Amazon.com
With precisely 35 canvases to his credit, the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer represents one of the great enigmas of 17th-century art. The meager facts of his biography have been gleaned from a handful of legal documents. Yet Vermeer's extraordinary paintings of domestic life, with their subtle play of light and texture, have come to define the Dutch golden age. His portrait of the anonymous Girl with a Pearl Earring has exerted a particular fascination for centuries--and it is this magnetic painting that lies at the heart of Tracy Chevalier's second novel of the same title.
Girl with a Pearl Earring centers on Vermeer's prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. When Griet, the novel's quietly perceptive heroine, is hired as a servant, turmoil follows. First, the 16-year-old narrator becomes increasingly intimate with her master. Then Vermeer employs her as his assistant--and ultimately has Griet sit for him as a model. Chevalier vividly evokes the complex domestic tensions of the household, ruled over by the painter's jealous, eternally pregnant wife and his taciturn mother-in-law. At times the relationship between servant and master seems a little anachronistic. Still, Girl with a Pearl Earring does contain a final delicious twist.
Throughout, Chevalier cultivates a limpid, painstakingly observed style, whose exactitude is an effective homage to the painter himself. Even Griet's most humdrum duties take on a high if unobtrusive gloss:
I came to love grinding the things he brought from the apothecary--bones, white lead, madder, massicot--to see how bright and pure I could get the colors. I learned that the finer the materials were ground, the deeper the color. From rough, dull grains madder became a fine bright red powder and, mixed with linseed oil, a sparkling paint. Making it and the other colors was magical.
In assembling such quotidian particulars, the author acknowledges her debt to Simon Schama's classic study The Embarrassment of Riches. Her novel also joins a crop of recent, painterly fictions, including Deborah Moggach's Tulip Fever and Susan Vreeland's Girl in Hyacinth Blue. Can novelists extract much more from the Dutch golden age? The question is an open one--but in the meantime, Girl with a Pearl Earring remains a fascinating piece of speculative historical fiction, and an appealingly new take on an old master. --Jerry Brotton
Book Description
History and fiction merge seamlessly in this luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. Girl with a Pearl Earring tells the story of sixteen-year-old Griet, whose life is transformed by her brief encounter with genius ... even as she herself is immortalized in canvas and oil.
Download Description
Chevalier transports readers to a bygone time and place in this richly imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired one of Vermeer's most celebrated paintings. "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is the story of 16-year-old Griet, whose life is transformed by her brief encounter with genius, even as she herself is immortalized in canvas and oil.
Customer Reviews:
A work of art.......2007-09-09
After watching the movie a couple of months ago, I decided to read the novel on which it was based. I'm a big fan of visual arts and I couldn't wait to read it. Tracy Chevalier's subjective descriptive style really kept my attention. Elegant, clear, detailed... I could see, hear, feel and smell as Griet did.
The book is about Griet, a girl from a poor family in Delft, Netherlands, and the changes that take place in her. After living all of her life with her family, she's sent to work as a maid in the house of a famous painter to help support her family. At the same time she begins to realize (as others already had) that she's turning into a woman and struggles to deal with it.
At her new home, she has to learn how to deal with each of its inhabitants and still be herself. She finds relief when assisting her master with ink and the paintings, even though it endangers her position in the house. I did like the end of the book, although its resolution felt rushed.
Chevalier's details on light and shadow and color and shape are delightful.
4.5 stars.
Skillful fiction.......2007-08-28
If you have ever seen "the Dutch Mona Lisa", or the "girl with the pearl earring", by Vermeer you will have been struck by it's tenderness. Maybe it is misplaced to say so about a naturalist like Vermeer, but you get the feeling he must have liked this girl. However, nobody knows who she was or why he painted her in such an un-Vermeer-like pose.
Perfect fiction material then, and Chevalier has not wasted the opportunity. The book tells the story of a 16 year old girl in the 17th century Dutch town of Delft who becomes a maid in the Vermeer family. We follow her struggle to keep her dignity in a house full of strife, culminating in the event of her being painted (she, a maid!). I usually like first person narratives, but this is one of the best I know. The historical setting is (to me, a non-historian, but Dutch and knowing Delft) completely convincing. The story is plausible, satisfying and well composed, and the prose has a soft touch that somehow accords very well with painting itself.
