Vermeer

Little is known about Johannes Vermeer, the seventeenth-century painter from Delft whose ability to transform everyday Dutch interiors into poetic studies of light-filled space has made him one of the most intriguing figures in the history of art. The works of this great master of the Golden Age of Dutch painting pay homage to simple everyday activities. Reproduced here are full-color plates of many of the artist's most celebrated and renowned paintings, such as Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Art of Painting, Officer and Laughing Girl, The Geographer, and The Milkmaid, together with some of Vermeer's exquisite lesser known portraits of men and women transfixed in moments of thought, bathed in a gentle light that evokes an atmosphere of quiet meditation. His patient observations of daily life - whether a music lesson, the writing and receiving of letters, or a housemaid going about her routine - are imbued with a sense of praise unique of Dutch paintings of the time. The carefully researched text that accompanies Vermeer's famous paintings integrates an extensive account of the artist's family life with the history of his patrons, and offers a new perspective on the life and work of this most original of artists.