Product Description
In this strikingly beautiful book, leading Vermeer scholars examine the life and works of this seventeenth-century Dutch master, analyzing his evolution from a painter of religious and mythological images to an artist who explored the psychological nuances of human endeavor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Vermeer Art Book
Book arrived in condition advertised.Secure packaging and quick shipment.Thoroughly satisfied with excellent color prints of Vermeer's work.

Mediocre reproductions
I was wrong to say that the tall Harry Abrams Vermeer book, "The Complete Works", was inadequate. It is far better than the reproductions contained here or in the Blankert book. Abrams' prints are clear, intense and, above all, not washed out. Most of the prints here and in the Blankert book are washed out or blurry. True, "A Lady Reading" is too dark in Ambrams, so we can't see the drapery or the picture on the wall, and "Servant Handing a Letter to Her Mistress"(one of the greatest) has colors that have run, but on the whole the quality of Abrams is far better. And, the book is less expensive. You lose the long-winded, predictable commentaries, but you'll never miss them.

Perfection on a canvas and in a book to take home
The year was 1995. The place was the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The occasion was the exhibit of 21 of the known three dozen paintings by Johannes Vermeer, Dutch master of the seventeenth century.

I missed the exhibit, too, but I have this 12 x 9 1/2 inch hard cover copy of that exhibit, plus all those essays about historical context, art techniques, probable interpretations of the paintings, and, oh yes, the paintings themselves. In one book. By my favorite artist. No, it's not the same, but I do have all these glorious paintings.

What makes Vermeer such a beloved painter? Please look at "The Geographer," which is on the cover of the book. See the light bathe the subject? See the subject's intensity? Those are the two major traits that set Vermeer apart. He used the natural light as it fell into his studio and he began that moment of intensity just at a moment of stillness--a sort of psychological study.

One such painting now made famous by both a novel, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Deluxe Edition and the movie, Girl With a Pearl Earring is "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." You might think it made a good biographical movie, but then you would be wrong. Why? Because we know almost nothing of Johnannes Vermeer. We don't know about his life except as it pertains to the time period in Delft, Holland, in the mid 1600's and beyond. All we know is what is recorded in contracts like marriage license. We don't know what he thought of art or how he started because he did not leave a word. So the book and the movie are examples of literary license--making up and adding to what little we know with grand imagination. A piece of truth in the film is this: Remember the scene outside Vermeer's house where one woman is sewing in a doorway? That is his house! We know because that scene is taken from one of his paintings!

What we do know is the luminous quality of his art, that moment of tension, and also the allegorical meanings of his earlier paintings. One such example is "Woman Holding A Balance." Interpretations have changed over the years, but the consensus now is that of a favorite Vermeer theme of balance in one's life, no matter the setting.

Holding this book in one's lap, quietly turning the pages and studying the paintings, reading the essays--now that's balance!

Better than the average but still not the definite book on Vermeer
It is a nice book but the quality of the reproductions is poor.

A 17th century artist who is perfect for our time
This book accompanied the legendary 1995-96 Vermeer show at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. that found itself caught up in the Gingrich - Clinton shutting-down-the-government imbroglio.Remember now?Vermeer has grown in popularity and in public awareness since this show.Recently, a totally fictitious movie was made around his paintings.It was named after the painting that became the focus of the movie, "The Girl With a Pearl Earring".It was a good story, but had nothing to do with the real people involved because we simply do not know.There are only a few dozen paintings by the artist still extant, but they all are wonderful and attract modern sensibilities because of their lines and perfect artificiality and their perfect reality.They present the exact kind of contradiction and puzzles we love nowadays, and because there are only a few dozen, the dilettante can study each of them in detail without becoming overwhelmed.

This book has four fine papers that discuss aspects of what we know about the artist and his work.There is also a chronology and the catalogue of the exhibition, which had a very large sampling of the known paintings.The reproductions are fabulous including the details and the smaller reproduction of contemporary paintings with similar subjects by other artists.