The one flaw, for which I deduct a star, is that the protagonist is implausibly mature and confident for her age and social status. Another reviewer on this page remarked that the book reads better when you the girl looking back after the facts on her younger self. This is true, but a writer should not have to rely on goodwill like that.
The book reminded me of "Memoirs of a Geisha", in storyline (although it is less brutal), the ease with which the writer makes fiction feel like reality, and the way in which it makes you wish things will turn out well for a small girl in a big world.
Chevalier is wonderful.......2007-08-23
Tracy Chavalier is a master at having art history come alive and incorporate within it a beautiful story.
Words of Art.......2007-08-10
I think what makes this book so appealing to me is the fact that I was able to see a rare Vermeer collection a few years before I read this book and studied art in college, to really make me appreciate the story. One does not have to have any background in art (it simply enhanced the read), but if you're looking for beautiful words, an unconventional love story, and historical fiction --- I think this just might be the book for you. It's not a nail biter, but you certainly absorb each word and paint a picture of the story in your mind as you read. THe movie is quite good as well, but I'm always a fan of a book before the movie. Enjoy!
Stunning.......2007-07-19
This book is absolutely gorgeous. Chevalier paints with words as Vermeer painted with paint. Her prose and descriptions actually take on the same quality as Vermeer's paintings, luminous, quiet, and very strikingly beautiful. The character Griet is complex and interesting. The descriptions in this book are breath taking. Read this!!! Oh, and I am a teenager. Teenagers will love it too.
Customer Reviews:
Completely inadequate.......2007-10-04
Completely inadequate. Many of the reproductions are too dark, and important details can't be seen. In many pictures there are small white dots, obviously the result of poor printing. In the magnificent "Servant Handing Her Lady a Letter," the dyes have dripped so badly that the reproduction might as well be a comic book. Abrams should be miles above this level of quality. The photo editor, Uta Hoffman, should have an eye exam.
ISBN: 0894682199 is a better choice.......2005-09-29
ISBN: 0894682199 is a better choice, because it was highly prized and awarded like no other book about Vermeer. Colors here are rendered not very accurately. This book, like others by Harry N Abrams, tends to show the light background in the upper left hand corner of the "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter" painting as light blue. In fact, that background is multicolored in a kind of pinkish summary tone. Similar problems have other pictures, though all Vermeer's paintings are reproduced as plates.
Good brief volume.......2005-08-26
A fine book on Vermeer with good repros and short but to the point commentary on each painting by the author. I've seen Vermeers in the Rijksmuseum in the original, and although no color plate can do justice to them, these are pretty decent. Vermeer's rich, saturated colors and use of transparent and translucent glazes are impossible to really reproduce in print, at least at a reasonable cost, not to mention his amazing treatment of specular highlights. But the plates in this book are still pretty good.
The book shows all known Vermeers, of which there are less than forty, usually with several paragraphs of commentary on each painting. The author does a good job of placing each painting in the context of Vermeer's overall oeuvre while discussing the painting's special or unique points. No doubt you'll recognize many of your favorite Vermeers here.
Vermeer's masters are still a mystery although Carel Fabritius, Rembrandt's most famous student, and others have been proposed, but without conclusive proof. We may never know who trained him, but one thing is for sure, early on after being certified as a master of the guild, Vermeer turned from the more dramatic subject of historical paintings to painting the intimate and understated works he's known for, in which people are treated almost like inanimate objects in a still life and the light permeates whole volumes of space with liquid effect. Forever a girl stands in front of a virginal, or pours milk from a pitcher, while the light dances and plays around her.
Someone once noted that Vermeer's spaces are quite empty and uncluttered, but this makes sense if you think about it. Since Vermeer was fascinated by light, and the way different surfaces and textures reflected light, Vermeer would not wish to clutter up any space and interfere with the propagation and reflection of light throughout the space. Vermeer was nothing if not a painter of light and lighting effects which he treated more like a dynamic and fluid medium which literally molded the space it touched rather than simple lighting in that sense.
Vermeer also often liked to pose his models playing musical instruments or reading letters, using the act of reading a private communication to create a more intimate mood or identification with the person.
