The Painting

The Art of Painting

Jan Vermeer

c. 1666-73; Oil on canvas, 130 x 110 cm

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Technique in ‘The Art of Painting’

   As Vermeer left behind no drawings or preliminary studies, our information about his artistic process can only be gleaned from the paintings themselves. In this regard, The Art of Painting is particularly valuable for it depicts an artist at work. It demonstrates that an artist sat rather than stood at his easel, and also shows that he used his mahlstick to steady his hand while painting. Having already covered his canvas with a light gray ground and indicated his composition with white lines, the artist applies flat, unmodulated strokes of color as the underlying tones. At a later stage a variety of glazes and small highlights would model the form.

   Technical examinations of Vermeer’s paintings have shown that he often followed this procedure. Sometimes it appears that he changed his mind during the painting process and made adjustments even after he had blocked in compositional elements. Nevertheless, in this painting not a single compositional change has been discovered, either through microscopic analysis, infrared photography, or x-radiography. Such compositional assurance seems to indicate that Vermeer had worked out his composition beforehand.

   Whether or not he was inspired by the optical and spatial effects of the camera obscura, he organized and structured his painting with careful attention to the laws of linear perspective. As seems to have been his standard process, he marked his vanishing point, just below the black finial of the pole weighting the map, with a pin. Strings would then have been attached to the pin to mark the orthogonals of the tiles and table edge. Despite these careful preparations, Vermeer adapted his perspective to enhance the dramatic impact of the scene. To emphasize the artist’s central importance within the allegory, Vermeer painted him at a disproportionately large scale: standing, the artist would tower over his model. Even though the artist’s face is not visible, the viewer senses both the forcefulness of his personality and the intensity of his gaze.

   The artist at his easel is executed with broad strokes that match the boldness of the image. The patterns of the black jacket, red hose, white boot hose, and black slippers are almost abstract in their crisp renderings of light and shadow. At the rear of the room, however, Vermeer has described forms with more attention to light and textural effects. The nuances of light falling across Clio’s hands, face, and robe convey the softness of her skin, the smoothness of the leather-bound folio she holds, and the sheen of the blue fabric. Vermeer similarly recorded the worn surface of the wall map as light models its form and reflects its aged appearance. Finally, in one of the most striking passages found in any of his works, he captured the brilliance of sunlight reflecting off the polished surface of the brass chandelier. With sure strokes that range from thick impastos of lead-tin yellow in the highlights to darker and thinner strokes of ocher in the shadows, Vermeer created the illusion of an object that seems almost tangible.

Excerpt taken from: http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/verm_5.shtm

A little about Vermeer

Johaness Vermeer was a Dutch painter who especialized in painting domestic interior scenes of ordinary life. He was moderately successful, but maybe because he painted relatively few paintings (35 are attributed to him) he was not wealthy and left his family in debt when he died.

He worked slowly and with great care, he liked the use of bright colours and sometimes, even, expensive pigments. He is renowned for his mastery in the use of light in his paintings. He was, unfortunately, forgotten for a time, until Gustav Friedrich Waagen rediscovered him. He and Thoré Bürger published an essay about him, and since that time Vermeer’s reputation grew up, being nowadays acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

Cite the site: Johannes Vermeer. (2009, June 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:25, June 7, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Johannes_Vermeer&oldid=294906079

Vermeer´s technique

The Astronomer harmonizes space, color, and light to convey a single human activity, a unified moment in time. Perfectly staged, the scene is a subtle composite of interlocking diagonal, rectangular, or elliptical fields and has no empty or undefined surface. The composition is not narrative but rather forms the context of a sole figure, frozen in a pose of profound preoccupation.

Like many Vermeer characters, the astronomer is placed near a window on the onlooker’s left, which casts a glow on the man of science, revealing youthful freshness, sudden insight, and nervous anticipation. Expressive hands define the geometric space between the sympathetic figure and the celestial globe (drafted by Dutch cartographer Jodocus Hondius in 1600) and drive the forward movement of the body. The desk, framed by a thick tapestry, holds an astrolabe (precursor of the sextant) and a book. On the wall is a circular figure with radial lines.

The moment of discovery reflected on the astronomer’s face captures centuries of human fascination with the universe. The generic physiognomy, unremarkable features, untended hair, and drab attire draw the eyes to the illuminated face of the thinker, in a room where the only light is that of knowledge.

A model to all stargazers, old and new, Vermeer’s scientist reaches beyond the globe at hand into the mysterious continuum of time and space, charting, measuring, counting, categorizing, naming, recording. His contemporary counterpart, whether an astronomer exploring the cosmos or a biologist investigating the microcosm, is still guided by the light of discovery. Uncharted in Vermeer’s days, the spatial distribution of disease follows the evolution over time of agent, host, and environment and is the domain of those today who trace the time-space continuum of emerging pathogens, from Ebola to influenza and SARS.