Excellent book to have on your shelf.It is always pleasant to gaze into these 17th century paintings and notice things and then notice new things. ... Read more

Product Description
Presents a biography of Johannes Vermeer ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great introduction
I like Venezia's little books about famous artists.I think he does a nice job of introducing the reader to Vermeer, his work, and the circumstances and people who affected his art.

Dull...
This is the first book of the series I buy... I wanted to check one title out before buying other books by this author.I won't be buying more. The narration style is just awful, the information uninteresting...I thought I could at least use it for its images, but the reproduction quality, at least in my copy, is very very bad.For not much more money, there are beautiful art books for children out there. This one, even if the quality of the images were good, at almost 7 US dollars, is too expensive for what you get. ... Read more

Product Description
The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer offers a systematic overview of the artist's life and work that will be useful to specialists, students, and the general public.Its eleven essays include studies of the artist's development and approach to painting, women as a subject in Vermeer's work, the role of Catholicism in Vermeer's life and art, and the artist's reputation during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, among other topics. Collectively, these essays provide a balanced and enlightening examination of many different aspects of Vermeer's art. ... Read more

Product Description
Following the blockbuster exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., this book presents the complete works of the great Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675). Oversize, full-page color plates of each of Vermeer's 35 known masterpieces capture the luminosity and the remarkable originality of the paintings and make this the next best thing to actually having attended the sold-out show. 68 illustrations, including 44 in full color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Greatest Service I've Ever Had
I wish every firm I ordered from gave me this kind of service.I received an e-mail telling me my book would arrive in about two weeks --- normal for buying from the used books service at Amazon.I got it 5 days later!! YOU ALL KNOW what this means to the us when we get something so fast.

The book was said to be in good condition.It had never been read and was pristine, and well packed for shipping.I know everyone who buys from from the new and used book sellers appreciate this conservative approach.

XOXO to the greatest service I've ever had purchasing on the web

The Ultimate Vermeer Book.
Admit it.None of us shall have the opportunity to see all of the existing Vermeer masterpieces.So a book documenting 'The Complete Works' better be fantastic.

Indeed this large (11x15")71 page book proves itself worthy in presenting his works wonderfully. . . . His slow deliberate technique is evident here.The details in all these plates surpass the other books.

The refinement in the shading and shadows in 'Girl with the red hat' are touchable.
The complex luminous sheen of 'Saint Praxedis'' raspberry dress is exactly reproduced.The other 3 books in our collection all have RED dress hues - - - wrong!
X-radiographs show the painted over dog in 'A Woman Asleep'.
In the masterpiece 'Girl with pearl earring' you can readily appreciate the true glazes of natural ultramarines.Just look at the contour of her left cheek,the hues of those fleshtones . . . Magnifique!

A note on the text.Very able illuminating essay on the artist and commentaries on each painting. For an in depth text you should go to the biograpphy text. But this book excells in the reproductions.

No of course this is not the real thing baby.But this is one great book.

excellent collection of Vermeer's work
Each page is perfect, could be framed for hanging. I am thrilled with this purchase.

Vermeer, Deceptive
Vermeer, I can't believe it, What you should have done to deserve a good book?, kill somebody as Caravaggio, commit suicide as Van Gogh, die at 37 as Raphael, please ...!

Texts in the book are extremely obvious, format is not adequate to store in common shelves, I think that knowing his small production (about 36 paintings) the author should have incorporated technical analylis, zooms, materials, etc.

If you are a painter, you still have to wait, look into the Web, there are lots of good information about this discriminated painter ...