The author also provides a brief introduction and history of Vermeer's life and work, which is about five pages long in this large paperback format, so it's probably more like ten pages in a normal book. Overall, a brief but very well done book on Vermeer.
The best vermeer book........2005-07-30
If you're looking for a vermeer book, this is definitely the one to go for. It has everything: LARGE, beautiful, full color reproductions of all of Vermeer's work, a biography of his life, and very good commentaries on each painting. Plus, it's affordable. Highly recommended.
Excellent value and beautiful prints.......2005-07-09
a wonderful coffee table book that I turn to often
Book Description
Seventeenth-century Delft has traditionally been viewed as a quaint town whose artists painted scenes of domestic life. This important book revises that image, showing that the small but vibrant Dutch city produced fine examples of all the major arts—including luxury goods and sophisticated paintings for the court at The Hague and for patrician collectors in Delft itself.
The book traces the history and culture of Delft from the 1200s through the lifetime of the city's most renowned painter, Johannes Vermeer. The authors discuss at length some ninety major paintings (seventeen by Vermeer), forty drawings, and a choice selection of decorative arts, all of which are reproduced in full color. Among the paintings are state portraits, history pictures, still lifes, views of palaces and church interiors, illusionistic murals, and refined genre pictures by Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch. The rich works on paper encompass exquisite drawings by Delft artists and sketches of the town by visiting artists. Included in the decorative arts are tapestries, bronze statuary, silver, Delftware, and glass. The volume concludes with an essay that takes the reader on a walk through seventeenth-century Delft. It is accompanied by maps of the city's neighborhoods that indicate major monuments and the homes of patrons, art dealers, and painters.
Customer Reviews:
Creme de la creme.......2007-06-14
This may not be the book with which to start a Vermeer trek. But it is one to savor mid-way on the journey. And it's a fitting coda for the many books on Vermeer published since the wonderful Washington/The Hague exhibition in 1995-1996. Walter Liedtke comprensivley and colorfully provides context for Vermeer's style, technique, and themes. For all his erudition, however, Liedtke doesn't explain Vermeer's genius, which is sui generis. The combination of painterly skill, scientific observation, poetic insight, and musical/theatrical nuance all seem perfectly coordinated in this Delft Master. That Vermeer made rather extensive use of the camera obscura to inform his work is without doubt (see Philip Steadman's Vermeer's Camera), although Liedtke continues even now to insist he did not. Nonetheless, as Liedtke exhaustively details, Vermeer could not have been Vermeer without the cultural milieu in and around The Netherlands in the seventeenth century.
The quality of the hundreds of illustrations included in the book, especially those which reproduce Vermeer's paintings, is extraodinary; the cover reproduction of Vermeer's Art of Painting is alone worth the price of the volume. Note particularly the pairing of The Girl with a Pearl Earring and the Study of a Young Woman (making a good case for pendant status), as well as perhaps the best reproduction ever of The Girl with a Red Hat (although it is somewhat over-sized).
Liedkte also generously provides a trove of bibliographical citations, more than enough to keep scholars busily productive well into the next generation. No serious study of Vermeer can proceed without reference to this book. Yet, it is a good read for anyone with a reasonably sophisticated knowledge of European history of that era, and will reward amatuer art historians of the Baroque period with its pinball-like associations.
Lovers of Vermeer will make this book a centerpiece in their library, returning to it again and again for information, clarification, and, most of all, aesthetic pleasure. Liedtke's opus is the next best thing to visiting the several handfuls of museums in the USA and Europe that hold Vermeer's 36 known works.
Tongue in Cheek.......2002-06-03
Bravo to Walter Liedtke for his sense of humor, see below. The fact that 17 out of 24 did not understand his subtle comments on himself, he did write most of the book, is testimony as to lack of discernment of those who read these reviews. I have heard his lecture on the exhibition and all he says is absolutely true. Actually, his comments on himself are rather modest.