Web resource  http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/Eid/vol10no1/about_cover.htm

The Baroque era through “The Astronomer”

Johannes Vermeer was one of the greatest of all Baroque painters.  His painting entitled “The Astronomer” is a true masterpiece that captures the mood of the Baroque era.Vermeer produced less than forty paintings in his lifetime, but their incredible detail and unique design made him famous.  One of his greatest works of art is “The Astronomer.”  This painting is a portrait of an astronomer in his office, examining a globe.  Like many paintings of this time period, the astronomer is seated by a glass window, the only source of light in an otherwise dark room.  While the wealth of the astronomer is not obvious, the fact that the astronomer can afford glass windows, a painting on his wall, and a shelf full of books shows that he is a rich man.  This portrayal of wealth is common in paintings of this time period.

The astronomer in this painting is a man of science.  He is not posing for his portrait, but rather he is shown performing his profession as an astronomer. This type of portrait was common in the Baroque era.  With a book open on his desk, he reaches for the globe, staring past it with a facial expression which reveals that he may have just made a great discovery.  According to some historians, the astronomer in this painting was inspired by Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who was born the same year as Johannes Vermeer.  Leeuwenhoek was the inventor of a microscope, and a master at astronomy and navigation.  Vermeer’s painting reflects Leeuwenhoek’s zeal for science.“The Astronomer” depicts not just a single man but the dawning of a new era of logical thought and scientific revolution.  In a balanced array of color and light, this painting captures the human fascination with the complexities of world around us.  This is a true masterpiece of the Baroque era.

By Matthew Elton

Web Resource   http://www.scribd.com/doc/1243/Johannes-Vermeers-ASTRONOMER

Treatment of Colour in Vermeer’s Paintings

Vermeer is known to have been extremely conscious about the real nature of colour, and about the fact that objects change in different circumstances and under different lights. In the film “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, this sharp consciousness is represented through a conversation between the painter and Griet, where he asks the young maid about the colour of the clouds. Her reaction is similar as ours would have been: “White”. However, she soon realises that the answer is not as straightforward as she had thought, and discovers that the clouds actually reflects the colours of the world that expands beneath them.

“The Little Street” is another example of this for, though red is apparently the predominant colour, we realise that most details contain blue: the cracks on the wall, the pavement, the woodwork of the windows, the tree at the left, etc. Appart from Vermeer’s mastery, this is also a sign of his economic status. Art historias from UCL, quoted in Science Blog (accessed on June 5th), pointed out that lapis lazuli was a very expensive material in the 17th century, and that unlike most painters, Vermeer used it in the representation of materials like wood and chairs. This contrasts with the generalised belief that Vermeer belonged to the lower-middle class.

Richard A. Smith on Girl with a Pitcher of Water

Vermeer is speaking to the main theme of his body of work, which is Temperance, or Moderation based on pure motives. The young woman in the Pitcher painting is prepared to wash herself and has poured the water to the basin for that purpose. The act of purification from the grit and grime of the world would appear to be Vermeer’s assignment to the lady in this work, but her progress is interrupted by what may appear to be, at first sight, thoughtful inactivity. Yet Vermeer leaves clues to his real intent for this painting, by the means of the woman’s physical connection to the symbol of purity–the ewer and basin, but also to the open window. Open casement windows in dutch genre painting have iconographic significance and are meant as a warning to women of the dangers of not paying attention to household matters (minding ones own affairs), and the lures of the outside world to social and moral ills to which she may be attracted. The lady has departed from her original intent, however briefly, and, we may assume, to dwell on innocent household matters to which her new days efforts will be spent addressing or just a pleasant interlude. Vermeer does not leave that interpretation open to the observer. The lady holds the window open, but does not look out to the street. Physically, the open window is behind her, and, as her downcast eyes to the floor are not actively engaged or focused on anything that we can discern, why would we assume that the symbolism of the casement window, being open, is a problem? The answer is not apparent at first, but one troubling observation with regards the lady’s other hand on the pitcher is very revealing about the state of her mind and, symbolically, the moral state of the woman. Vermeer shows and indicates that the absorbed mind of the woman is involved in an intemperate activity when he pictures the lady’s absentmindedness. For, it is not logical that the lady would put down the pitcher in the bowl of the basin after she had filled it! Vermeer cleverly shows the viewer that the woman is not attending to her work as she should.
What, then is she attending to? It is true that her eyes do not betray her, by peering out of the window, but that does not preclude the woman from engaging the world outside with her ears. Is it plausible, then, that Vermeer is addressing her penchant for eavesdropping on her neighbours. After all, isn’t listening a prime activity of the gossip?
Twice, in his ouvre Vermeer used the visual device of the ebony map weight in an identical fashion. In this picture and the Luteplayer, he placed the map weight in close proximity to the crook of the women’s necks. It has the visual effect of slowing down the movement of the viewers eye, as it passes through the space behind their heads. In both cases, it has the effect of freezing their heads in their respective places. The lady with the lute is tuning her lute and listening as she turns a peg on the head of the instrument. Is it not likely that Vermeer has used the same painterly device to portray a woman listening at an open window?