A beautiful collections of paintings -- Johannes Vermeer
I must confess that I knew Vermeer when I watched the movie "Girl with a Pearl Earring", a not very known movie from 2003, but with a very good story based on the life of this painter. When I bought this book I thought was a normal size book, but it is double the size of that, so you can appreciate all the plates with better resolution. What a great painter, Vermeer based his paintings mostly on domestic situations, tipically in the same room, with an exquisite use of colors and a masterful use of light. Everything in his painting looks so real, the textures of the tapestry, the clothes of the women, the glasses, the transparent curtains, the bread in the precious "The Milkmaid" -- which remember me those breads my mother does -- and those provocative lips of the "Girl with a Pearl Earring", a painting that celebrates women, the Dutch Monalisa. This is Art, pure Art in its highest, from this skillful Dutch master. ... Read more

Product Description
Edward Snow's A Study of Vermeer, first published in 1979 and here presented in an expanded and elaborately revised version, starts from a single premise: that we respond so intensely to Vermeer because his paintings reach so deeply into our lives. Our desire for images, the distances that separate us, the validations we seek from the still world, the traces of ghostliness in our own human presence--these, the book proposes, are Vermeer's themes, which he pursues with a realism always in touch with the uncanny. As Snow traces the many counterpoised sensations that make up Vermeer's equanimity, he leads us into a world of nuances and surprise.
A Study of Vermeer is passionate and visual in its commitments. Snow works from the conviction that viewing pictures is a reciprocal act--symbiotic, consequential, real. His discussions of Vermeer's paintings are conducted in a language of patient observation, and they involve the reader in an experience of deepening relation and ongoing visual discovery. The book has been designed to facilitate this process: over eighty illustrations, fifty-nine in color (including two full-page foldouts), accompany the text so that the details Snow illuminates will be continally in view. Here is a book to enthrall not only students of Vermeer, but anyone who feels the exhilaration of what Cézanne called "thinking in images." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Barking Up The Wrong Tree...
This book reminds me of Rolling Stone magazine style rock music criticism in which the lyrics are discussed ad nauseum and the music is barely mentioned. Snow has no feel for painting or visual values. The book begins with his reactions to "Girl with a Pearl Earring" which are a preposterous mish-mash of psychological nonsense. One has to feel sorry for someone with so little sensitivity to beauty.

"Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? ...people who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree."
-Picasso


"I'd give the whole of Italian painting for Vermeer of Delft. There's a painter who simply said what he had to say without bothering about anything else."
-Picasso

Snow Melts Over Vermeer
In early adolescence I fell in love with a young girl who inhabited a picture frame in the corridors of our high school.Our gazes were mutually netted. In 1982, whilst touring Holland, I detoured to den Hague to renew that engagement, only to see in her stead a plaque indicating she was on loan to a Texan museum for 12 months.But it's some consolation to encounter Edward Snow's study of Vermeer, whose cover is adorned by that image of my adoration. Even better, Snow is an adept reader of Vermeer's vision of inner equilibrium and imperturbable calm. Lawrence Gowing provided my 1960's art college template, but I think no serious admirer now should overlook this book. The subtlety of thought and feeling in Vermeer has found appropriate eloquence. Vermeer's 'hermetic inwardness','magical silence', his 'unity of being as structured by perception', his contemplation of women caught in precious domestic moments of equanimity & pleasure in the happiness of their mere visibility, are given appropriately intimate treatment. There are telling parallels made with Degas's pursuit of feminine imagery. And Snow isn't averse to pointing out Vermeer's 'failures', which, he argues, reflects the artist's proclivity for negative reflection.' I'm sorry I can't enthuse over the recent film,'Girl With A Glass Earring'. In spite of the set pieces, and the attractiveness of the actors; the enigmas of Vermeer remain opaque.The book, however, is an absolute master stroke. For more on art visit>rodmoss.com

Snow Job
If you like things analyzed in exhaustive detail - to death, actually - Edward Snow's "A Study of Vermeer" is the book for you.If half of what Snow thinks is going on in these paintings is really there, then the mystery of Vermeer's low 30 plus lifetime production of paintings is answered.He was busy spending years planning each canvas to amaze and confound future art historians, critics, and english professors who take a fancy to his work, before ever picking up a brush.Who was Vermeer the man?You won't find it here.What historical, sociological or personal influences shaped his work? Except for brief passing mention of the "vanitas" not a clue can be found in this book.I award him 3 stars because he did motivate me to really, really look at these marvelous paintings to see what he (Snow) was talking about.Oh, and he credited a few of his students for their readings of the paintings during his course on Vermeer at Rice University, which he used in rewriting this expanded volume.Guess he couldn't figure out when the youngsters were serious or just pulling the old professor's leg.