A Monument to My Genius.......2001-06-28
Words cannot describe the impact this weighty volume has had on me. From the moment I held it in my trembling hands, I was hooked. The rich, carefully crafted prose is a delight to the eye and the imagination. Its author is undoubtedly a man of breath-taking vision who has reconstructed the 17th-century past with unique skills of research and analysis. His character shines through in every page and the reader cannot help but conjure up in his or her mind a dazzling image of a dark tall handsome curator with beautifully slick and greased black hair, a whiff of moustache, and sparkling gold-rimmed glasses. Every inch a man of learning. I could go on - and I will.
Magnificent.......2001-04-08
This is a catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition "Vermeer and the Delft School" held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, from March 8 to May 27, 2001 and The National Gallery, London, from June 20 to September 16, 2001. It is written by Walter Liedtke, Curator in the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York with contributions from eight other art curators and historians. This is a hefty book reflecting this monumental ehibition which includes 15 of the 35 known works attributed to Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) who spent his entire life in Delft. Other prominent 17th Century artists include Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Houckgeest and one of my favorites, Carel Fabritius, who was killed in a munitions explosion in 1654 at the age of 32. The catalogue is 640 pages containing 526 illustrations with 225 colorplates. The quality of the colorplates is good. The history of Delft and the development of "The Delft School" is thoroughly researched. In addition to the artists mentioned there are many beautiful paintings by artists who are relatively unknown. This is a catalogue where the interested reader will spend the rest of his life perusing. There is much to be mined here. The exhibition is worth a journey.
Average customer rating:
- Better than the average but still not the definite book on Vermeer
- A 17th century artist who is perfect for our time
- Lavishly illustrated with excellent reproductions
- Very Beautiful Book & definitely worth the Price.
- An essential book for art lovers!
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Johannes Vermeer
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Similar Items:
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Vermeer: The Complete Works
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Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces
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Vermeer and the Delft School (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series)
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A Study of Vermeer, Revised and Enlarged edition
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Vermeer
ASIN: 0300065582 |
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.
Customer Reviews:
Better than the average but still not the definite book on Vermeer.......2006-07-10
It is a nice book but the quality of the reproductions is poor.
A 17th century artist who is perfect for our time.......2006-01-18
This book accompanied the legendary 1995-96 Vermeer show at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. that found itself caught up in the Gingrich - Clinton shutting-down-the-government imbroglio. Remember now? Vermeer has grown in popularity and in public awareness since this show. Recently, a totally fictitious movie was made around his paintings. It was named after the painting that became the focus of the movie, "The Girl With a Pearl Earring". It was a good story, but had nothing to do with the real people involved because we simply do not know. There are only a few dozen paintings by the artist still extant, but they all are wonderful and attract modern sensibilities because of their lines and perfect artificiality and their perfect reality. They present the exact kind of contradiction and puzzles we love nowadays, and because there are only a few dozen, the dilettante can study each of them in detail without becoming overwhelmed.
This book has four fine papers that discuss aspects of what we know about the artist and his work. There is also a chronology and the catalogue of the exhibition, which had a very large sampling of the known paintings. The reproductions are fabulous including the details and the smaller reproduction of contemporary paintings with similar subjects by other artists.
Excellent book to have on your shelf. It is always pleasant to gaze into these 17th century paintings and notice things and then notice new things.
Lavishly illustrated with excellent reproductions.......2005-09-29
This paperback edition ISBN: 0894682199 (also as clothbound under ISBN: 0300065582) by Johannes Vermeer (Contributors: Ben Broos and Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr. with Albert Blankert and Jorgen Wadum; Editor: Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr.) is a lavishly illustrated catalog with excellent reproductions for the first exhibition devoted solely to the works of Johannes Vermeer--the 17th-century Dutch painter who explored the psychological nuances of human endeavor--opening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in November 1995 (Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis, the Hague, in March 1996). 232 pp., 127 illustrations including 60 color plates, 12.0 x 9.5 x 0.75 inches. ISBN: 061350710X is an entirely different book for children not even close to this one.
Very Beautiful Book & definitely worth the Price. .......2005-01-30
I never knew who Johannes Vermeer was until i saw Girl with a Pearl Earring the movie. I don't know a thing about art but this book has history on the artist, the art times in Delft Holland, and the paintings that Mr. Vermeer did when he lived. I think this book is very beautiful and if anyone wants to know something on the subject of art then i would tell you to actually get this. Use this book as your introduction into the art world/history; the subject. 40 dollars may seem like alot of money for anyone but this is worth the investment. Yes, the book contains many pictures-it too has the one titled, "Girl with a Pearl Earring." I try to use this book for inspiration; i recommend this 100% percent.
