Vermeer in other works

In the following website [http://www.answers.com/topic/jan-vermeer?cat=entertainment] I have found a list of events to which Vermeer is related to. Besides the publication of Tracy Chevalier The Girl with a Pear Earring and the film of the same name, Vermeer seems to be related to other painters, writers, enterprises or even singers. From the list provided in the webpage I have extracted the lyrics of a song dedicated to Vermeer. It was composed by Bob Walkenhorst, the guitarist and principal songwriter for The Rainmakers. The album is called The Beginner and it was released in 2003. Here it goes:

Jan Vermeer

I wish I could dance like Jan Vermeer
He sold his soul for a bucket of light I hear
And he's drunk in Delpht, painting the town
He likes to see the world a little upside down
And he laughs at me across three hundred years
I wish I could dance like Jan Vermeer

I wish that you loved me like Jan Vermeer
Down at the Riksmuseum you were all in tears
Touched your love with a sable brush
But at the silent auction think I said too much
Put your heart on the block for the highest bidder
Sold to Jan Vermeer

I'm watching you with Jan Vermeer
I got a private eye and a dying ear
Got a camera obscura, a frosted glass
I got chiarascuro out the ass
And you're betting I'm sweating just sitting here
While you're tearing up the tapestry with Jan Vermeer

I wish I was famous like Jan Vermeer
He went from worthless to priceless in less than a year
I been from worthless to priceless and back again
I crack my back on the rack trying to stretch my skin
I think 2300's going to be my year
I'll be framed and hung like Jan Vermeer

References → http://www.answers.com/topic/jan-vermeer?cat=entertainment & http://www.sundancewebservices.net/rm/beginner.html 

Characteristics of Vermeer’s Art

Vermeer was criticized for exaggerating the perspective of his interior settings until eyes accustomed to reality as seen through the camera lens recognized that his perspective was in fact accurate. When the painter is very close to the nearest object in his composition, for example, only 2 feet from it, an object of equal size that is 4 feet from his eye will be depicted, correctly, as half the size of the first. Vermeer arranged his objects to achieve such contrasts. The effect of this practice is to make the voids in a sense tangible. The space is built up along with the objects in a construction of cubic solidity.

It has been suggested that Vermeer used a camera obscura in composing his pictures and that this accounts for both his striking compositions and his peculiarities in handling colors and values. Delft in his time was a center of optical experimentation and lens making, and it would not be surprising if artists there availed themselves of optical devices in their work. However, the unique qualities of Vermeer’s paintings must be attributed to his artistic personality. The figures and objects Vermeer painted belong to their environment in a special way that heightens the impression that what he is depicting is a block of space with all that it contains rather than solids separated by voids. He renounced the contours that in most paintings distinguished between figures and their setting. Instead, the outlines of his objects are insubstantial; they unite the elements of his paintings rather than separate them.

Vermeer’s manner of modeling, too, was exceptional. He built his figures with planes of contrasted values, omitting the graduations of tone that most painters use to model the form. In his mature works he punctuated his subtle patterns of light and shadow with pointillé. 

The figures depicted in the paintings exist in a realm of abstract beauty. The quietness, serenity, order, and immutability of the world of Vermeer’s art provide, for those with a taste for such virtues, intimations of immortality. Perhaps this why this painter has always been felt to be mysterious.

Reference: http://www.answers.com/topic/jan-vermeer?cat=entertainment 

Peter Webber, director of Girl with a Pearl Earing

A love of art brought them together. In Peter Webber’s debut feature film, Girl With A Pearl Earring, a passionate, yet unconsummated love develops between the Seventeenth century Dutch painter Jan Vermeer and a beautiful maid in the service of his household. Founded on a mutual interest in the creative process that lies behind painting, and energised by a deeply personal exchange between artist and sitter, object and observer, the film delves deeply into what it means to look closely and to see.
[...]

Future Movies: What drew you towards the project initially?
Peter Webber: The ear-piercing scene. I had been reading the script thinking this is a nice, polite little period piece that I will never make in a million years and then I read the piercing scene and I suddenly realised that this is not the movie that I thought it was. There was suddenly something rather dark, slightly perverse and obsessive about that scene. It really unlocked something in the film that I hadn’t seen before and changed my mind entirely about what it could be. At that precise moment it turned into something that I wanted to make… so that was it: Perversity!

