Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Johannes Vermeer

Hi everyone! I will be blogging about the famous painter Johannes Vermeer on this site. Please feel free to add any input or ideas you may want to share with me.

From what little bit of research I have done on Vermeer's paintings, they are mostly of women, however, interestingly enough I have posted a picture of a gentleman Vermeer did paint.

I believe this will be a very intriguing journey as I dig deeper.

Until next time,
Ronda

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings via John B. and welcome to the Blogiverse!

Interesting that you should choose Vermeer. John had a blog about Baroque art for a while which was always an interesting read. He had a number of posts about Vermeer which are worth a read, if they can still be found on the web.

Good luck, and

Cheers.

John B. said...

It's very kind of Mr. Sherman to remember that old blog. It's still up because, even though I couldn't keep up with it as it deserved, it still attracted lots of traffic. Here's the link, Ronda, in case you're interested:

http://admirersofbaroqueart.blogspot.com/

At the very least, it might be helpful in terms of online resources.

Ronda said...

Thanks for the heads up on the link. I believe I will need it! Also, thanks for the encouragement, this I KNOW I need.

RAS said...

The following is my post from a now defunct site:
The second painting, that does not include wine as a symbol (two, I said, did) is "Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window". Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!(Soloman) This picture is a 'Vanitas', I believe, of a very unique sort! Originally including on the, now, bare wall a painting of a Cupid holding, probably the ace of hearts overhead (as in at least two other works):Vermeer over-painted it! It is possible that he did so to change the direction of its main theme. The open window, the spilled fruit the letter itself; all allude to an illicit sensual-love relationship, as would the Cupid have done in an obvious allusion. The broken image of the girls reflection seems to point to more than a lost relationship or devastating news. It could even suggest the "death conquers all" of the Vanitas; but not alone. Vermeer has included a Trompe l'oiel by adding the paint curtain (an artist's protector), which appears to have a secret of its own!! Han's Holbein the Younger, approximately one hundred years before, painted an elongated scull stretched out on a diagonal and visually read only from an oblique angle by the viewer as a Vanitas in the court portraits of two French ambassadors. I suggest that this painting was made a tribute in our painting by the youthful Vermeer. Not that he intended a repeat of the other masters' tour de force, but as a ghostly reminder in the ODD shapes in the folds of the cloth of the scull of the Vanitas! HANS HOLBEIN:
http://www.allposters.com/galleryc.asp?aid=85097&parentaid=0&item=263424
Ronda, Dutch genre painters, such as Vermeer, Terborch, van Meiris et al, used symbolism derived from the Emblemata books which they were encouraged to use for their pictures by authors such as van Veen. Religious paintings used such symbols as did the secular poets of Nursery Rhymes! The Emblem books were very popular within the European context for 200 years.-- Rick