Greetings! Thanks for stopping by Sunday ink, where we are joining Art Giraffe once more for a journey into the great paintings of history. This week is a very special piece, Johannes (Jan) Vermeeer’s Allegory of Painting. Vermeer was one of the masters of the Dutch Golden Age, and you might have heard his name in connection with his painting Scarlett Johansson With A Pearl Earring.
This piece is beautifully representational of Vermeer’s work as a whole. It features his favourite setting (his studio), his favourite colours (warm gold and cool blue), and his favourite subject matter (some girl). I suppose I enjoy spotting these throughout his works, but as an artist the Allegory of Painting has particular resonance for me.
One interesting point to consider about Vermeer. He was an accomplished and successful painter, and yet only 34 works have been conclusively attributed to him. Compare that say, to Rembrandt, a fellow Dutch master only a generation earlier whose attributed paintings alone are somewhere around the 600 mark, depending on who you ask. In a sense, I guess this makes each of Vermeer’s paintings today even more remarkable.
Oh, and for hilarious fun times, why not read this article about the history of the painting. I like the bit about some other guy’s signature being added a couple of hundred years later.
Any comments and suggestions for Art Giraffe are always welcome!
Pip pip!
“Scarlett Johansson With A Pearl Earring”? I definitely would like to see that painting!
Ha! How did he manage it 300+ years before she was born?
As an artist he sure had an eye for beautiful women. Even for those to come.