Having said that, the film is set in a very beautiful world and I love Vermeers’ painting. I wasn’t desperate to make a film about Vermeer from the outset, in a way I was scared about that side of things, but I saw that it was a fascinating tale about power, about sex, about the relationship between money and art and it was all interesting stuff.

FM: Did you have knowledge of 17th Century Holland before you embarked upon the project?
PW: As it happens I did. I had studied history of art at university so I had done my prerequisite study of the 17th century Dutch genre painters; I knew my Rubens from my Rembrandt, I knew my Vermeers and I also knew my Hobberma’s and my Terborchs and all the rest of them so I was adequately prepared. I certainly had the basis, the period wasn’t a mystery. It was great to be able to get back to that, and to be able to say to the producer: “I need to go and look at some paintings”, so he writes the cheque for the air tickets and the hotel. There are worse ways to earn a living.

FM: Did you draw on Vermeer’s work to help create the film’s visual style?
PW: Yeah completely, but we also tried to be aware that not everything should look like a Vermeer, which is why we looked at a bunch of other painters as well. We kept a specifically Vermeer like look for the studio and the attic but the rest of the world is culled from a variety of different Dutch genre painters, some of whom I have just mentioned.

FM: It’s funny because many people have noted the obvious associations with Vermeer, but I think the overall look of the film is more reminiscent of Rembrandt because you’ve used chiaroscuro lighting so heavily.
PW: Yes, that’s true mostly because it’s a very dramatic way to tell a story. You look at Rembrandt and you think that the work could almost be stills from a 17th century film noir, and that’s the sensibility that Eduardo Serra (Cinematographer) and I share. We like darkness and that’s the kind of things European filmmakers do. In America they tend to light from the top down; start with everything being lit and bring it down from there, but in Europe I think we go the other way. There’s a lot of darkness in this film, in fact there was almost too much to begin with. When the first graded prints were produced we realised we had gone a little bit too far, so we pulled it back. If it had been up to me and Eduardo I think we would have left it that way but we had to let the audience in a little bit to see what’s happening.
[...]

FM: What led you to cast Scarlett Johansson in the role of Griet?
PW: She’s amazing! I spoke to 150 girls and she was the most amazing amongst them. I met a lot of good actresses along the way but there was only one who could really do the kind of job that I needed them to do to make the film that I wanted to make. It’s a tricky thing because when we made the film she wasn’t the Scarlett Johansson as she is now; it was “who?” “Oh, the girl in Ghost World”. Now everyone knows who she is and it will be much easier to get Scarlett Johansson movies made in future, as it should be. When you’re casting you look around, you try and cast someone going on your gut instinct, it’s not a precise science and God knows we can all get it wrong on occasion, but we lucked out this time round.

[...]

FM: Do you think that the relationship between Vermeer and Griet is more about companionship than love?
PW: In a way that’s one of the questions that the film is trying to answer: What is love? What different kinds of love are there? Companionship is part of it, but only a small part of it. There’s the recognition that they see the world in the same way, that they see the world through the same eyes; it’s the kind of feeling you get when you meet a kindred spirit. After that comes a swelling obsessive feeling for each other, that is made all the more intense by the fact that it can’t be consummated.

These are only a few extracts of the whole interview with Peter Webber. Should you want to read the complete interview, take a look at this link: http://www.futuremovies.co.uk/filmmaking.asp?ID=63

Were some of the Women in Vermeer’s Paintings Pregnant?

Even though to the modern eye three or perhaps four women in Vermeer’s paintings seem to be pregnant, there is good reason to believe that this was not the case. According to Marieke de Winkel, Dutch costume expert, pregnancy “was not a common subject in art and there are very few depictions of maternity wear. Even in religious paintings such as the Visitation, where depictions of pregnant women is required, the bodies of the Virgin and Saint Elizabeth were usually completely concealed by draperies” De Winkel further argues that “to my knowledge there are no examples of or pregnant women in Dutch portraiture, an interesting fact considering that many women were painted in their first year of marriage, a time when they could have been with child.” Pregnancy was most likely not seen as aesthetically attractive.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. has written that ” Dutch fashions in the mid-seventeenth century seemed to have encourage a bulky silhouette. The impression of the short jacket worn over a thickly padded skirt creates in Vermeer’s painting in particular may create just such an impression.” It is interesting to note that in the 1696 Dissius auction in which 21 paintings by Vermeer were sold, the Woman Holding Balance was described as “A young lady weighing gold, in a box, by J. van der Meer of Delft, extraordinarily artful and vigorously painted.” Since pregnancy was not portrayed in Dutch painting of the 17th c., it seems noteworthy that the catalogue’s author would not have noted such an exceptional fact. Afterwards, no mention of the woman’s pregnancy can be found until 1971 despite the fact that the work can be traced in an unbroken line to this century.

