Rijksmuseum to Stage the Largest Vermeer Exhibition in 2023(rijksmuseum.nl)
rijksmuseum.nl
Rijksmuseum to Stage the Largest Vermeer Exhibition in 2023
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/press/press-releases/rijksmuseum-to-stage-the-largest-vermeer-exhibition-ever
81 コメント
> As you may know, Vermeers are so few and far between that it's entirely possible to see every one (~36) if you're able to travel the world.
As someone has actually done and made a website about:
https://jlord.us/vermeer/about.html
As someone has actually done and made a website about:
https://jlord.us/vermeer/about.html
According to the movie "Tim's Vermeer", at least one Vermeer (The Music Lesson) is in Buckingham palace and not generally accessible to the public. How do you get to see that one?
It is in the Queen's collection but it does go on display. When I was squiring visiting family around the city we decided to do the palace tour and I was pleasantly surprised to turn a corner and see it on display right in front of me. This was only a few months after watching Tim's Vermeer so it was fun having to explain to the people with my why I was so excited to see it on display.
If you plan ahead and time your visit right you too can see it in person.
If you plan ahead and time your visit right you too can see it in person.
>"Tim's Vermeer"
A neat but sorta terrible documentary. The central claim is that Vermeer absolutely must have used a camera lucida because his detail would otherwise be impossible. In particular I remember the 'expert' claiming that a certain smooth gradation was impossible to paint without optical tools. Maybe for a modernist like Hockney, but there are painters with academic training who achieve that kind of work without optical tools.
I'm not saying Vermeer didn't experiment with such tools, but the claims to their criticality in his process are a joke.
A neat but sorta terrible documentary. The central claim is that Vermeer absolutely must have used a camera lucida because his detail would otherwise be impossible. In particular I remember the 'expert' claiming that a certain smooth gradation was impossible to paint without optical tools. Maybe for a modernist like Hockney, but there are painters with academic training who achieve that kind of work without optical tools.
I'm not saying Vermeer didn't experiment with such tools, but the claims to their criticality in his process are a joke.
Deeply entertaining movie though. I feel like whether or not Vermeer actually used the presented methods isn't really even the point. It's a lovely deep dive on one guys obsession with trying to recreate a Vermeer.
According to Wikipedia, it's currently on display at the Queen's Gallery, which is open to the public.
TIL what Michael Fagan was up to.
There's 9 Vermeers just within a few blocks in New York: 4 at the Frick Collection and 5 at the Metropolitan Museum.
Second this! Go see these Vermeers and then decide if you should follow it up with a trip to the 2023 show!
"completeists" -- This reminds me of Big Year [1], i.e. ridiculous.
I've been to a lot of the world's major museums, but I've never been to The Netherlands (or Russia). I really don't get the attraction of a "private viewing." As long as there aren't so many people that someone's always walking in front of me (like at the Uffizi), I'm fine with other tourists there. Once in a great while, someone will say something interesting about it.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
I've been to a lot of the world's major museums, but I've never been to The Netherlands (or Russia). I really don't get the attraction of a "private viewing." As long as there aren't so many people that someone's always walking in front of me (like at the Uffizi), I'm fine with other tourists there. Once in a great while, someone will say something interesting about it.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Having worked with countless museums the opportunity of a private viewing - especially with a knowledgable curator - is never to be passed up.
"a knowledgable curator" - that would change my opinion, too.
I'm talking all that trouble for 1-2 minutes in front of the Vermeer so they could check it off their list. And then they were off.
Reminds me of people who (pre-pandemic) would compete for the most country stamps in their passports. They would never see many of the countries they visited, beyond the airport's passport control facility.
Reminds me of people who (pre-pandemic) would compete for the most country stamps in their passports. They would never see many of the countries they visited, beyond the airport's passport control facility.
My only check-off for "illegally entering a country" was to stop briefly on a sandbar in absolutely nowhere Angola to have a gin and tonic before rowing back across the river to Namibia.
If that was all they were going to do, they could have done it during regular hours...
If you're a basic techie with little appreciation for the fine arts, watch a film called "Tim's Vermeer". It will make you want to go to this exhibition.
Tim's Vermeer was directed and produced by Penn and Teller. While I loved it, I can't shake the feeling the whole thing was a hoax.