Rcihard A. Smith on Girl with a Pitcher of Water

The Pitcher picture can be read like a secret love-letter. It has the code of symbols of its iconography to tell the tale. The ewer or pitcher and basin are about Purity. Christian art painted the Virtues and this was one. The pitcher and bowl of the Milkmaid has the same meaning, but no other writer will say it, because the meaning of both of these paintings points, not to purity, only, but also to impurity. The Ermine, with it’s black-tipped tail, was for the kings of Europe the symbol of purity, but as is pointed out by by Alcaito in his emblemata, the Romans viewed it as denoting impurity amongst their young women. Vermeer paints a highlighted ermine, I believe on the side of the jewelry box in the Pitcher painting. If it is not an ermine, then he made up for this lack in many of his pictures, with the white fur trim on the yellow jacket! I find it sad and dishonest that the experts (to name them is unecessary, as they are legion) will try, in Vermeer’s case, to side-step his moralizing, and considering only other genre painters guilty of “morality” narratives in their preacher paintings. They would ascribe only sweetness and light to their hero. The truth, for them, is hard to swallow when it goes counter to their admiration for the great artist. Do they defend their previously naive statements before new knowledge was obtained? Some lack of perception would embarass, but truth must be owned to make an expert.

Las Meninas and The Art of Painting, the Portraits of Two Painters

On February, 16 2003, Vermeer visited the Prado Museum, in other words, the house of his contemporary Velázquez for the first time. In fact, on May, 19 2003, Vermeer’s The Art of Painting hanged near Velázquez’s Las Meninas in the Prado Museum. In addition, they are surprisingly two similar paintings which were created very close in time.

Las Meninas (1656)

The scene takes place in the studio of Velázquez, in one of the rooms of Madrid’s Alcázar Palace. Velázquez appears in front of a big canvas portraying the King Philip IV of Spain and the Queen Mariana of Austria that are reflected on the mirror at the back. The five-year old infant Maria Margaret has entered the room to take a peep with her two ladies-in-waiting, María Agustina Sarmiento and Isabel de Velasco, and two court buffoons, María Bárbola and Nicolasito Pertusato, who is kicking a mastiff.   Behind them, the duenna de Ulloa is talking with a guardadamas and in the doorway the quartermaster Jose Nieto appears in the stairs. Velázquez is wearing court clothes and confidently holds a brush and a palette.

 The Art of Painting (1666)

The Art of Painting was preserved in Vermeer’s possession until his death. Therefore, it can be concluded that was a special painting for him. A curtain drawn to the left shows the intimate studio of the painter who concentrated is portraying a girl with a crown of laurel on her head holding a book and a trumpet. These elements were identified as symbols of fame by the seventeenth century society, and therefore the woman who is posing for Vermeer, seems to be Clio, the muse of history. The white mask that lies on the table is thought to symbolize imitation and therefore painting. The map hanging at the back of the painting and the lamp, appear to emphasize the theme of history embodied by Clio. (For further information of this painting visit Sheila Juaristi’s posts).

 The painter inside the painting

It was not until the Renaissance when important authors began to affirm their individuality and provide the works with titles. Therefore, it was quite innovative for the seventeenth century painters to include their self-portraits in their works. Nevertheless, Vermeer and Velázquez almost at the same time depicted themselves in the act of painting (painting inside the painting).

In front of a big canvas, Velázquez is looking at the visitor attentively. However, who is Velázquez looking at? At first, the visitor feels observed by the painter as he was inviting him/her to the inside of the painting. Nevertheless, the visitor soon realizes that Velázquez does not seem to have his eyes fixed on him/her, but on the subjects he is painting. Therefore,  as Manuel Durán notices the visitor appears to feel ill at ease when he/she realizes that the King and the Queen may be standing by his/her side.

 

 On the other hand, Vermeer perhaps more timid is sitting with his back to the visitor. He appears to be fully concentrated on his oeuvre and the solely attentive gaze of the visitor seems to interrupt the silence that fills the studio. Vermeer is wearing dark simple and easy to wash garments to protect the clothes from the paint.

 The Fame of the Artist

In the dark and elegant clothes of Velázquez, the characteristic red cross of Santiago remarkably catches the eye of the visitor. It has been claimed that it was painted by Philip IV himself when Velázquez was awarded the Order in 1659, three years after finishing the painting. In fact, as Jonathan Brown states the central theme of the painting appears to be “[. . .] not only an abstract claim for the nobility of painting, but also a personal claim for the nobility of Velázquez himself”.