A Breathtaking Study of Vermeer
This revised and enlarged edition is an unusually thoughtful, intelligent and eloquent offering from a scholar of remarkable insight and rarepassion. Until I read the book (in one night as I couldn't put it down), Ididn't know why I had always liked Vermeer. Dr. Snow's book is a journey ofpleasure and discovery. Light, space, colour, desire and luminousrevelation fairly crackle with intensity. An historic contribution to theart world, or as Dore Ashton observed, "an authentic contribution tothe literature (yes, literature!) of the visual arts". ... Read more

Product Description
This book is not only a fascinating biography of one of the greatest painters of the seventeenth century but also a social history of the colorful extended family to which he belonged and of the town life of the period. It explores a series of distinct worlds: Delft's Small-Cattle Market, where Vermeer's paternal family settled early in the century; the milieu of shady businessmen in Amsterdam that recruited Vermeer's grandfather to counterfeit coins; the artists, military contractors, and Protestant burghers who frequented the inn of Vermeer's father in Delft's Great Market Square; and the quiet, distinguished "Papists Corner" in which Vermeer, after marrying into a high-born Catholic family, retired to practice his art, while retaining ties with wealthy Protestant patrons. The relationship of Vermeer to his principal patron is one of many original discoveries in the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Johannes Vermeer is the regarded as the poetic soul of Dutch art, and one of the greatest vanishing acts in history. Almost nothing is known about his life, and for 200 years many of his works were attributed to other artits. This book pieces the together clues and examines his work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

If you loved GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
you will want to own this book.You will find out how much is really known about Vermeer and see pictures of all the paintings you read about.You will be surprised at how much you recognize.A copy of this sent withGirl With a Pearl Earring will make a fabulous gift. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Girl With The Pearl Earring
After seeing the film "Girl With The Pearl Earring", I became interested in learning more about the Dutch artist Johann Vermeer. I searched Amazon.com and found a gem of a book. The book is well produced with large color prints of Vermeer's paintings as well as useful information about his life. I purchased a used copy in excellent condition for a great price. ... Read more

Product Description
Lawrence Gowing's classic study has long been treasured for the painterly sensibilities he brought to this greatly loved body of work. Finally the text is available again, with a new foreword and fresh reproductions of Vermeer's paintings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Perhaps not the ideal number of stars, but for crying out loud!
Perhaps I would not have been so disappointed had the other reviewer not produced such a glowing description of color plates and lucious images, but I just bought it new from amazon, and the book has 8 (count them, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) color plates- all of the rest are black and white. It looks like it will be interesting reading, and there are some lovely details in black and white, but this is an art book- on Vermeer, no less! There should be more color, certainly.

From the Book Jacket
While only 35 paintings can be ascribed to Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), he is considered one of the most important painters in history.Vermeer captured the subtle depth of his subjects while in private contemplations, and recorded the delicacy of light and richness of color in a way that has probably never been surprised.

This luscious volume, with over 80 illustrations-including 54 full-color plates-presents Vermeer's complete illustrious works.From his much-loved Girl With A Pearl Earring to his cityscape The View of Delft (which Marcel Proust lauded as `the most beautiful painting the world'), you'll find them all here and be astounded by Vermeer's innovative technique and mastery of perspective and composition.As a supplement to Vermeer's magnificent works, art historian Dr. Erik Larsen provides an authoritative study of the artist's life and art, and the much-discussed debate surrounding the attribution of his paintings.

Vermeer, one of the first four titles in the Master Artists Library series, is the first series to include magnificent color reproductions of every painting by the featured artist.Written by some of the world's most important art historians, each volume includes a detailed analysis of the artist's paintings, along with an extensive biography.The first four books-Vermeer, Bosch, Masaccio, and Dûrer-are must-have additions to the bookshelves of all art love
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Vermeer and His Peers
Is there anything new to say about the great Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer?Scholars have been obsessed with his paintings for years.To my delight, this book by Bryan Jay Wolf actually offers fresh insight into the issues that preoccupied the artist--and well as other Dutch painters in the seventeenth century.Issues of commerce, domesticity, private space, gender--and new innovations in technique, some of the most important in the entire history of painting.