This article [0] would seem to agree with that feeling you can't shake; not that it's a "hoax" per se, but that it's bullshit ;)
> So what does it lack? The film implies anyone can make a beautiful work of art with the right application of science. There is no need for mystical ideas like genius.
> But the mysterious genius of Vermeer is exactly what's missing from Tim's Vermeer. It is arrogant to deny the enigmatic nature of Vermeer's art. If this art looks "optical", it can also look abstract. It is an act of seeing nature, not a work of copying it. Whether or not he made use of optical instruments, Vermeer looked at the world with a uniquely penetrating eye. He was able to paint what he saw with a delicate hand. If you can't see the astonishing nature of his talent when you are standing in front of his paintings you should walk away from them – not make a film about how easy they are to replicate.
> Tim's Vermeer is the equivalent of someone hanging a painting-by-numbers version of a masterpiece over the mantelpiece and claiming it's as good as the real thing. At last, an art film for philistines.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2...
> So what does it lack? The film implies anyone can make a beautiful work of art with the right application of science. There is no need for mystical ideas like genius.
> But the mysterious genius of Vermeer is exactly what's missing from Tim's Vermeer. It is arrogant to deny the enigmatic nature of Vermeer's art. If this art looks "optical", it can also look abstract. It is an act of seeing nature, not a work of copying it. Whether or not he made use of optical instruments, Vermeer looked at the world with a uniquely penetrating eye. He was able to paint what he saw with a delicate hand. If you can't see the astonishing nature of his talent when you are standing in front of his paintings you should walk away from them – not make a film about how easy they are to replicate.
> Tim's Vermeer is the equivalent of someone hanging a painting-by-numbers version of a masterpiece over the mantelpiece and claiming it's as good as the real thing. At last, an art film for philistines.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2...
I think the article and this comment misses the point.
As far as "just use the right optical tricks and you can be Vermeer" -- sure, this is bullshit.
As far as showing that an optical method was a real possibility for how Vermeer created his work-- sure! A layman using the tricks was able to get very close, but lacked the artistry himself to put in Vermeer's unique magic in: this establishes that the optical techniques were a plausible way for the works to be created.
As far as "just use the right optical tricks and you can be Vermeer" -- sure, this is bullshit.
As far as showing that an optical method was a real possibility for how Vermeer created his work-- sure! A layman using the tricks was able to get very close, but lacked the artistry himself to put in Vermeer's unique magic in: this establishes that the optical techniques were a plausible way for the works to be created.
I'm a painter, and it was bullshit. Camera lucidas suck and just get in the way and Hockney is a modernist hack of a painter.
"basic techie with little appreciation for the fine arts"
Why would interest in technology negatively correlate with interest in art?
That presumes a very specific correlation between chosen profession and cultural interests.
The document is very fun! But just trying painting will quickly educate a person of the pragmatics. Starting painting is really simple nowdays with IPad, Apple Pen and Procreate. There are tons of resources and courses available - and the problematics in digital art if using traditional art analogues map quite far into oil painting (even though physical medium does have it's specificities).
Why would interest in technology negatively correlate with interest in art?
That presumes a very specific correlation between chosen profession and cultural interests.
The document is very fun! But just trying painting will quickly educate a person of the pragmatics. Starting painting is really simple nowdays with IPad, Apple Pen and Procreate. There are tons of resources and courses available - and the problematics in digital art if using traditional art analogues map quite far into oil painting (even though physical medium does have it's specificities).
> Why would interest in technology negatively correlate with interest in art?
OP didnt write any such thing. I think you're reading too much into his comment.
OP didnt write any such thing. I think you're reading too much into his comment.
Because of the world, I have to wonder are people really this overly sensitive, or just trolls looking to stir trouble?
However, this person seems very confused on what painting is. After their insensitivity accusations, they go on to claim that drawing on a iPad is equivalent to painting. That's like claiming someone plaing a golf game on iPad has insights on the skill of professional golfer.
However, this person seems very confused on what painting is. After their insensitivity accusations, they go on to claim that drawing on a iPad is equivalent to painting. That's like claiming someone plaing a golf game on iPad has insights on the skill of professional golfer.
"Because of the world, I have to wonder are people really this overly sensitive, or just trolls looking to stir trouble?"
