Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vermeer: A Visual Treat, February 17, 2000
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.
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All of Vermeer's paintings at an affordable price, January 2, 2002
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.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good brief volume, August 25, 2005
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.
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