The book is wonderfully illustrated, not just with images by Vermeer, but also by de Hooch, Metsu, Luiken, Netscher, Ter Borch, Rubens, Dou, van Hoogstraten, and Steen--and closer to our own time, paintings by Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, even Charles Addams--as Wolf explains the lasting impact of this strange and elusive artist.A must for anyone interested in Vermeer or in the social history of Dutch art. ... Read more

Product Description
The exquisite paintings of Jan Vermeer, with their luminous colors and gradations of reflected light, are admired by art lovers everywhere. This lovely book examines the creative process and technical means by which the great seventeenth-century Dutch painter achieved his remarkable pictorial effects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

There is a Vermeer book for less money that will be better for most readers
My low rating is not intended to suggest that this is a BAD book. It is just that most persons who would benefit from reading this volume would benefit much more by instead reading the more comprehensive and less expensive "Johannes Vermeer" (hardcover ISBN 0300065582, softcover ISBN 0894682199, with 'The Geographer' on the cover), the book that accompanied the 1995-96 Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery of Art (NGA).

If one wants perspective on 17th-century Delft and the art of that era which influenced Vermeer, and on Vermeer's chronology (to the extent it's known), the NGA book presents this much better in it's initial series of essays by experts than does "Vermeer and the Art of Painting". If one wants large, high-quality color plates of all 36 of Vermeer's attributed paintings with analysis of each, the NGA book is far superior (with detailed, multi-page analysis of each of the 23 paintings that were in the exhibit, and lesser discussion in the essays of the 13 that weren't). By comparison, "Art of Painting" covers only 16 of his works in detail (but does show all 36 in black and white, without discussion, in its catalogue at the end).

The title of this book (".. and the Art of Painting") suggests that this book gets more into the technical aspects of Vermeer's style and method, of interest to more serious students of Vermeer.And, in fact, for the 16 paintings covered in detail in this book, the discussion of Vermeer's style and method does get a bit more technical than in the corresponding detailed multi-page write-ups in the NGA book (although the NGA book by no means ignores these technical issues).

In summary, if you want to establish an exhaustive library on Vermeer, this book will offer some incremental additional technical information on SOME of his paintings, beyond what is in the NGA volume.However, for readers who are looking for the single best definitive volume on Vermeer at reasonable cost, the comprehensive NGA book is the best choice, hands down.In no case would the "Art of Painting" be a suitable SUBSTITUTE for the NGA volume.

11 year old didn't like this book
i didnt perticuarly like this book.vermeer is a great artist and they didnt put many illustrations of his work.it was very informative yet not a very good book, it was boring.

Not recommended
As a book that claims to shed light on Vermeers painting techniques, I found 'V & the art of Painting' pretty disappointing.Arthur Wheelock appears to be well established in the role of art critic and researcher and this perspective comes across strongly throughout the book.However there were few illustrations and the actual information on painting techniques covered in this book, appeared to me to be largely stating the obvious.
I don't think you could fault the author's background research on Vemeer and his work, but I wouldn't recommend this book to any artist or student trying to discover Vermeer's actual painting methods. ... Read more

Product Description
In this innovative look at seven paintings by Jan Vermeer, author Bob Raczka takes on the role of interviewer and the people in the paintings become his willing subjects. From The Milkmaid to The Geographer, Raczka teases out fascinating details about these gorgeous works of art and their mysterious creator. As you might imagine, after more than three hundred years of silence, the characters inside these paintings have much to share. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Bob Raczka's interviews with the subjects of Jan Vermeer's painting will be a learning experience for young and old alike!
If we want to know about any particular artist, say perhaps Pablo Picasso, we need only head to the library or surf the web and we can find out all kinds of interesting tidbits about his life, but in the case of Johannes Vermeer, it isn't that easy.He is one of those elusive painters that we know little about and can only guess about him, his life and his paintings. We do know that "he was born in 1632, died in 1675 and lived in Delft, a city in modern-day Netherlands."For a man who continues to be a favorite of many, including Bob Rackza, we simply need to play detective and take a close look at his paintings and listen to what they are "saying" to us.Thirty-four paintings (perhaps two additional ones) are all we have to tell us is story and it is a fascinating one!

