieu in which he worked. They offer insight into the current state of understanding of the Dutch master`s art and focus special attention on the unique qualities of his paintings. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Vermeer's technique in painting
This book is not an easy read, but it does provide wonderful insights into how Vermeer achieved the effects he did.It certainly heightened my appreciation of his work, both in technical and in artistic terms. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer offers a systematic overview of the artist's life and work that will be useful to specialists, students, and the general public.Its eleven essays include studies of the artist's development and approach to painting, women as a subject in Vermeer's work, the role of Catholicism in Vermeer's life and art, and the artist's reputation during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, among other topics. Collectively, these essays provide a balanced and enlightening examination of many different aspects of Vermeer's art. ... Read more