Veel Vermeer nieuws op Essential Vermeer blog

De auteur van de website www.essentialvermeer.com, Jonathan Janson, schrijft ook een (engelstalige) blog over Vermeer. De blog is al in 2008 begonnen en heeft een groot aantal interessante berichten over Vermeer, de schilderijen en musea waar het werk hangt.

De naam van deze blog is de "Flying Fox". Deze naam is niet zomaar gekozen. De "Flying Fox" was de naam van een herberg/cafe in Delft.

Bekijk de Vermeer Blog Flying Fox

Appeal for funding Essential Vermeer website

Www.essentialvermeer.com is the most complete English source on the web with information on the work and life of Johannes Vermeer. To continue and maintain this unique content, the author Jonathan Janson asks for funding. Every small contribution is appreciated. Read his own explanation below: (source: www.essentialvermeer.com)

"Hi, I am Jonathan Janson, the author and webmaster of Essential Vermeer.com.

In just 10 years, the Essential Vermeer has grown from a simple one-page list of Vermeer-related websites to the most complete internet website dedicated to an individual artist. It now contains over 5,000 web objects, 500-plus web pages, scores of interactive studies, uncounted links, over 3,000 images and hundreds audio files. The Essential Vermeer now serves as the prime internet reference point for contemporary Vermeer scholars as well as the preferred venue for laymen all over the globe who wish to explore the fascinating complexities of Vermeer’s art. In a single month, the website tallies approximately 50,000 unique visits and 450,000 page views, impressive numbers for a website devoted to an art-historical subject.

But more important than numbers, the Essential Vermeer has become a place where I have done my best to present an organic and objective overview of Vermeer's art, life and times; a place where both Vermeer newcomers and longtime Vermeer enthusiasts can find food for thought and the facts they need. It has become a place where information on all the latest exhibitions, conferences and publications about Vermeer can be comfortably located, any time, day or night. It is a bridge that connects the most recent developments in world-wide Vermeer scholarship to the art enthusiast..

Ten years of communication with the public and art specialists has convinced me that our vision of Vermeer and Dutch painting will be increasingly shaped by what we will read and what we will write about them on the World Wide Web. The internet medium provides extraordinary possibilities for the art history community which has only just begun to be tapped.

This site will continue to grow and offer new ways to explore the complexities of Vermeer's art and the art of his time. And it will continue to be free. Margin for growth is enormous and the more I research, write and increase my internet technology skills, the more new projects come to my mind. To materially implement these new ideas, new tools are required. I need to update my hardware, acquire more flexible software, research material and pay for technical collaboration, hosting costs, communication and travel expenses.

If you would like to make growth possible for Essential Vermeer, please feel free to make a contribution. It will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks for your interest,
Jonathan Janson"

More information

Make a donation to Essential Vermeer

Nieuwe nieuwsbrief Essential Vermeer

De website www.essentialvermeer.com is de meest complete Engelstalige informatiebron over het de schilderijen en het leven van Johannes Vermeer. De auteur is Jonathan Janson, zelf een kunstenaar.

De nieuwste editie is net uit, met veel nieuws en informatie over Vermeer.

Bekijk de Essential Vermeer nieuwsbrief

Bekijk de website Essential Vermeer

Deze unieke website kan niet voortbestaan zonder ondersteuning. Jonathan Janson doet daarom een dringend beroep een een kleine bijdrage van Vermeer liefhebbers. Klik hier voor meer informatie,

De website is in 10 jaar gegroeid met ruim 3000 afbeeldingen, ontelbare links, meer dan 500 pagina;s en bovenal veel actueel nieuws.

Nieuwe presentatie kleuren van Vermeer in Vermeer Centrum

Het Vermeer Centrum Delft aan de Voldersgracht 21 heeft zijn presentatie over de kleuren van Vermeer vernieuwd. In deweekkrant.nl staat een leuk artikel hierover.

Op de eerste etage – waar de bezoeker zich kan verdiepen in de verhalen over de kleuren, het licht en het perspectief – is een vernieuwde presentatie over de kleuren van Vermeer aangebracht.