Historians suspect that Vermeer used a "camera obscura" that actually "projected the scene the artist wanted to paint onto the wall of the box" so he could either study or trace it, making his finished product appear more realistic and alive.Raczka, in an ingenious and creative twist, has decided that he would "interview" seven of Jan Vermeer's subjects.For example, when he interviews thewoman in "Young Woman with a Water Pitcher," he asks, You are wearing what looks like a wide, white collar, what is it?"In her response she tells him it is called a "night rail" and describes its use.He goes on to ask her about several of the details in the painting and we are given an excellent, detailed understanding of what scholars have deduced about this particular work of art.Did you know that he originally painted a map behind her head and decided to paint over it?Yep, he sure did and Bob Raczka will tell you where to look to find it!

Bob Raczka's interviews with the subjects of Jan Vermeer's painting will be a learning experience for young and old alike.I actually had a lot of fun reading this book and experienced several of those "you don't say?" moments on almost every page.Learning about art doesn't have to be sheer drudgery and in fact, as this book so aptly proves it, can be fascinating and a lot of fun.I found the book to be an especially interesting way to introduce Vermeer to the young reader who otherwise might find the subject a tad dry or boring.In this book, in addition to the milkmaid, you will meet "The Geographer," "The Artist in His Studio," the "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter," the "Young Woman with a Water Pitcher," the "Woman with a Pearl Necklace," and a couple in "The Music Lesson."Do you know what one of Vermeer's favorite colors was?You can venture a guess or read this book and find out!

Positively enlightening
I am your average person, meaning that in the average year I read zero to one books about art. I came upon the "Vermeer Interviews" by accident. Intregued, I opened the book and couldn't stop reading. Bob Raczka's novel Q&A format with the subjects of Vermeer's art brings the reader in. Then the author's insights into the paintings keeps you reading. Raczka weaves in painting techniques(eg, showing how to achieve three-dimentionality by using shadow and light; how to compose art so the images will balance each other out) and history (eg, what was going on in the Netherlands at the time that Vermeer was paintig). Raczka also ponders what "story" the paintings are trying to capture. The reader never gets a definite answer from the coy paintings ("I must admit your evidence is compelling"), but even that is right on cue, because we cannot know, only speculate. Most of all, Raczka points out little details in the paintings that most people would never notice, and makes the reader feel like s/he is being let in on a little secret.

This book will make late elementary/early middle school kids think of and appreciate art in ways they never have before, but really, the book will open the eyes of any non-art-history type. It was intreguing, insightful, and fun. Even the author Q&A on the back is amusing. I've never read Raczka's work before, but I am going to keep an eye out for him from now on. ... Read more

Product Description
Virtually unknown until the 19th century, Jan Vermeer is now considered one of the great Dutch artists, celebrated for his radiant, naturalistic light. Marvel at this 17th century painter's small but brilliant output and his masterful portrayal of domestic life and the interior.The DK ArtBook series presents both the life and works of each artist within the cultural, social, and political context of their time. To make the books easy to consult, they are divided into three areas -- the life and works of the artist, historical and cultural background, and analysis of major works -- which are identifiable by side bands. Each spread focuses on a specific theme, with an introductory text and several annotated illustrations. Few art history texts contain such abundance of full-color illustrations. The index section is also illustrated and gives background information on key figures and the location of the artist's works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good for its size and price
Not even close to ISBN: 0894682199, but a good book, as anyone would expect from the Dorling Kindersley publisher, of a small size, and so with the reproductions of a decent, but not spectacular quality not allowing to study the colors, but sufficient to get familiar with the paintings, and a short, not analytical text, but presenting the background and history associated with the times and places, as the look inside option confirms. ... Read more