An essential book for art lovers!.......2002-04-20
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.
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.
Steadman painstakingly develops his argument through careful study of the history of the camera obscura, an exploration of 17th-century optics, and a detailed study of the light, optics, perspective, and measurement of a series of Vermeer's paintings. He goes to remarkable lengths to reconstruct Vermeer's studio and its furnishings, down to the angle of the light from its windows. The science is complex, but always clearly explained. This is not an attempt to reveal Vermeer as an artistic "cheat." Steadman convincingly argues that "Vermeer's obsessions with light, tonal values, shadow, and colour, for the treatment of which his work is so admired, are very closely bound up with his study of the special qualities of optical images." Vermeer's Camera is a wonderful book that shows the ways in which, during the 17th century, art and science went hand in hand. It offers an enlarged, rather than reduced, perspective on Vermeer. --Jerry Brotton. Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
Over 100 years of speculation and controversy surround claims that the great seventeenth-century Dutch artist, Johannes Vermeer, used the camera obscura to create some of the most famous images in Western art. This intellectual detective story starts by exploring Vermeer's possible knowledge of seventeenth-century optical science, and outlines the history of this early version of the photographic camera, which projected an accurate image for artists to trace. However, it is Steadman's meticulous reconstruction of the artist's studio, complete with a camera obscura, which provides exciting new evidence to support the view that Vermeer did indeed use the camera. These findings do not challenge Vermeer's genius but show how, like many artists, he experimented with new technology to develop his style and choice of subject matter. The combination of detailed research and a wide range of contemporary illustrations offers a fascinating glimpse into a time of great scientific and cultural innovation and achievement in Europe.
Customer Reviews:
Well researched and tolerably convincing.......2006-06-30
This is a very well researched book. The author has taken great pains to measure and analyze Vermeer's paintings, finding a striking feature that many of them, when back-projected through the perspective view point at the size of the painting, imply a consistent location of a back wall to the common room used in the pictures. The author asserts that the only reasonable explanation for this coincidence is that Vermeer used a camera obscura for at least some of the layout of his paintings.
This comes off as very plausible, though the analysis is limited to paintings that include a tiled floor. It would have been interesting to see this work extended through photogrammetry of objects of known sizes in the paintings (chairs, musical instruments, etc) and applied to more of the paintings.
I think the only real failing in the argument is that Vermeer could have could have had the skill to paint perspective of this quality, and therefore not needed the aid of a camera. As pointed out in the text, he was not bound to perfect accuracy; there are some deviations.
Interesting, scholarly study.......2005-03-22
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 Vermeer Lovers.......2004-05-25
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?.......2001-07-27
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.
Amazon.com
In the classic tradition of E.L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, debut author Blue Balliett introduces readers to another pair of precocious kids on an artful quest full of patterns, puzzles, and the power of blue M&Ms. Eleven year old Petra and Calder may be in the same sixth grade class, but they barely know each other. It's only after a near collision during a museum field trip that they discover their shared worship of art, their teacher Ms. Hussey, and the blue candy that doesn't melt in your hands. Their burgeoning friendship is strengthened when a creative thief steals a valuable Vermeer painting en route to Chicago, their home town. When the thief leaves a trail of public clues via the newspaper, Petra and Calder decide to try and recover the painting themselves. But tracking down the Vermeer isn't easy, as Calder and Petra try to figure out what a set of pentominos (mathematical puzzle pieces), a mysterious book about unexplainable phenomena and a suddenly very nervous Ms. Hussey have to do with a centuries old artwork. When the thief ups the ante by declaring that he or she may very well destroy the painting, the two friends know they have to make the pieces of the puzzle fit before it's too late!
