Art In History Art Blog
My Favorite Artists - Vermeer
by art_in_history , July 22, 2012—12:00 AM
Having written about the "Little Dutch Masters", it is a natural step to move on to Vermeer. He was certainly one of their number - in fact, if you were to judge by the dimensions of his works he could be the littlest of them all - but he is also too great to be lumped among them. He also had a primary specialty - light filled interiors with figures - but also produced exquisite works in other genres, like the "Street in Delft" above. All with a sensitivity to ambient light never equalled before or since.
He is, of course, the center of a huge controversy, because of the strong evidence that he used a camera obscura to view his subjects and perhaps to project them on the surface. I think this is fascinating, and probably true, but not really relevant to the judgement of his greatness. Others were experimenting with this device, without comparable results.
Much of Vermeer's genius is in selecting and composing his subjects; they have that sense of serene perfection which Mondriaan sought after centuries later. It reminds me of the best still life masters, like Heda and Chardin, and in fact Vermeer's works are essentially still lives, even with the inclusion of figures. The figures add an emotive and narrative element certainly, but are completely integrated into the composition as fixed elements.
The other element of genius in his work is the describing of space through the fall of light on the objects and backdrop. His light is fantastic! It is so convincing that it describes the character and location of the window which is its source, even when that window is not shown.
Lastly, among my favorite vermeer works are the small heads, not so much portraits as studies, yet as carefully realized and resolved as the interiors. They are tiny, well under a foot in the longest dimension, and can only be fully appreciated in the flesh. Marvellous!
COMMENTS
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07/29/2008 * 18:02:19
Peter,
I agree with you that I've never understood, nor seen the relevance of, the controversy about Vermeer's use of the camera obscura. In my mind it's no different that the numerous variations of perspective devices used by Durer, Van Gogh, and other countless greats.
In fact, several years ago David Hockney exhibited several drawing portraits which he produced with the help of a camera obscura. That fact was one of the big selling points of the work.
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07/23/2008 * 09:38:00
Hi Peter- Thank you for this blog post. I really appreciate the connection that you made between Mondrian and Vermeer.
-Zander
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07/16/2008 * 20:57:57
Hello Peter,
I was interested in your blog about Vermeer. Look at my site here at Artid or my website www.proctorstudio.com and see my painting of Girl With A Pearl Earring and the story behind it. Many of his portraits take place inside with the subject sitting near the window(to get enough light). By the way, in the movie, Vermeer mentioned the new invention - camera.
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07/13/2008 * 17:28:11
Peter - Once again you've helped me see anew some artworks I thought I was familiar with - Vermeer's. The light seems Northern and diffuse yet so pure in its effects on the figures and objects and details like the tapestries. "Street In Delft" is a favorite of mine across all genres.
It's curious to me why the use of a camera obscura, or any optical device, would be considered anything but resourceful in any historic period.
Thanks as always for your insights. -GP
Bruce Bundock ( homepage )
09/22/2008 * 05:21:56
Peter,
I was first introduced to the camera obscura by one of my teacher's, Robert Kulicke, when I spent an undergraduate semester painting in a national park. Bob had built one and explained the principle,
and it was fun to play around with it, but actually, I thought it was more trouble than it was worth. I was accustomed to working directly from life and preferred it, as I think most of us do.
As to the alleged camera obscura use in Vermeer's work, I think of what he left us, the final product and am grateful we have them, regardless of how they were made. They still had to be painted.
Upon further reflection, I am persuaded to think that all of us who paint (and speak), build our visual or verbal representations of reality with embedded deletions, distortions and generalizations. Vermeer may have looked at a slice of life through a lens but
we all do. Thanks for the article.