Product Description
THIS EDITION IS INTENDED FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Readers will learn about the 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer--one of the great masters in what was known as the ""Golden Age Of Art. ... Read more

Product Description

Johannes Vermeer, one of the greatest Dutch painters and for some the single greatest painter of all, produced a remarkably small corpus of work. In Vermeer's Family Secrets, Benjamin Binstock revolutionizes how we think about Vermeer's work and life. Vermeer, The Sphinx of Delft, is famously a mystery in art: despite the common claim that little is known of his biography, there is actually an abundance of fascinating information about Vermeer’s life that Binstock brings to bear on Vermeer’s art for the first time; he also offers new interpretations of several key documents pertaining to Vermeer that have been misunderstood. Lavishly illustrated with more than 180 black and white images and more than sixty color plates, the book also includes a remarkable color two-page spread that presents the entirety of Vermeer's oeuvre arranged in chronological order in 1/20 scale, demonstrating his gradual formal and conceptual development. No book on Vermeer has ever done this kind of visual comparison of his complete output. Like Poe's purloined letter, Vermeer's secrets are sometimes out in the open where everyone can see them. Benjamin Binstock shows us where to look. Piecing together evidence, the tools of art history, and his own intuitive skills, he gives us for the first time a history of Vermeer's work in light of Vermeer's life.

On almost every page of Vermeer's Family Secrets, there is a perception or an adjustment that rethinks what we know about Vermeer, his oeuvre, Dutch painting, and Western Art. Perhaps the most arresting revelation of Vermeer's Family Secrets is the final one: in response to inconsistencies in technique, materials, and artistic level, Binstock posits that several of the paintings accepted as canonical works by Vermeer, are in fact not by Vermeer at all but by his eldest daughter, Maria. How he argues this is one of the book's many pleasures.

Customer Reviews (6)

DREK!
The "scholarship" advanced here is a tribute to an ultimately ineffable admixtureof a few truths, many half truths, an avalanche of free associations, and whole oceans of utter fantasy. Words can't convey how silly this book is. There is no Occam's Razor at work here, as claimed. Rather, it's the Dragon in My Garage, complete with non sequiturs encased in a fallacy of composition vat. I wonder how Chuck Close feels about Binstock's thesis that his favorite portrait, Vermeer's Girl with a Red Hat, one of the most nuanced, sophisticated paintings in the world and among the most beautifully conceived and executed works in all of Vermeer's oeuvre, was actually made by a teenage girl (but it's quite possible the image represents one of Vermeer's daughters). How does Walter Liedtke feel about being quoted so badly out of context here, a quote only a few pages away from where Binstock asserts Vermeer never signed his famous Girl with a Pearl Earring, when in fact he did (with an IVMeer on the top left portion of the painting, visible on the original if one looks closely?

The pink highlight in the eye and the dot of blue between the lips of the Girl with a Flute that Binstock points out are reversed in the Girl with a Red Hat. But in the latter work they contribute to a sense of playful charm and plasticity; in Girl with a Flute, they're muddied, trapped in listless shadows, in need of further refinement. Surely this painting and the Girl with a Red Hat depict the same girl wearing exotic head gear and, even if the paintings were not meant as pendants, were conceived as reciprocal artistic exercises to showcase the skills of the painter. The former painting, although exhibiting passages of the master's touch--in the hat, the jacket, the outlines of the face, and the background tapestry (likely the same one shown in The Astronomer), has many awkward passages uncharacteristic of Vermeer's refinements, including the eyes and mouth, the hands, the flute, the bureau and the highlights in the brass knobs. One could imagine a teenaged girl who aspires to be a painter doing her thing in these areas of the painting. But only a charlatan would assert such a claim as fact. As Liedtke, and others, have concluded, Vermeer likely did not finish the painting. Subsequently, others attempted to do so in their own style and fashion, in the process rather substantially diminishing the painting's quality.