Already being heralded as The DaVinci Code for kids, Chasing Vermeer will have middle grade readers scrutinizing art books as they try to solve the mystery along with Calder and Petra. In an added bonus, artist Brett Helquist has also hidden a secret pentomino message in several of the book's illustrations for readers to decode. An auspicious and wonderfully satisfying debut that will leave no young detective clueless. --Jennifer Hubert
Book Description
When a book of unexplainable occurances brings Petra Andalee & Calder Pillay together, strange things start to happen: seemingly unrelated events connect, an eccentric old woman seeks their company, & an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal. As Petra & Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth they must draw on their powers of intuition, their skills at problem solving, and their knowledge of Vermeer. Can they decipher a crime that has left even the FBI baffled?
Customer Reviews:
5th Grade Class Review.......2007-09-17
We read Chasing Vermeer over the summer and here are some of our thoughts. We liked the book because it is a mystery with a good plot. Our eyes flew across the page like scurrying squirrels. The story has two kids who worked on solving the problem. The mystery really made you think, we even had to use math skills. Plus, the novel had really good art work.
However, the beginning of Chasing Vermeer is a little tough to follow and also very confusing. Another thing that we did not like was you had to figure out the codes. A silly complaint from of the class is that blue M&Ms are used instead of yellow because yellow M&Ms taste better!
In conclusion, the majority of the class would recommend this book to a friend. We enjoyed this book because we solved the mystery. We hope you read this book!!
Slow and Convoluted.......2007-08-08
The idea of the book was interesting, however the story progressed slowly-often repeating the same ideas. It was predictable all the way through. My sons ages 8 and 10 were bored by this story and wanted to stop reading it. I encouraged them to finish it because of the great reviews-I kept thinking it would get better but the story never did. There are more interesting mysteries out there. Not sure why this one received such high credits.
Excellent mystery.......2007-06-18
This novel is an engaging mystery that will hold students' interest from beginning to end. The story's main characters are two sixth grade students who don't quite fit in with their classmates. They become the best of friends through a series of coincidences and a common love of the unknown. They will easily connect students to the story, because they have common sixth grade problems. Their involvement with solving a mystery also will intrigue students. The story presents some information on Vermeer, and may inspire further research on this and other artists. It also presents a new way of thinking to students. Instead of always accepting what is obvious, the characters in the novel question and think on their own.
Mysteries, Friendship, and Art.......2007-06-17
This realistic contemporary fiction mystery book, written on a 5.4 reading level, is an engaging novel for middle school students to read and enjoy, and to use to develop deductive thinking skills. The continued emphasis on looking at familiar things differently, at the nature of coincidences, and piecing together details to make a whole, and then repositioning them to make new wholes, is thought-provoking and extremely well written. The author chose to write this novel using the third person point of view, which helps the reader attempt to solve the mystery by providing clues not known to the two protagonists, Petra and Calder. The illustrations are both an integral part of the mystery and a mystery on their own. The illustrator, Brett Helquist, who is also the illustrator for the Lemony Snicket books, has hidden a secret message in his drawings related to the pentominoes' code in the book. In addition, Helquist has sketched several of the Vermeer paintings so that readers can visualize them as they are mentioned, and done important, clue providing, drawings of the settings and the characters. The book ends with bibliographic information and interviews about both Blue Balliett and Brett Helquist for readers who are not willing to give this book up, and an excerpt from the sequel, The Wright 3. Young adults, and older adults, will enjoy this book.
great book, keeps me reading!.......2007-05-28
I am really enjoying Chasing Vermeer. I can't put it down. The story plot is really cool and it is so amazing how the characters unravel what is happening!I would totally recommend this book to kids who are interested in solving puzzles!
Average customer rating:
- YOU CAN BE AN ACCOMPLICE IN THIS CAPER...
- Couldn't finish-
- Boring
- Sacrificing it All for Art
- An elegant little novel
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The Music Lesson: A Novel
Katharine Weber
Manufacturer: Picador
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Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear: A Novel
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Tulip Fever
ASIN: 0312252854 |
Amazon.com
Patricia Dolan defines herself by her job as an art historian and her identity as an Irish American. When she is 41, the combination of the two proves explosive, leading her to a rough cottage in West Cork. In Ireland she has for company only her own words, one elderly neighbor, and "The Music Lesson," a beautiful Vermeer executed on wood. As she anticipates the arrival of Mickey, her distant relative and lover, Patricia slowly, tantalizingly reveals the events that have led to her isolation. Before Mickey had appeared one day outside her office at New York's Frick Museum, she had become inured to loss and death, a high-functioning depressive. But her 25-year-old third cousin once removed reawakens her. Alas, his interest is both personal and political, and she is soon involved in a plot to kidnap and ransom the Vermeer, property of the Queen. The painting, she tells herself fervently, "is an instrument of magic. Perhaps now it is also an instrument of change, a talisman, the charm that will force powerful people to pay attention and take decisive action at last."