Poor sentence building on my part, I get caught up on petty linguistics. No harm intended.
"However, this person seems very confused on what painting is. After their insensitivity accusations, they go on to claim that drawing on a iPad is equivalent to painting. That's like claiming someone plaing a golf game on iPad has insights on the skill of professional golfer."
No, really, modern digital tools are friggin awesome!
What I intended to convey that a person should really try painting once in their life, but they don't need to set up a studio with good lighting, get solvents and paints and brushes and so on.
I say this as a lifelong art enthusiast who loves his pens, charcoals, inks, acrylics and oils. And the IPad Pro with an Apple Pencil fits there actually really, really well. Similar experience can be had on a Wacom tablet and Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Krita or what ever program that takes into account artistic sensibilities in their tooling.
90% of the problematics constructing a painting can be investigated using a digital medium.
Oils bring in the pigments and their interaction with each other and medium, but that's kind of an added layer of complexity on top of the artistically critical elements - shape, color, detail reproduction and so on. Because when you paint, it's not an act of photography, but a process where one needs to decide on lots of these issues.
You can take what ever course or book that teaches oil painting, and apply it on a digital medium quite far.
The key tools are 1. a brush that maps pressure to size 2. a brush that maps pressure to opacity 3. a blend tool to blend the colors. Layers help in keeping things tight. It's really nice if the software attempts to provide realistic blending of colors, but it's not necessary - all of these have been available for decades on digital paint tools.
I totally agree a digital painting lacks the feeling of an actual oil painting, but the problematics are the same. As an example these include shape, tonal mapping from the scene to the canvas, choosing a palette, choosing which details to render and which not.
Poor sentence building on my part, I get caught up on petty linguistics. No harm intended.
"However, this person seems very confused on what painting is. After their insensitivity accusations, they go on to claim that drawing on a iPad is equivalent to painting. That's like claiming someone plaing a golf game on iPad has insights on the skill of professional golfer."
No, really, modern digital tools are friggin awesome!
What I intended to convey that a person should really try painting once in their life, but they don't need to set up a studio with good lighting, get solvents and paints and brushes and so on.
I say this as a lifelong art enthusiast who loves his pens, charcoals, inks, acrylics and oils. And the IPad Pro with an Apple Pencil fits there actually really, really well. Similar experience can be had on a Wacom tablet and Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Krita or what ever program that takes into account artistic sensibilities in their tooling.
90% of the problematics constructing a painting can be investigated using a digital medium.
Oils bring in the pigments and their interaction with each other and medium, but that's kind of an added layer of complexity on top of the artistically critical elements - shape, color, detail reproduction and so on. Because when you paint, it's not an act of photography, but a process where one needs to decide on lots of these issues.
You can take what ever course or book that teaches oil painting, and apply it on a digital medium quite far.
The key tools are 1. a brush that maps pressure to size 2. a brush that maps pressure to opacity 3. a blend tool to blend the colors. Layers help in keeping things tight. It's really nice if the software attempts to provide realistic blending of colors, but it's not necessary - all of these have been available for decades on digital paint tools.
I totally agree a digital painting lacks the feeling of an actual oil painting, but the problematics are the same. As an example these include shape, tonal mapping from the scene to the canvas, choosing a palette, choosing which details to render and which not.
Digital painting is in many ways more convenient and easier than oil, but he's correct in that many of the fundamentals are quite the same.
One also wonders why anyone with little appreciation for fine arts would have clicked on the post at first, but now that it's at the top of page 1 there will definitely be a bunch.
Leave off "basic", which I agree is polarizing / pejorative, and you go from assuming "basic techies" have low arts interest to just the fact of recognizing that n "techies" may have low interest, and then the film nicely connects those worlds. If you've read this far, there's a good chance you'll find at least the trailer interesting.
Leave off "basic", which I agree is polarizing / pejorative, and you go from assuming "basic techies" have low arts interest to just the fact of recognizing that n "techies" may have low interest, and then the film nicely connects those worlds. If you've read this far, there's a good chance you'll find at least the trailer interesting.
Exactly. That's what put Vermeer on my radar. Trailer here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94pCNUu6qFY
Thanks, that sounds really interesting. Really cool (to me!) that it connects Penn&Teller, Amsterdam (where this fantastic museum is), and NewTek which was very well-known back in my Amiga days. So cool!
