Vermeer's family secrets : genius, discovery, and the unknown apprentice
"The seventeenth-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, best known today for his Girl with a Pearl Earring, has famously been seen as an enigma since his "discovery" as an unknown genius around 1860. In Vermeer's Family Secrets, Benjamin Binstock offers crucial solutions to the riddle of the "Sphinx of Delft."" "This book provides the first systematic account of Vermeer's family members as models, carefully follows his gradual artistic evolution, responses to predecessors such as Rembrandt and Carel Fabritius, and exchanges with his peers, and re-interprets crucial documents concerning Vermeer. Lavishly illustrated with over 180 black and white images and more than sixty color plates, the book also includes a remarkable two-page color spread that presents the entirety of Vermeer's oeuvre arranged in chronological order and relative scale for visual comparison. Through word and image, Binstock advances a new understanding of Vermeer's art in light of his life and his singular vision."--Jacket
Print Book, English, 2009
Routledge, New York, 2009