The Music Lesson is far from your everyday, action-packed IRA saga. Instead, Katharine Weber's second novel is very much like the intimate portrait her heroine so lovingly describes--an exquisite miniature in which images, ideas, and deep emotions keep coming out of the woodwork. --Kerry Fried
Book Description
Patricia Dolan is alone with a stolen Vermeer painting in an Irish cottage by the sea. How she got here is part of the story she tells us: about her father, a Boston cop; the numbing loss of her daughter; and her charming Irish cousin, who has led her to this high-stakes crime.Her vigil becomes a tale of love, regret, and transformation. As Patricia immerses herself in the passions of her Irish heritage, she discovers what has been hidden beneath the surface of her own life--and what she must do to preserve the things she values most.
Customer Reviews:
YOU CAN BE AN ACCOMPLICE IN THIS CAPER..........2007-05-14
The Music Lesson is both the title of this book as well as a painting by Vermeer. For those seeking a reading experience similar to "The Girl with a Pearl Earring", prepare to be disappointed. This is another kind of novel, but for those willing to take this story for what it is, your in for a treat.
Through a journal kept by our protagonist, Patricia, we are treated to a subtley nuanced tale of considered appearance and reality, perception and perceptivity. This is a visual, sensory book. Music, color, the world of Dutch 17th century painting are all addressed in the book, though not always openly.
On one level this is a high stakes crime story that deals with the ideas of accomplices and couriers... as well as the concept that a representation can seem more beautiful than the actual object. Metaphors abound....hidden cupboards, fake compartments....all indicative other "hidden-fake" situations and individuals.
Many of the characters in the novel are not what, at first glance, they seem to be and their identities shift in the course of the tale.
I had a definite problem with Patricia's "cousin", Mickey. First, I did not believe that he was, in fact, her cousin. Secondly, his feelings for her seemed to me to be disingenuous.
Ultimately, the book causes us to think and poses many questions...not the least of which is that age old question......does the end justify the means?
Couldn't finish-.......2005-05-01
First of all, I must say I did not finish the book, despite its minimal size. I began reading this book because I am very interested in Art History, and reading historical fiction. This novel is based on Vermeer's painting, "the Music Lesson". I found very few references to Vermeer at all in the novel, and was very bored with the story line. Granted, I did not read all the way to the finish, but I was so bored with the story thus far, I couldn't.
Boring.......2004-09-26
American art historian Patricia Dolan is enlisted by an Irish cousin to help steal a painting from Buckingham Palace. I read it all properly, but I was bored with it. (B)
Sacrificing it All for Art.......2004-07-22
After reading "Tulip Fever" and "Girl With a Pearl Earring" I was in a Vermeer state of mind. Craving more, I happened upon this little story by Katharine Weber. Not quite what I expected, it nevertheless moves freely after a deliberately murky and introspective opening by narrator art historian, Patricia Dolan. Divorced, Patricia is forever haunted by the death of her only child in an unfortunate school bus accident. Memories of her mother, also deceased, further complicate and plunge her shaky emotions into the subterrean depths of the depressed mind. Enter Mickey, the younger man, a sweet and all-male Irish relation, who charms even Patricia's ex -Boston cop father after reawakening her sexuality with his rough and tumble bedroom savoir faire. Soon Patricia finds herself in Ireland, the sentinel to a tiny priceless Vermeer painting stolen in transit from a museum show back to its owner Queen Elizabeth herself, by Mickey and his band of Irish Republican sympathizers. When Patricia realizes she has been duped, used all along for her art historian's knowledge of the painting and its crating, she must scrounge up all the courage she buried deep within her after the death of her child and her own innocence.