I appreciate the recommendation, but I don’t appreciate being called “basic”.
Would you rather have unique tastes that make you relatable to no one or would you rather have preferences that put you in a category of people that makes you relatable and approachable?
I've never understood this aversion to "basic" - it feels like vanity to me when people have a desire to be unique just for the sake of standing out. It seems like society would collapse if everyone was truly unique. Maybe you or someone else can correct me if this desire to be different isn't just vanity
I've never understood this aversion to "basic" - it feels like vanity to me when people have a desire to be unique just for the sake of standing out. It seems like society would collapse if everyone was truly unique. Maybe you or someone else can correct me if this desire to be different isn't just vanity
"Basic" means stupid, or at least simple minded. It doesn't refer to common, or normal, which would be the opposite of unique.
Parent is saying "If you are a simpleton, who doesn't understand art, then ...."
Parent is saying "If you are a simpleton, who doesn't understand art, then ...."
That seems like a very uncharitable interpretation, especially since the word itself doesn't mean anything of the sort. Basic means fundamental or rudimentary. I take "basic techie" to mean a person with many of the fundamental things that make up typical techies.
Even the most upvoted urban dictionary definition has the first definition as: "Used to describe someone devoid of defining characteristics that might make a person interesting, extraordinary, or just simply worth devoting time or attention to."
Which says nothing about someones intelligence. Granted the next definition does mention being stupid, I hardly think it's fair to interpret a comment in this context as being hostile in the least.
Even the most upvoted urban dictionary definition has the first definition as: "Used to describe someone devoid of defining characteristics that might make a person interesting, extraordinary, or just simply worth devoting time or attention to."
Which says nothing about someones intelligence. Granted the next definition does mention being stupid, I hardly think it's fair to interpret a comment in this context as being hostile in the least.
Maybe if you were less basic you would understand, and you could join those unique individuals with a grasp on why humans are vain.
Maybe, but alas, I'm basic and wouldn't change it for the world. I value other humans too much to try and distance myself from them. We're social animals, it seems natural and good to embrace that.
If it applies to you, what's the problem?
If it doesn't apply to you, what's the problem?
If it doesn't apply to you, what's the problem?
It is your choice to be offended or not to be offended. If you choose the former, it’s not the OPs responsibility to soothe you.
If you wish to visit this exhibition, try to plan your visit well outside of the tourist season. The exhibition runs from February 10th 2023 to June 4th 2023, so my advice would be to aim for February, March, or early April at the latest.
The Rijksmuseum is situated on a square in Amsterdam alongside the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk and draws a crowd for its special exhibitions and top pieces.
(Edit: Forgot to mention the Stedelijk Museum!)
The Rijksmuseum is situated on a square in Amsterdam alongside the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk and draws a crowd for its special exhibitions and top pieces.
(Edit: Forgot to mention the Stedelijk Museum!)
Go to the RM for the Vermeers, stay for the gigantic-piles-of-fruit-with-a-lobster-in-the-corner paintings.
tinus_hn(2)
And outside of the Covid crisis of course; nobody should be traveling unless absolutely necessary, and nobody should be visiting museums unless fully vaccinated (for their own safety), masked up, and there's a strict visitor limit. I'm not convinced ventilation would be good enough in a museum given they can't open windows.
To assuage some of your concerns, the museum requires an EU COVID certificate and accompanying ID for entry, capacity is reduced, and visitors must wear masks except while dining in the cafe. Your travel fears are off-topic so I'll leave it at that.
To add to that list: I’d bet good money the Rijk’s ventilation and climate control is top notch.
People are of course welcome to make their own risk assessments. And personally I'd hesitate to travel internationally (outside US) at this point given the potential for unexpected policy changes/disruption. But more generally I've certainly started traveling again and don't think people should not in general if they're comfortable doing so.
Make their own risk assessments - to some extent. EU Covid Safe ticket is required, as is wearing a mask.
My comment was in the context of parent's "nobody should be traveling unless absolutely necessary" comment. Obviously different locales have specific requirements especially to access indoor locations.
If you can read French, I recommend reading Daniel Arasse's L'ambition de Vermeer. It's a detailed analysis of most paintings which aims at showing how deeply conceptual the paintings were. Sadly not translated into English.