Moreover, Vermeer’s The Art of Painting seems to raise similar themes. Vermeer alludes to the connection between history and painting. Alejandro Vergara suggests that “history inspires the artist and, furthermore, according to the prejudice prevailing in artistic circles since Antiquity, is its most important subject-matter, entitling artists to a position of prestige within society”.

 

 Thus, both Velázquez and Vermeer with two of their most appreciated and last works of Las Meninas and The Art of Painting are declaring the will of the artist to gain social recognition. Velázquez appears to be admitted in the bosom of the royal family and therefore, he is awarded nobility titles. In addition, by establishing a connection between history, fame and painting, Vermeer seems to be also praising the social recognition of painting.

References:

Durán, Manuel (Yale University) Velázquez frente a Vermmer [online]. [Accessed 31st May 2009] Available from World Wide Web: http://www.lehman.edu/ciberletras/v08/duran.html. An interesting essay which compares Velázquez’s Las Meninas with Vermeer’s The Art of Painting.  I highly recommend having a look at it.

Essential Vermeer. The Art of Painting [online]. [Accesed 31st May 2009]. Available from World Wide Web:http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/art_of_painting.html and http://www.essentialvermeer.com/cat_about/art.html

Lucas, Antonio (2003) El Prado ‘recoge’ la luz prodigiosa de Johannes Vermeer. El Mundo, 18 May 2003. [online] [Accessed 31st May 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.elmundo.es/papel/2003/02/18/cultura/1338842.html

Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid) Las Meninas. [online] [Accessed 31st May 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.museodelprado.es/index.php?id=995&no_cache=1&L=0&tx_obras[adv]=

Samaniego, F. (2003) El mito de Vermeer conmociona el Prado. El País.com.cultura, 18 February  2003. [online] [Accessed 31st May 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/mito/Vermeer/conmociona/Prado/elpepucul/20030218elpepicul_1/Tes

Vermeer and his contemporaries

I have recently found two videos which are well worth having a look at to have a general overview of Vermeer and his contemporaries:

• In Spanish: ArteHistoria, Vermeer el ciudadano de Delft: http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/genios/videos/184.htm

This video contains a brief general overview of the context, biography and art of Vermeer and his contemporaries. In addition, this webpage also includes other videos of different paintings of Vermeer as well as other artists.

• In English: Norton Simon Museum, Multimedia The Intimate Interior: Vermeer and His Contemporaries by Anne Woollett: http://www.nortonsimon.org/multimedia/videos/annewoollett.php?video=medium

This video shows a presentation given by Anne Woollet who offers a deeper analysis of the interiors depicted by Johannes Vermeer.

I hope they will be of some help!

The Little Street

If the painting itself is already imbued with a somewhat magic character, the mystery surrounding the history of the real “Little Street” makes it even more special.

Though the scarcity of evidence have led to doubts about whether this street ever existed at all, there is a theory that has been consistently regarded. This claim points Voldersgracht as being the place in which this scene might have taken place, for the gutter that one of the women is standing by suggests that the canal was very close by.

As stated in Essential Vermeer ( http://www.essentialvermeer.com/maps/delft/vermeer’s_neighborhood.html , accessed on June 8 ), the house on the left was the Old Men’s House, and Vermeer decided to paint the street after knowing that it would be demolished to house the headquartes of the Guild of Painters (St. Luke’s Guild)

love letter story

I have written a story about the picture “The love letter”. It is about  a girl, a lover, feelings and of course a love letter:

THE LOVE LETTER

She was so nervous. Jane, her maid, had just given her a letter with a stamp that she could recognize at the moment. The letter was from her lover, Jan Stijn. She had not received one during one month and she was very concerned because he usually wrote her every week. He was in a travel to Asia, through the Maldive Islands. She knew that it was a dangerous travel because he did not know what was going to find there.

In these four weeks without any notice from him she had become absorbed in a deeply sadness that only could endure thanks to the music. Her lute was her ally and its sound helped her to disappear from the reality. Jane, her maid was the only friend she had. She helped her with everything, she was like a mother, like a mother she never had. The tuberculosis had killed her when she was very young. And her father was always very occupied with political problems. She spent her time with her lute, with Jane and also with her other passion, painting.

She usually painted when she was sad, so in this last month she had painted one of her favourite paintings. She painted it thinking on Jan, of course. One day she had a dream, a very disturbing nightmare. She dreamt that there was a very strong storm and the ship in which Jan traveled was in trouble. That day she woke up very agitated, because she had a very awful premonition. Then, she began imagine how would be the story to represent in her picture. It is a very severe storm, the sky is black and it roar like a fierce animal. Everything is darkness and solitude. The ship moves its sails like fierce claws with fighting spirit. The only person in the ship is Jan, he is brave and decisive. He knows that the only thing that motivates him to battle is his love, he has always her in mind, sometimes it seems that her face appears like a picture in the clouds, for giving him strength. So at the end, in her picture the big ship represented Jan, a brave warrior who fought for what he most wanted. And the storm represented the bad patches, the worries and the risks that everyone has to live until getting the most esteemed love.

