Born on 31 October 1632, Johannes Vermeer was barely known
outside of his hometown of Delft in the Netherlands where a local celebrity, at
least as a painter of some distinction, he found patronage enough to provide
for his wife and ever increasing family.
But following his death in 1675, aged just 43, he was
speedily forgotten only being rediscovered in France in the 1860’s. His
reputation has since soared and he is now considered to be one of the premier
Dutch Masters.
Yet he only produced 34 known paintings during his lifetime
leaving no etchings or preliminary drawings and his subject matter was limited
rarely painting beyond the parameters of his own physical and emotional
awareness with one or two rooms of his modest house, the furniture artfully
reassigned, becoming the tiny sphere of his creativity.
With the emphasis on light and colour he daubed the canvass
with a delicacy and precision that would leave a paintbrush barely tainted and
in doing so created images of crystallised perfection.
His alleged use of the Camera Obscura, a box that captures
and preserves the image reflecting it upon a canvass or wall whilst also
maintaining both its colour and perspective remains controversial.
His unrushed and sober style of painting has seen him
accused of lacking both dynamism and daring and drawn comparisons with his
contemporaries most notably Rembrandt.
But whilst Rembrandt, for whom there could never be enough
paint, revealed beauty in the grime and filth of everyday life and sought
respect through the willingness to offend, Vermeer painted unblemished visions
of perfection leaving the space of eye and thought for the suggestion of
others.
No comments:
Post a Comment