How to See and Hear Vermeer

Many of Johannes Vermeer’s most famous paintings seem almost eerily silent: The Milkmaid pouring cool milk into a jar, The Lacemaker deep in concentration, the Girl with a Pearl Earring looking fetchingly over her shoulder. But in Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure, which runs through September 8, 2013 at the National Gallery, London, we not only see Vermeer—we “hear” him. Through genre pictures of people making music in the home for their own entertainment, Vermeer (and his contemporaries) captured the very sounds of the day in their paintings. Accompanied by musicians playing the music of Vermeer’s time in the galleries with the paintings, Vermeer and Music brings the Dutch master resoundingly to life. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "How to See and Hear Vermeer."

[Image: Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675). The Guitar Player, about 1672. Oil on canvas. 53 x 46.3 cm. On loan from English Heritage, The Iveagh Bequest (Kenwood). © English Heritage.]

[Many thanks to the National Gallery, London, for providing me with the image above and other press materials related to Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure, which runs through September 8, 2013.]

Gabriel Metsu: Close, But No Vermeer

“Why buy a Vermeer when a Metsu is available?” Adriaan E. Waiboer, curator of northern European art at the National Gallery of Ireland, repeats that odd sounding question in the catalog to Gabriel Metsu, 1629-1667, which runs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, through July 24, 2011. That question didn’t sound so odd in the early 19^th century, when Metsu’s reputation stayed strong while Vermeer remained a little-known quantity. In this exhibition of Metsu’s art, the first worldwide since 1966 and the first ever in the United States, Americans get a glimpse of a contemporary and rival of Vermeer, who seems so unique in the public’s imagination. Perhaps you’ll come away, as I did, thinking along the lines of the old carnival barker’s line, “Close, but no cigar.” Yes, Gabriel Metsu’s “Close, but no Vermeer,” but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Gabriel Metsu: Close, But No Vermeer."

[Image: Gabriel Metsu. A Hunter Getting Dressed after Bathing, c. 1654-1656. Oil on panel, unframed: 52.1 x 63 cm (20 1/16 x 24 13/16 in.). Private collection, New York. © IGRAT 2006 LLC.]

[Many thanks to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, for providing me with the image above from, press materials for, and the catalog to Gabriel Metsu, 1629-1667, which runs through July 24, 2011.]