While she painted the picture she had a lump in her stomach, she had the sensation that she was not going to see him again, the days went by and she fell more and more in a deeply melancholy. So the same day she finished the painting, she hung it in the wall, and decided not to think on it, and boost herself. She began to play the lute; she had set aside it since. The sound began to spread everywhere, the sadness that covered every corner from the house began to disappear and suddenly when this happiness had begun to flourish Jane, came into the room with the letter. She was full of euphoria; her heartbeats began to increase as her heart was going to explode. The letter was from Jan, after all this suffering, at the end, she had notices from him, but better not to celebrate anything because the letter could be for giving bad news.

She was trembling, she had almost any force to open the envelope, at the same time she was opening it, her eyes were full of tears. Tears that were flooding her mind and drowning her heart. At the time she took out the letter from the envelope and she could see the handwriting of her lover, she began to calm herself.

“ Dear Love;

Sorry for this horrible delay, I hope you will forgive me. This last month has been very hard. The heat is incredibly suffocating. Some of our men had fallen ill. Appart from that, the landscape is wonderful, I´d never seen anything similar, the blue from the sky, the color of the flowers that dress every path, the exotic animals, the lowly people  that give modesty off everywhere we go. I am sure you would enjoy it if you were here with me. Maybe someday we can come back together, we alone, you and me. But now you have only think that I am happy because I know that in spite of the distance you are also happy, our love is over everything in this world. I remember everyday each word, each look, each kiss, each feeling, each caress you have given me and it gives me hope to face up this moments I cannot be with you. I would like to tell you everything I feel but you only need to listen to your heart to know it because your heart and mine are only one.

Every moment I spend thinking of you thousands of emotions travel all around my body when you are not with me and even you aren´t,  your memory makes me amaze but anyway I prefer to excite myself with your presence and not with your memory.

You takes up my mind, you are the owner of every of my thoughts, of every of my passion moments, of every of my feelings, I would like this love lasts for the eternity, that in one million of years you and me would keep still together looking ourselves with the same love and the same tenderness we make it now. I know it could be possible because we need each one, we are accomplices, we do not need words, in fact, silence says everything.

I will fight always for our love, we will be together for our lives, we have learnt to adorate ourselves like no one ever could love. I need you because you are my Juliet, my angel, my lover, my best admirer, my inamorata, my passion…

With this letter I try to demonstrate that you are my existence and the only thing I need in this life, loving you is my present, a present that I only have.

You love,

Jan Stijn”

The letter was full of tears after she finished reading it, now she feels that she could live again, she was full of hope. Jan was alive and she was in love. It was the most incredibly love letter a woman could received. After this moment, she stood up and opened the window to breathe the warm wind that blew through it. She thought she could notice his love, this passional love. She knew that he was near, she could feel him because as Jan have said in his letter they are like one person, one heart one feeling.

Now she had forgotten every bad moment she had spent all this long month. She turned herself and looked to the painting in the wall, the stormy love, it was the name she gave to it, and laughed. Now she knew that there were not storms between their love.

A strong breeze came through the window. She noticed that it was familiar. She leant out of the window and in the long path in front of the big house, she could discern the figure of a man, as he was walking nearer, she was totally convinced. He was Jan. when he crossed the fence of the house; the dogs began to bark of happiness. She came unstuck from the window and went downstairs, crossed the corridor to the principal door and the garden with the same speed as the wind. When they were coming closer she noticed that her heart was about to explode, at the end they melted in the most fabulous embrace. Now they are only one.

The end

Woman in blue reading a letter

This painting has been chosen for the “English for Specific Purposes” class by Jurgi Erquicia.

ABOUT THE WORK

“Vermeer’s ‘Woman in Blue Reading a Letter’ seems so harmonious in color, theme and mood that it is hard to imagine any other compositional solution. Indeed, as in others of his paintings, one has difficulty imagining Vermeer at work, as an artist who had to somehow compose and make tangible a concept he had conceived in his mind. Part of the problem in visualizing Vermeer’s working procedure stems from the lack of available information. No drawings, prints or unfinished paintings-indeed, no records of commissions-offer clues to his intent or aspects of his working process.”

Look Again and Tell Me What You See

“Looking at a painting should be like looking through a lens. We should sense the mystery of the world—how much we ordinarily do not see.”

Johannes Vermeer (Delft, 1632-1675)

Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window – Poem

Afternoon light falls

on ochres and reds and pale golds.

Velvets and linens and wools

sway heavily in the light

breeze that passes through

this bower of abundance.

The letter she holds has been read before.

Pulling taut the wrinkled sheet she reads

again what she could now recite.

The word on which her gaze falls so intently

reach from the page like a familiar touch,

tender and faint as the delicate script

bleached by the light of this autumn afternoon.