Furthermore, modern scholars generally believe that Vermeer systematically drew upon fellow genre painters of the time such as Gerrit Terborch, Frans van Mieris, Gerard Dou for both his compositions and themes. He did not substantially subvert or even significantly widen established iconographical boundaries but rather seemed completely absorbed in realizing their fullest expressive potential. In this light, it seems doubtful that Vermeer addressed such an unconventional theme such as that of a pregnant woman.

Extracted from http://www.essentialvermeer.com/women’s_faces/vermeer’s_women.html#Pregnant

Did Vermeer Ever Paint his Wife Catharina?

Did Vermeer ever paint his wife Catharina Bolnes? Were his sitters professional models, friends or relatives? Although no evidence survives that would connect any Vermeer’s sitters to known individuals, the artist’s style of living and working habits suggests he may have used his wife, daughters, even a maid to pose for some of his paintings. Gerrit ter Borch, a fellow Dutch artist whose discreet genre interiors probably inspired some of Vermeer’s own compositions, frequently employed members of his own family as models, in particular his step-sister Gesina. Alejandro Vergara, who curated the Vermeer and the Dutch Interior exhibiton (2003, Madrid) feels that “the tenderness with which Ter Borch portrays this woman on numerous occasions indicates his fondness for her.” From a practical point of view, not having to pay models for long hours of posing may have represented a significant economic advantage.

Critics have dedicated only passing comments about the identity of Vermeer’s sitters. Other than the lack of historical evidence, the scarcity of in-depth inquiry in regards may be due to the fact that it is generally believed that Vermeer’s interiors are not biographical statements: that is, they are not portraits. Consequentially, the eventual individual identity of the sitters is of little importance to our understanding of Vermeer’s art since it was irrelevant to Vermeer’s artistic intentions.

In any case, critics have seen Catharina’s likeness in one painting or another. The most frequent candidates are the Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, and Woman Holding a Balance.  She has the same high brow, straight nose and wide-spaced eyes and also appears to be pregnant in two of the pictures. In less than two decades, Catharina is know to have bore Johannes 15 children, a few of which did not survive infancy. However, modern scholarship has not come to agreement to the fact that these, or any other women in Vermeer’s paintings, were portrayed while they were carrying children.  Pregnant women were probably not considered beautiful from a an esthetic point of view and pregnant women in Dutch 17th c. painting occur only rarely. Would Vermeer, who seemed entirely content to work within the established framework of contemporary themes and compositions, have addressed such an unconventional  theme such as that of a pregnant women?

Another candidate is the young woman dressed in the characteristic lemon yellow morning  jacket who looks out directly at the viewer from A Lady Writing. It has been noted that the painting, more than others, “possesses a singularity and mood that points to it being a portrait.”Arthur Wheelock, in the Johannes Vermeer catalogue, wrote: “The problem of identifying the sitter, however, seems insurmountable. The most likely candidate is that she is his wife, Catharina Bolnes, who, having been born in 1631, would have been in her early-to-mid thirties when Vermeer painted the work. While it is difficult to judge the age of models in painting, such an age does seem appropriate for this figure. Little else, however, confirms this hypothesis.”

Extracted from http://www.essentialvermeer.com/women’s_faces/catharina.html 

Inspiration and characteristics of The Girl with a Wine glass

It is a well known fact that Vermeer was not a particularly innovative artist and drew compositioal and thematic contents directly from his fellow painters. In particular, the painting which seems to have inspired The Girl with a WIne glass is Peter de Hoogh’s Woman Drinking with Soldiers (1658). De Hoogh was the first artist to set such a theme in a well-defined three-dimensional space illuminated by a bright coherent lighting system. In a certain sense, for the first time, De Hoogh had made the description of space as important as the figures themselves. Many critics assert that Vermeer went one step further and made space and light the true subjects of his canvases.