From a quick web search, it seems that "Vermeer: Faith in painting"[0] is an English translation of this book, and there are at least German and Italian translations as well.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2080511.Vermeer
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2080511.Vermeer
Parens with a year after the title is HN style for “written in this year”, which momentarily threw me.
Anyway, much love to the Rijksmusuem for the amount of CC0 content they have. It’s a staple for covers for my productions for Standard Ebooks.
Anyway, much love to the Rijksmusuem for the amount of CC0 content they have. It’s a staple for covers for my productions for Standard Ebooks.
Hear, hear - I like to pop into Rijkstudio to download images to use for QAing uploads in webapps - but it always seems to take an hour or two to find the right aspect ratio, for some reason...
When do you really ever get the chance? So satisfying. I'm taking the rest of the day off ;)
You woke up and it is 2024! Welcome back.
The Mauritshuis, the regular home of The Girl with a Pearl Earring, is also well worth your while. It's a lot smaller than the Rijksmuseum, so you don't need to set aside as much time, but additionally has The Goldfinch by Fabritius (recommended companion read: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt) and The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt.
Came here to say this. If anyone feels compelled to visit Amsterdam because of the Vermeer exhibit, I certainly hope they make the trip to The Hague which has some amazing museums and far less of the drunk tourists.
If you are curious to see some of their art, I’ve made a website which will show you a random object from their collection per button click: https://randomrijks.com
A fine reason to visit Amsterdam. I'm sure KLM will be telling us all about this soon.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, had a big Vermeer exhibition 25 years ago. It unfortunately overlapped with a government shutdown, which made it inaccessible for some days, until a private foundation came up with the money to reopen it. My recollection is that we visited the exhibition while it was running on donated money, meaning that it was the only part of the National Gallery that was open. But it has been a while.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, had a big Vermeer exhibition 25 years ago. It unfortunately overlapped with a government shutdown, which made it inaccessible for some days, until a private foundation came up with the money to reopen it. My recollection is that we visited the exhibition while it was running on donated money, meaning that it was the only part of the National Gallery that was open. But it has been a while.
I was just thinking of that weekend 25 years ago when a group of us drove down to DC from Boston to see the exhibit only to get there right when they closed the government and locked the doors. Ah well, I have been to the Rijksmuseum to see the Vermeers they have on permanent display and it is well worth the visit even without this planned big exhibit.
I think the exhibition should include the Van Meegerens. The fake Vermeers are famous enough that seeing them alongside real Vermeers would be fascinating.
I can’t hear about the Rijksmuseum without thinking of the presentation Rob Erdmann did at Pycon on how they imaged Rembrandt’s Night Watch:
https://youtu.be/z_hm5oX7ZlE
Incredible work being done there. I’m glad to see they’re continuing to make headlines.
https://youtu.be/z_hm5oX7ZlE
Incredible work being done there. I’m glad to see they’re continuing to make headlines.
If you like Vermeer, you might also appreciate the works of Han van Meegeren (and it's possible that you unwittingly do).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren
A rather big collection of 10 Vermeer paintings was gathered in Gemaldergalerie Alte Meister in Dresden but it was "temporarily" closed due to coronavirus outbreak, and possibly won't reopen.
https://gemaeldegalerie.skd.museum/en/exhibitions/vermeer-jo...
https://gemaeldegalerie.skd.museum/en/exhibitions/vermeer-jo...
Taking in mind that he painted like thirty oils in their entire career, that will deserve a visit if you are near, for sure. The man was the Aardman studio of his age.
Tim's Vermeer is an excellent documentary that looks at the possibility that Vermeer used optical technology to produce his paintings. Pretty convincing documentary, imo.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3089388/
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3089388/
The 2014 documentary The New Rijksmuseum is also worth a watch before you go. Not a ton of Vermeer content but a fascinating look at the beleaguered decade-long gutting and rebuilding of the museum leading to its reopening in 2013.
Be sure to check out the excellent restaurant in the rijksmuseum while you're there.
Right now it's likely also the most COVID-safe restaurant in Amsterdam.
Can you elaborate?