Slow at first as it should be, this tiny novel flounders a little as the voice of Patricia recounts her sadness. Once she establishes her emotional foundation, however, the story picks up a well-appreciated momentum, where the reader feels as if she is moving along with the tide, feeling Patricia's pain firsthand as revelation after revelation clicks into place like the pieces of a sick little jigsaw puzzle. Satisfying ending with delicious descriptions of the fictitious Vermeer and the feelings of beauty, perfection and peace the painter instills within Patricia even after all she has gone through.
An elegant little novel.......2004-07-21
Art historian Patricia Dolan is biding her time in a rented Irish cottage, waiting for the perilous business she's become involved in to pan out, waiting for her newly discovered distant cousin/lover Mickey to join her. In the meantime she is enjoying the life rural Ireland has to offer in the off-season--solitude and an unprecedented closeness to and awareness of the elements, a barely electrified dwelling that's not "on the phone," stoic donkeys and an abundance of mostly nameless cats, the unspeakable beauty of her surroundings. Contrary to the expectations of her unknown masters, Patricia is writing about her experience in Ireland, an account that turns out to be more personal than art historical, as was her original intent. Her journal, the notebook she hides behind a secret panel in the cottage, is the text of The Music Lesson. From it we learn of the life Patricia has put on hold in New York and of the personal tragedy that has left her numbed for several years, and we are told of the family history and the subtle indoctrination that have culminated in her current situation.
Katharine Weber's The Music Lesson is an elegant little novel about loyalty and loss and disillusionment. Its protagonist is not always empathetic--Patricia crosses a line, foolishly and devastagingly, perhaps not quite believably, when she follows Mickey's lead--but she regains our support in the tense but quiet action of the book's end. As with her first book, Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, Weber's sophomore effort proves that she is an author worth watching.
Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece
Average customer rating:
- There is a Vermeer book for less money that will be better for most readers
- 11 year old didn't like this book
- Not recommended
|
Vermeer and the Art of Painting
Arthur K. Wheelock
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Johannes Vermeer
ASIN: 0300062397 |
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.
Customer Reviews:
There is a Vermeer book for less money that will be better for most readers.......2007-01-06
My low rating is not intended to suggest that this is a BAD book. It is just that most persons who would benefit from reading this volume would benefit much more by instead reading the more comprehensive and less expensive "Johannes Vermeer" (hardcover ISBN 0300065582, softcover ISBN 0894682199, with 'The Geographer' on the cover), the book that accompanied the 1995-96 Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery of Art (NGA).
If one wants perspective on 17th-century Delft and the art of that era which influenced Vermeer, and on Vermeer's chronology (to the extent it's known), the NGA book presents this much better in it's initial series of essays by experts than does "Vermeer and the Art of Painting". If one wants large, high-quality color plates of all 36 of Vermeer's attributed paintings with analysis of each, the NGA book is far superior (with detailed, multi-page analysis of each of the 23 paintings that were in the exhibit, and lesser discussion in the essays of the 13 that weren't). By comparison, "Art of Painting" covers only 16 of his works in detail (but does show all 36 in black and white, without discussion, in its catalogue at the end).
The title of this book (".. and the Art of Painting") suggests that this book gets more into the technical aspects of Vermeer's style and method, of interest to more serious students of Vermeer. And, in fact, for the 16 paintings covered in detail in this book, the discussion of Vermeer's style and method does get a bit more technical than in the corresponding detailed multi-page write-ups in the NGA book (although the NGA book by no means ignores these technical issues).
In summary, if you want to establish an exhaustive library on Vermeer, this book will offer some incremental additional technical information on SOME of his paintings, beyond what is in the NGA volume. However, for readers who are looking for the single best definitive volume on Vermeer at reasonable cost, the comprehensive NGA book is the best choice, hands down. In no case would the "Art of Painting" be a suitable SUBSTITUTE for the NGA volume.
11 year old didn't like this book.......2002-07-28
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.......2002-06-25
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.
Average customer rating:
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Vermeer and His Milieu
John Michael Montias
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age
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Vermeer: A View of Delft
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A Worldly Art: The Dutch Republic, 1585-1718
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Vermeer
ASIN: 0691002894 |
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.
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Vermeer And Plato: Painting The Ideal
Robert D. Huerta
Manufacturer: Bucknell University Press
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ASIN: 0838756069 |
Books:
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