Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World [Paperback]

Timothy Brook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 23, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1596915994 | ISBN-13: 978-1596915992 | Edition: Reprint

“Elegant and quietly important…Brook does more than merely sketch the beginnings of globalization and highlight the forces that brought our modern world into being; rather, he offers a timely reminder of humanity’s interdependence.”—Seattle Times

A painting shows a military officer in a Dutch sitting room, talking to a laughing girl. I n another, a woman at a window weighs pieces of silver. Vermeer’s images captivate us with their beauty and mystery: What stories lie behind these stunningly rendered moments? As T imothy Brook shows us, these pictures, which seem so intimate, actually offer a remarkable view of a rapidly expanding world. Moving outward from Vermeer’s studio, Brook traces the web of trade that was spreading across the globe. Vermeer’s Hat shows how the urge to acquire foreign goods was refashioning the world more powerfully than we have yet understood.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"* 'A brilliant attempt to make us understand the reach and breadth of the first global age' - Guardian * 'Spell-binding... as a guide to the world behind the pictures Vermeer's Hat is mind-expanding' - John Carey" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Timothy Brook completed this book while a John Simon G uggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow. He holds the Shaw Chair in Chinese at Oxford U niversity and is the author of many books, including the award-winning Confusions of Pleasure.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press; Reprint edition (December 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596915994
• ISBN-13: 978-1596915992
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Baroque
  • #6 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Rococo
  • #39 in Books > History > Historical Study > Civilization & Culture

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT BUY KINDLE EDITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, October 18, 2011

By 

A. Anderson "DoctorAA" (Danbury, CT) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World (Paperback)

The entire book revolves around the analysis of seven key paintings from Vermeer's time - NOT ONE OF THEM IS INCLUDED IN THE KINDLE EDITION!!!!!!!!!!!

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As interesting as Jonathan Spence and Simon Schama, January 18, 2008

By 

Harold S. Levine (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World (Hardcover)

A fascinating, erudite but easy-to-read series of chapters on trade, exploration, cross-cultural influence and physical culture, using 17th century Delft as the starting point. but reaching around the globe to Asia and the Americas. I'm a huge Vermeer fan and I visited Delft last April, so the book had an added resonance to me. Although you don't need to be an art lover to appreciate the book, a familiarity with Vermeer makes the argument event more interesting. I visited the Frick Collection yesterday and saw the image on the cover for the 20th time and noticed things I'd never realized before. The book brings to mind Jonathan Spence's "The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci" and the Simon Schama's "The Embarassment of Riches," (both authors blurbed this book) although it's probably an easier read than either. If you like books like those and "Longitude," you'll love this. Not so much an art history book -- and not a replacement for the other books on Vermeer as an artist -- but a cultural historian's look at an important era in the opening up of the world.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really surprised me with its excellence, April 13, 2008

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World (Hardcover)

Every once in a while, a book comes along that really surprises me with its excellence - Vermeer's Hat is one of those books. What this book is is a look into the seventeenth century, but as a hook, the book uses eight seventeenth century works of art, that each tells us something about the era in which it was created. And, what makes the book so very interesting is that it covers events and phenomenon that are rarely discussed in other books, such the movement of goods between Europe, Spanish America and China, the spread of tobacco, and so much more.

Overall, I found this book to be very entertaining and very interesting - it kept me up reading when I should have been asleep! If you are interested in the seventeenth century, then you will find this to be a very good resource. Heck, even if you are just interested in history, you will find this to be an excellent read, one that will well reward the time you spent reading it. I give this book my highest recommendations!