I could go on and on showing Binstock's mistakes and his Brobdingnagian leaps of faith, such as his assertion that the Sotheby's catalogue vouches that the Young Woman Seated at the Virginals is Vermeer's second daughter Elizabeth, when in fact it states "Any such identification is... speculative" (based upon little more than fictive ruminations from the novelist TracyChevalier and the British columnist Simon Jenkins). But this would be cruel, especially to Amazon readers, who should also be forewarned that the reproductions of Vermeer's paintings are of very poor quality in this book.

Binstock is no iconoclast. His effort here is a risible attempt at provoking controversy. But his loopy, sloppy methodology is embarrassing at many levels, including what appears to be an utter lack of editorial judgement on the part of his publisher. No serious scholar would recommend this cynical, contemptible book. Those seriously interested in knowing more about Vermeer should read the many other good books available, including Liedtke's most recent, Vermeer: The Complete Paintings; Anthony Bailey's excellent View of Delft; and of course Michael Montias' Vermeer and His Milieu. Better yet, see the original paintings themselves, and look with discernment. Vermeer is one of those artists whose paintings reward close and repetitive observation.

Over 180 black and white images and over sixty color plates accompany insights key to understanding Vermeer and his era
Any library strong in art history will relish Vermeer's Family Secrets: it provides a powerful ion-depth collection offering new solutions to the riddle of the 'Sphinx of Delft', providing the first detailed examination of Vermeer's family member as models and offering re-interpretations of essential documents about Vermeer. Over 180 black and white images and over sixty color plates accompany insights key to understanding Vermeer and his era.

The Pinnacle of Vermeer Studies
Binstock has done what most art historians have failed to do in the past: apply rigorous scholarship into a fun, amusing, tour de force read. He has combined the canonical works on Vermeer and taken them one step further, presenting convincing arguments that piece together a plausable history of the "Sphinx of Delft."

The other reviews here unfairly portray the book as academic, but anyone with an interest in Vermeer, art history or art in general would be fascinated by the conclusions made, and the methods used along the way.

Interesting and compelling thesis swamped by academic blather
This book presents some interesting new ideas about the sources of and for work attributed to Vermeer.The argument could be made quite convincingly in a 15-page monograph, complete with illustrations, but instead is buried under hundreds of pages of badly-written and apparently unedited fluff.(Try to count the number of paragraphs that begin with the phrase "In my view," for example.)

My advice:find a copy at your local library (which is where mine is going) and skim it.

fascinating, readable, informative
I found this book fascinating, readable and very informative.Binstock has a genuinely fresh perspective on both a star of the art world and the process by which such stars are made.I admire his ability to step away from standard wisdom and reconsider, for instance in being the first Vermeer scholar to attempt a chronological ordering of his work. He tries to explain inconsistencies others have left unexplained; no one can be correct 100% of the time but at least he is trying, and I enjoy following his reasoning.

The portait of Vermeer's family life, including the revelation of the identity of the "unknown apprentice", is immensely interesting and lots of fun.On the whole I find Binstock's conclusions very plausible.They may upset some but his path to them is authentic and he does an excellent job backing them up.

I think this is a good book for anyone who wants to learn about Vermeer as well as enjoy his paintings.Through his eloquence, his passion for his subject and an remarkable knack for identifying, connecting and making sense of critical detail, Binstock encourages us to grasp the whole of the man and the artist as best we can.To him, Vermeer and other artists are fit objects of passion and vital interest for anyone who has been moved by the works.I am not an art historian but I felt the respect the author has for me as someone who (like him) loves Vermeer.
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Product Description
The late-Renaissance Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer captured men and women transfixed in quiet, meditative moments, using dramatic lighting and perspective to effect a moody and poetic ambience. Each exquisitely detailed image in the Vermeer 2011 Wall Calendar invites serene reflection and continued appreciation.

* Vermeer's paintings are among the most popular and most visited paintings in museums worldwide; they continue to be some of the most accessible and admired images from the Northern Renaissance and are favorites for prints and postcards.

* Featuring sumptuous reproductions of Vermeer paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Louvre, and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. ... Read more