Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry Details
Review “[An] impressive catalogue . . . [that] brings welcome and enduring order to a phenomenon in Dutch painting that occurred between about 1650 and 1675: a flourishing of paintings of indoor activities, rendered with extraordinary attention to light effects, color, and texture. . . . Highly recommended.”—A. Golahny, Choice“Informative and illuminating . . . learned but readable, and mercifully free of academic jargon.”—Paul A. Cantor, Weekly Standard“An extraordinary exhibition . . . [An] excellent catalog . . . Works are discussed and illustrated in clusters . . . and the general fact of influence is as fascinating as it is indisputable.”—Joseph Leo Koerner, New York Review of Books Read more Book Description This thought-provoking book provides insight into how Johannes Vermeer and his contemporaries admired, inspired, and rivalled one another. Read more See all Editorial Reviews
Reviews
I buy exhibition catalogs for the beautiful reproductions, and, for some reason, the National Gallery just doesn't produce top-quality catalogs. A truly beautiful catalog would contain full-page reproductions and full-page details, but the National Gallery's catalogs just aren't that sumptuous. There are plenty of reproductions, but none cover the entire page, and the effect is not very satisfying. After comparing this catalog and the French edition, I bought the French catalog, even though I don't speak French: It's 130 pages longer, contains lots of beautiful full-page reproductions and details, and retails for 38 Euros -- a real bargain. The French catalog is titled Vermeer et les maitres de la peinture de genre, and it's available from Amazon. Of course, the essays are different, and they're in French, but if you want beautiful reproductions, the French edition is the way to go.