Perhaps it is from an absent husband, running

the trade that brought these rugs a thousand miles,

and bought this fruit, best of harvest, for her table.

Perhaps not. It may be she who has gone away.

Given in marriage beyond what she knew to hope for,

taken from the sound of known feet on the village path,

from a circle of friends gathered to gossip

at the brookside after the day’s tasks,

from the mother who writes her now, wondering

whether, in her grand house, among her servants

and soft garments, she still cares for news from home.

Not even her mother knows how much

she cares: how she is glad that the old, blind cobbler’s

young apprentice is kind to him, and repairs

without a word the vagrant stitches on sole and tongue,

and calls him father; that her sister is learning

to weave and has taken her place reading verses

after the evening meal; that the little hunchback still rides

on the peddler’s cart and laughs back

at the children who laugh at him.

The streets of this city are silent as her ear strains

for familiar sounds. No woman’s voice summons her

in this household where, as yet, there is no babe

to cry or nurse to scold. The man who adores her

knows her only as his lady.

None of them knows how she would like, some evenings,

to lay her coiffed head on a breast broader and softer than her own;

to bake, morning, in a kitchen crowded with bowls and chatter;

to strip off her fine-stitched shoes and wade in a muddy brook

in secret, skirts gathered, with a giggling friend

in the heat and falling light of the afternoon.

In Quiet Light: Poems on Vermeer’s Women by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

New York Times film review Girl With a Pearl Earring

 

I thought it would be interesting to read a film review of ‘Girl with a Parl Earring’ to see how it was recieved and percieved by the critics. Below is an extract of thefilm review taken from New York Times online:

 

At the start of ”Girl With a Pearl Earring,” Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is shown peeling an onion, an image as metaphor rarely seen outside first-semester filmmaking classes. The determination visible in such an effort communicates Importance Writ Large. And the film, adapted by Olivia Hetreed from Tracy Chevalier’s novel, does have a great subject: the story surrounding an artwork shrouded in mystery and a project that ruins a woman’s reputation yet ensures her a place in history.

This film, which opens today in New York and Los Angeles, is the imagined tale of Griet, a maid who became the muse of Johannes Vermeer and the subject of his painting ”Girl With a Pearl Earring.” Ms. Johansson is photographed so that her skin is as opalescent as her earring, but the movie is opaque. It is an earnest, obvious melodrama with no soul, filled with the longing silences that come after a sigh.

 

Yet the care that has gone into making ”Earring,” a dexterous and absorbing visual re-creation of the lighting and the look that Vermeer achieved in his work, is a tribute to the director Peter Webber’s own group of artisans, the cinematographer Eduardo Serra and the production designer Ben van Os. The gorgeous score, by Alexandre Desplat, brushes in a haunted gloom that gives the picture life where none seems to exist. This is the kind of film that would prompt the movie industry trade papers to say ”technical credits above par.”

Taken from : http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/

My painting pf Vermeer

According to Arthur K. Wheelock, “Vermeer’s ‘Woman in Blue Reading a Letter’ seems so harmonious in color, theme and mood that it is hard to imagine any other compositional solution. Indeed, as in others of his paintings, one has difficulty imagining Vermeer at work, as an artist who had to somehow compose and make tangible a concept he had conceived in his mind. Part of the problem in visualizing Vermeer’s working procedure stems from the lack of available information. No drawings, prints or unfinished paintings-indeed, no records of commissions-offer clues to his intent or aspects of his working process.”

Taken from: http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/woman_in_blue_reading_a_letter.html

Vermeer: Inspiration for other artists

VERSION OF “THE LACEMAKER” BY ANTONIO GUMAN CAPEL

Here we can see a picture of Antonio Guzman Capel based on the picture “The Lacemaker” by Johannes Vermeer, for whom he seems to feel admiration.

You can know more of this author and his works in http://www.antoniocapel.com/

DEPICTION OF “GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING” BY SCOTT WADE

It is amazing to see how this artist is able to make of dirty cars authentic pieces of art. I really admire him. Here we can see his depiction of Vermeer’s picture:

This is the way he describes his “experience”:

Felt a little bold taking on a Vermeer (not sure why I had no qualms about Da Vinci or Van Gogh), but I couldn’t resist “Girl With A Pearl Earring.” This one was tricky. I did it over a previous drawing that had been rained on. There were places where the dust had been caked on, and it didn’t brush off evenly at all. I had to kind of stab the clods with a bristle brush to break it up enough to get some intermediate tones. That’s what gives this one a sort of stipple effect.“

In the third picture as he describes we can see “the parts that were caked on by rain, and the tones and line work look so different from the inside.”

You can know more of him and his works in http://www.dirtycarart.com/

A young woman sleeping

This work was done by Petaundklau last year.

(Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) (1656-1657)

SOURCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer#Obras

I have to take my time to enter the little key in the lock because of all the things that I am taking with me. I have taken some plates from the dinning room that were left by the lady of the house, a carpet from the hall that I have to wash, several glasses and a mug with wine from the welcome party of the baby. I leave everything on the table of the kitchen before doing the washing up.

I still have my new clothes on; I did not even take off the expensive earrings that the master gave to me in my birthday. It was supposed to be a present but I consider it more a consolation prize. I have worked as a maid in this family for ten years. The house is not very big and that makes it easier but now I am also in charge of the children. The nanny left a couple of years ago and the master did not want to take another maid because of the gossiping of other aristocrats, so I had to take all that burden on me.

I sit down on a leather covered chair. I take my hands into my head and I rub my forehead with my hands in a vain attempt to erase every sign of grief. I do not feel better and I gaze the mug of wine shining in the light that comes from the window. I can take just a sip of wine before I wash the carpet. It will be just to taste the unattainable flavour of happiness. I pour the wine in a glass with golden brim. I approach the glass so slowly that I make a ritual of it. I can see the deep purple drink standing still, so dark that I feel that I am looking into my own soul.

I drink the glass of wine. I look again into the bottle. I do not think that neither the master nor the mistress will miss the wine that was left from the party because yesterday was a very happy day and I could notice that in the master’s breath. It was a welcome party for the last child in the house. It is a lovely little girl. She has bright blue eyes and her skin is as smooth as the touch of a cloud. I like listening to her gurgling in her cot and I sometimes get up at night just to see her sleeping.

I am absorbed by my own thoughts and I have not noticed that I had almost drunk the whole mug of wine. I feel calmer while the wine slips through my throat.  I lay my head in my hand slightly bent to the right while I caress the cashmere like tablecloth. I remember leaving the door opened. In other days I would have closed it but there was nothing to hide now.  I leave myself in Morpheus’ arms.

Memories come to my mind. I can see myself. I was young. It was my first year in the house. My blue eyes were alive and I could look into the daylight without feeling fear.  Even a shy smile could be outlined in my face. I was brought into the house because my father had died and I was the elder of five children, so I had to help my mother earning money for the family. I was quite happy that I could find a job. But that entire dream turned into a nightmare quite soon.

I had noticed that the mistress of the house had changed, she began behaving strangely. She was like a little child, vulnerable and disable. This brought so much sadness and sorrow into the house. The master also changed. But he changed towards me. He began looking at me from the doorframe while I was working or taking care of the children. Several times he touched smoothly my hand in such an inattentive way that it could seem nothing but an accident if it would not have been accompanied by a lewd glance.  I could not understand why he did this and I was not sure whether all that was just part of my imagination.

I got my answer one night.  I was almost asleep in my bedroom next to the kitchen when I heard that someone was approaching the door. The door handle was moving while my pupils were becoming bigger in fear.  I saw a shadow of a man. I could not move, the fear had paralyzed all my muscles as if I was in the middle of the freezing Artic.  He moved closer to my bed. He took off his pants and he pulled out the rough blanket. I wanted to shout, to escape, to run away from there, I wanted to fight the threatening figure but I could just close my eyes. Even my blood was inert and I held my breath to prevent my lungs from being spoiled with the foul air in the room.

This did not end up that night. It was hell coming to earth every night. I was raped during nine years in the eyes of a mad wife and of three little children. There was a time when my blood thickened and I had no tears to wipe, no smile and no brightness in my blue eyes. The girl was my only salvation. Nine months did the whole family keep the secret. It was not difficult to keep it because the mistress did not go out of the house. The pain of those nine years was nothing compared to that of watching my own child in the arms of others.

A noise of breaking glass awakens me alarmed. I see pieces of glass in my hand and blood is flowing from them. So many things come to my mind in a second. I can hear the little girl crying. Oh little child of mine, do not cry for your unhappy mother, it will be better to end up with all this as soon as possible. I slit my wrists with the already broken pieces of glass. I lay again my head in my hand while blood is slipping on my arm. What is done can not be undone

This lines were posted last year by Eider Zorrilla English Philology student.

 

 

Poem on The Milkmaid by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

The poem is taken from Marilyn’s ‘In Quiet Light’, which was published 8 years ago. This book is full of poems on the different Vermeer’s paintings, and this is the one on mine. It’s nice to have a look at them and see another different way of describing the works.

(As you already know, some of these poems are included in our book)

There is no flattery here: this thick-muscled,

broad-bottomed girl has milked cows at

dawn and carried sloshing pails

hung from a yoke on shoulders

broadened to the task. She kneaded

fat mounds of dough, sinking heavy fists deep

into voluptuous bread, innocent

and sensuous as a child in spring mud.

Evenings she mends and patches

the coarse wool of her bodice, smelling

her own sweat, sweet like grass and dung

in the barn or like warm milk

fresh from the udder.

