When Seraphic Secret is not re-reading Jane Austen, we are leafing through reproductions of paintings by Johannes Vermeer and wondering just how much of our Apple stock we would have to sell to purchase one of the Dutch master’s luminous paintings.
More than we own.
More than Steve Jobs controls.
I think it’s a fair bet to say that Vermeer’s paintings are beyond the marketplace; they are, like the Mona Lisa, priceless.
So here’s the next best thing. Why not paint your own Vermeer?
Who would have not wanted to look over Johannes Vermeer’s shoulder while he was painting? Which materials and techniques did he use to create his masterpieces? Is it possible to emulate those methods today? HOW TO PAINT YOUR OWN VERMEER is a straightforward, practical guide on how to reproduce Vermeer’s painting procedures for today’s practicing painter. In the first section, each passage of Vermeer’s method is thoroughly explained and framed in its historical context so that the reader may not only grasp the correct materials and procedures but comprehend the rationale behind established artistic and technical concepts of Dutch 17th-century painting. Grounding, underpainting, working-up, glazing, mediums, palette, brushes and mediums are just a few of the topics explored. The second section contains valuable insights into the crucial stylistic components which make a Vermeer a Vermeer, such as color, composition and perspective.
For more information and to order the book, please click here.
Here’s a fine website, called, natch: Essential Vermeer. A bottomless source for all things Vermeer.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
10 Comments
would have not wanted to look over Johannes Vermeer’s shoulder while he was painting? Which materials and techniques did he use to create his masterpieces? Is it possible to emulate those methods today?
Of course. This is weell known. There was somebody in the Zetherlands who forged Vermeers and sold them Goebbels. After the war he was accused of collaborating with the Nazis by seelling them old paintings. He sid he had not, but they were not ready to believe him until he painted another Vermeer. This is a very famous story. I read it years ago.
There is mention of this also on the Internet in a review of a recent book which went over the story again.
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article1221430.ece
>> HOW TO PAINT YOUR OWN VERMEER is a straightforward, practical guide on how to reproduce Vermeer’s painting procedures for today’s practicing painter <
The book was written because Han van Meegeren is known to have done this.
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I liked the movie about Vermeer, and I’ll bet you did too, though you won’t admit it. The hedonistic fixation on color and hue that saturated the movie was, for me, a very sensual experience. And a platonic, or at least unconsumated relationship in a Hollywood movie is noteworthy too.
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Sol:
I’m all for it.
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Why not have chase scenes in movies about artists? They might be of the run-around-the-bedroom sort, or murderous battlefields, or runaway carraiges. One depicts not just the artist but the events of the era that inspired his work.
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Sol:
There was a movie made about Vermeer, and gee willikers it was a lot like watching paint dry. Movies about artists are generally not great movie fare. No great chase scenes, just lots of shots of a self-absorbed guy being, y’know, artistic. Not exactly “The Seven Samurai.”
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Katherine:
It is worth it. All the Vermeers in NY in one day — what a treat.
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“Schmeer with Vermeer”? I’ll wait until the DVD is out. A movie about Velasquez, now, that would be interesting – he painted most of the royalty in Western Europe. Raphael had quite an active life. But nothing beats Goya’s story, I think – or at least what myth-makers can do with it. If they make it even half as good as his life, it should be the movie of the summer – after FF2 and Spiderman 3, that is.
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Just talking today about visiting NYC — the chance to visit two museums with Vermeers in one visit makes it ALMOST worth putting up with travel these days.
And, Pearl, I couldn’t stop laughing about your “Schmeer with Vermeer” book. Perhaps it could include nearby deli’s that offer suitable nosherei?
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Pearl:
Now that is funny
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I think I’ll rename that book: “Schmeer like Vermeer”!
[Yiddish shmir, smear, smudge, from shmirn, to smear, grease, from Middle High German smiren, from Old High German smirwen.]
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