Capacity is heavily reduced in the cafe. There's also a protocol for the servers to deliver your food to an empty table near to you, which you then fetch yourself, so the servers aren't in close contact with the diners. Obviously, you order via QR code and the museum website, and everyone in the place has shown an EU COVID pass and valid ID to get in.
The cafe is also very open and airy, though it is still indoors. I guess swallowing a herring standing outside overlooking a gracht is even safer, so it's fair to say I exaggerated, but it's also easy to find a packed bar in town, and similarly a kebab shop with indoor dining where they don't give a rat's ass about your COVID certificate.
The cafe is also very open and airy, though it is still indoors. I guess swallowing a herring standing outside overlooking a gracht is even safer, so it's fair to say I exaggerated, but it's also easy to find a packed bar in town, and similarly a kebab shop with indoor dining where they don't give a rat's ass about your COVID certificate.
[deleted]
Interestingly Vermeer died penniless and nobody liked his paintings until they were rediscovered in the 19th century.
A common theme in the Netherlands. I always joke that it's better to be an artist in Iran. Culture is a waste of time and artists are just lazy bastards who need to get a real job. A merchant Republic like Venice but it never lost its focus on money for fashion.
A common theme in the Netherlands. I always joke that it's better to be an artist in Iran. Culture is a waste of time and artists are just lazy bastards who need to get a real job. A merchant Republic like Venice but it never lost its focus on money for fashion.
His paintings were more overlooked than “not liked”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer#Legacy:
“Originally, Vermeer's works were largely overlooked by art historians for two centuries after his death. A select number of connoisseurs in the Netherlands did appreciate his work, yet even so, many of his works were attributed to better-known artists such as Metsu or Mieris“
His financial problems also were at least in part because he was unlucky. As an art dealer, he sat on paintings he couldn’t sell because of the Franco-Dutch War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Dutch_War). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer#Wars_and_deat...:
“In a petition to her creditors, his wife later described his death as follows:
...during the ruinous war with France he not only was unable to sell any of his art but also, to his great detriment, was left sitting with the paintings of other masters that he was dealing in. As a result and owing to the great burden of his children having no means of his own, he lapsed into such decay and decadence, which he had so taken to heart that, as if he had fallen into a frenzy, in a day and a half he went from being healthy to being dead.”
(That wife gave him 15 children, 11 of which lived long enough to be baptized, so yes, that might have been an expensive family to run)
“Originally, Vermeer's works were largely overlooked by art historians for two centuries after his death. A select number of connoisseurs in the Netherlands did appreciate his work, yet even so, many of his works were attributed to better-known artists such as Metsu or Mieris“
His financial problems also were at least in part because he was unlucky. As an art dealer, he sat on paintings he couldn’t sell because of the Franco-Dutch War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Dutch_War). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer#Wars_and_deat...:
“In a petition to her creditors, his wife later described his death as follows:
...during the ruinous war with France he not only was unable to sell any of his art but also, to his great detriment, was left sitting with the paintings of other masters that he was dealing in. As a result and owing to the great burden of his children having no means of his own, he lapsed into such decay and decadence, which he had so taken to heart that, as if he had fallen into a frenzy, in a day and a half he went from being healthy to being dead.”
(That wife gave him 15 children, 11 of which lived long enough to be baptized, so yes, that might have been an expensive family to run)
Too much fun making babies leads to money vanishing fast.
With a family of 14 living only from their income as artist he was reasonably paid for the time, probably.
With a family of 14 living only from their income as artist he was reasonably paid for the time, probably.
[deleted]
As you may know, Vermeers are so few and far between that it's entirely possible to see every one (~36) if you're able to travel the world.
So, there exists a subculture of (often) wealthy Vermeer completeists who travel the world doing exactly that.
Every month or so at Kenwood, we would be instructed to come in early to host such collectors who had made arrangements for a private viewing of this Vermeer.
An entourage would roll up around 6-7am to whisk a high-flyer into the room the Vermeer was displayed.
More often than not the individual - who was so determined to see this painting they'd paid English Heritage who knows how much - took a momentary glance and was off again.
I'm talking all that trouble for 1-2 minutes in front of the Vermeer so they could check it off their list. And then they were off.
I'd happily spend the next 8 hours in front of it observing public responses and daydreaming of how to prevent elaborate art thefts (the painting was stolen by the IRA in 1974 and IMHO could certainly be stolen again).