Another thing to point out is the presence of the theme of courtship in Vermeer’s paintings. A great many paintings of courtship refer to the difficulty of resisting the tempations of the flesh and the dangers of giving into passions, particularly under the influence of wine and tabacco. In the mid-17th century, artists created words with such content which undoubtedly influenced Vermeer. Wine, which had to be imparted, was far more costly than locally produced Dutch beer and was therefore a sign of social refinement. De Lairesse’s manore a ual for painters illustrates how the artist might indicate the social status of his sitter by the way in which they hold their glasses. The gesture of the girl holding the glass in The Girl with a Wine glass seems the most refined of all.

Reference – http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_wine_glass.html#

Who posed for The Girl with a Wine glass painting?

Not a single sitter in Vermeer’s painting has ever been identified. The most obvious candidate would be Janet Vogel whose coat of arms stands out on the opened window. However, documents show that she had died eight years before Vermeer was ever born. Another candidate might be Maria de Knuijt, the wife of Vermeer’s wealthy Delft patron, Pieter van Ruijven, since it is extremely likely that this painting was part of their family collection. We know that in Maria’s will she bequeathed to Vermeer 500 florins. This sum was comparable to the cost of from one to three expensive cabinet pictures. Such a bequest, made to a painter, who was not a family member, to be possibly unique. It thus counts as a gesture of special esteem and commitment to the painter’s well-being. Maria de Knuijt might have been acting on behalf of her husband, but she evidently had brought the far greater share of money to the marriage, and her taste must have been taken into account. As a supporter of the Orthodox wing of the Reformed church, De Knuijt might have found particularly appealing the chaste dignity that informs Vermeer’s interpretations of femininity.

Reference – http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_wine_glass.html#

Considering light on Vermeer’s paintings

After having watched the film The Girl with a Pear Earring I have noticed that many of Vermeer’s paintings are composed in a similar way, in the sense that they are set in a room with only one window that provides light to the place. Some examples are The Girl with a wine glass, A Maid Asleep, A Girl Reading a letter by an open window, Officer and Laughing Girl or The Milk Maid among others. All of them seem to be placed in the same room. They all have a window on the left of the picture, sometimes half-opened, other times closed. This window is the source of light for the picture. The light is strategically placed in the sense that it is directed to the main figures in the painting. Analysing the picture I have chosen, The Girl with a Wine Glass, the light draws parallel lines that start in the window and open up across the picture until the opposite side. The two diagonal lines of light enclose inside the two main figures, the girl holding the wine glass and the patron. The person by the window is regarded to a secondary position with nearly no light.

Similarities in Vermeer’s paintings

After having watched the documentary on Vermeer’s paintings and the film The Girl with a Pearl Earring, I have noticed that many of this author’s paintings are set in almost the same enclosures: a room that in some cases has a painting in the rear wall and that in all the cases has a window on the left. Something remarkable of the painting I have chosen – The Girl with a Wine Glass - is the stained-glass window since it appears also in another painting, The Glass of Wine. The female figure is holding a level and a bridle and it is supposed to personify Temperantia, or Temperance if you want to call it another way. The level symbolizes good deeds and the bridle symbolizes emotional control. Thus, it is very probable that, together with the staid portrait on the rear wall, it provided some sort of admonitory comments to the protagonists’ lack of self restraint.

Another thing to point out in this painting is the male figure at the bottom of the room. It is one of the very few openly negative figures in the artist’s work. The young man’s degected posture and shadowy treatment have lead critics to believe that may either be a victim of love or simply drunk. This mood and pose are reminiscent of those of the girl in another Vermeer’s paintings – A Maid Asleep.

 

** Some extracts of this article have been taken from the following webpage: http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_wine_glass.html#

First approach to ESP

This is my first contact with the ESP (digital) class. As the teacher told us to do, we had to choose a painting from the famous painter Vermeer with which we are going to work during the four months that the subject lasts.  This painting is going to be our tool, our main reference and the source from which we are going to extract poems or literary connected documents.

Hopefully, an as Claire has told us, at the end of the course we will publish a book where all the work done in these four months would be compiled.

When I was at school, in the last year of Bachillerato, I was enrolled in History of Art, so I covered some Vermeer’s paintings. This subject is a challenge for me because I have already dealt with this painter, but I have never been in contact with the literary works connected with his wide art collection.