Kostbare pigmenten
Johannes Vermeer was zijn leven lang afhankelijk van externe geldschieters: zijn rijke schoonmoeder Maria Thins, bij wie hij met zijn gezin inwoonde, en de rijke kunstverzamelaar Pieter van Ruijven die hem steeds geld gaf. Toch gebruikte Vermeer vaker kostbare pigmenten om zijn verf te maken dan zijn collega schilders.

Op de vernieuwde kleurentafel in het Vermeer Centrum is te zien welke kleuren hij zoal gebruikte en waar deze vandaan kwamen.

Ultramarijn blauw
Eén van de duurste pigmenten was het ultramarijnblauw dat een diep blauwe kleur heeft en afkomstig is van lapis lazuli uit Afghanistan. Een ander kostbaar pigment is het loodtingeel. In de tijd van Vermeer werden rood lood en tindioxide verhit om tot dit pigment te komen. Deze kleur geel is bekend van het gele jasje dat hij op verschillende schilderijen heeft geschilderd.

Lees het hele artikel in De Weekkrant

Bron: www.deweekkrant.nl

A Lady and two Gentlemen (1662)

Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum / www.haum.niedersachsen.de

A young woman wearing an elegant red dress is seated in the foreground turned toward the left and looking half-smilingly at the viewer. It is one of the rare instances when Vermeer animates one of his figures with a semblance of expression. She seems to be courted by a fine gentleman, bent over and encouraging the young lady to take a sip from the wine glass that she holds in her hand.

Farther back, another gentleman sits behind a table featuring an exquisitely painted still life of a silver plate, fruit, and white pitcher. The second male figure sits in a pose reminiscent of the Girl Asleep, apparently befuddled by too much wine.

The painting has been overcleaned, the last time in 1900, and the sitting man in the background was overpainted during the eighteenth century, as comes out of the descriptions of 1744 and 1776. The room where the artist placed the composition resembles others frequently used by him. Patterns, windows, and walls reappear with minor changes. In this respect, Vermeer did not show much originality. His mastery resides in the delicacy of the execution, the use of light, and the grouping of his figures.

More information about Vermeers paintings

Source:
www.wga.hu

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher (1662)

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art / www.metmuseum.org

This well-preserved picture of the early to mid-1660s is characteristic of Vermeer's mature style. Notwithstanding his remarkable interest in optical effects, the artist achieved a quiet balance of primary colors and simple shapes through subtle calculation and some revision during the execution of the work.

The composition suits the theme of domestic tranquility, underscored by the basin and pitcher, traditional symbols of purity.

This canvas was the first of thirteen paintings by Vermeer to enter the United States between 1887 and 1919.

More information about Vermeers paintings

Source:
www.metmuseum.org

Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (1662)

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum / www.rijksmuseum.nl

A young woman is reading a letter, around her are a table and chairs. She is illuminated by the light from what is presumably a window. On the wall behind her is a map. The artist has achieved a muted tone with his use of blues and browns.
Vermeer has played here with the light and shadow. While the map and the chair cast a distinct shadow on the wall, the woman does not. It makes her stands out from the background.

In Dutch genre painting a woman reading a letter was usually a reference to love. The map on the wall may refer to a distant lover, but the painting offers no further clues to a hidden meaning. The map, showing Holland and West Friesland appears in an earlier painting by Vermeer of the Soldier and the Laughing Girl. Although the young woman appears to be pregnant, this is not necessarily the case. The fashionable wide jacket she is wearing may make her figure appear fuller than it is.

The woman is surrounded by furniture. The table and chairs define the space around her. Vermeer adjusted the balance in his painting by playing with the areas of light and shadow. X-ray photos show that the map on the wall was originally narrower. To improve the composition Vermeer made it wider. He also altered the woman's jacket. Originally it was a wider, fur-trimmed cloak. Vermeer made the jacket simpler and less wide. The woman's back, dark in shadow, stands out sharply against the light wall behind her. The contour of her back is clear and deliberately depicted, while other lines are more fuzzy, such as the illuminated profile of her face.

More information about Vermeers paintings

Sources:
www.rijksmuseum.nl
www.ibiblio.org

Quentin Buvelot talks about Vermeers View of Delft

On the dutch website www.kunstblog.nl, everyweek a different art expert from a museum tells about a picture that he or she likes specificly. This week Quentin Buvelot, senior curator from the Mauritshuis in The Hague has posted an interesting article on Vermeers painting View on Delft.

Read the whole article

More information on the View of Delft