 

Her world is grained and gritty, deep-

textured, rough-hewn, earth-toned, solid,

simple and crude. Reed and brass and clay,

wheat and flax and plaster turned to human use

have not come far from the loamy fields

where they were mined and gathered. The things

she handles are round and square, though-

fibered and strong, familiar as flesh to the touch.

 

The jug rests in her hand like a baby’s

bottom. She bends to her task like a mother

tending her child, hand and eye trained

to this work, heart left to its pondering.

 

How like tenderness, this look

of complete attention, how like a prayer

that blesses these loaves, this milk

(round like this belly, full like this breast),

given daily into her keeping, this handmaid

on whom the light falls,

haloed in white, hallowed by the gaze

that sees her thus, heavy, thick-lipped,

weathered and earthbound, blessed

and full of grace.

 

 

Essay for Claire on The Milkmaid

 

It was just another spring morning for her. Once again, she woke up very early in the morning and walked towards the market in order to buy the fresh milk and the fresh dough. Going to the market every morning was not an easy task for her, as she was a country girl, who had to travel to the big city and made a living. She was used to milk the cow, because she would help his father every single morning back in their farm.

 

She worked as a maid in a wealthy family and although she had been working there for some years, she still missed a lot her humble way of living. She was known around the city as the milkmaid, though her real name was Tanneke.

 

She was provided with food and clothes and had her own room in the house, that was the way in which the wealthy family payed her services at the house. That morning she was wearing the yellow long-sleeved rustic garment with blue stripes on it and the only skirt she had, which was covered with a dark blue apron. As she was still young and not married, she had to wear a white shawl covering her hair.

 

She was tired of working day after day and night after night, pleasing the others and not herself; going to the market, cooking, cleaning, washing, serving, watching after the kids … the list of the tasks never came to an end in that house. There was no time for having a rest; no time was left even to breath. However, she never showed any bad face or gesture. She tried to do her best each time. Whenever she felt exausted, instead of stopping doing things, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and kept on with her tasks.

 

 She had a dream, a dream she never shared with anybody. She kept it to herself. She had built in her mind her perfect future. She dreamt about going back home with some money in the pocket. Home, her home, her family, her whole life spent at home. Home was for her more than four walls and a bed, it was her people, the most important part of herself. Home was for her beautiful green hills, valleys, dales and pure streams and lakes. Home was for her life. It was nature in its own. Cows, highland cattle, deers, sheeps…that was home.

 

 There was no much light in that room. The sun had just start shining and illuminatin the world. Besides, the window of that room was not a clean window and so, light could hardly find its way in. Nevertheless, she had to prepare the breakfast for the Lady before she woke up. Actually, there was a little hole in one of the pieces of the window, which allowed the entramce of the light to be a bit easier. That ray directly illuminated her face, letting her see well.

 

By that time in the morning she had already gone to the market so she had already shaped the bread, cooked it in the old woodden oven and put it in different baskets. She had a look to the bread and thought it was the best bread she had ever cooked. It was perfect: not too burnt but with that tempting colour and great smell, which invited her to eat a piece. She began pouring the milk into the cup. Inspite of being tired, exausted, she poured the milk in a very careful way, as if it was the most fragile thing in the world. There was no drop of milk spread in the table; her apron was still clean, which she tried to keep that way because she had no other apron.

 

Although she was tired and bored of doing the same day after day, she tried to it the best she could. However, you could notice her sadness in her face. You could see trhough her eyes her resignation.

 

Millions of ideas would drift in her mind. She spent most of the day thinking, missing, dreaming about her home in the country. She would remember the green valleys with the seeps and the cows, the almost blue lakes surrounded by beautiful pink, yellow and white wild flowers, the singing of the birds and the fly of tens of butterflies around the trees and the grass. She remembered the pure white winters, in which almost everything was frozzen and white. Lakes and rivers were as strong as stones, with no flood of water through them. There were not wild colourful flowers at the shore of the lake, neither green grass in the slope of the hill. Those lively butterflies would have hidden in winter time, and birds would not sing as loud and happy as in summer time. She remembered the freezing cold day and nights, especially whenever she had to do any task outside the house.

 

That morning, once again, she would think about all those things, and would pour the milk just wondering herself how green valleys would be or how blue lakes and streams would be back at home. The work seemed to be easier while dreaming about being there again. Her departure was nearer than ever, though she did not know anything about it. She thought she had to spend at least a couple of years more there to be able to go back home.

 

Nevertheless, the mistress of the house did not need her services more. Tanneke had been a very good maid for many years, but was getting old. The mistress needed young maids, full of vitality. So, that same morning, after pouring the milk, putting the bread in the basket and bringing them to her mistress, she was told the great news. She was going back! Going back home! She thought full of happiness. She went downstairs jumping enthusiastically, where she packed her few things in an old bag. Her dream had made true.