Vermeers Hat Book
Score: 3.5
From 10 Ratings

Vermeers Hat

  • Author : Timothy Brook
  • Publisher : Penguin Canada
  • Release Date : 2013-10-22
  • Genre: Art
  • Pages : 288
  • ISBN 10 : 9780143191001
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In one painting, a military officer in a Dutch sitting room flirts with a laughing girl. In another, a woman at a window weighs pieces of silver. Vermeer’s paintings haunt us with their beauty and mystery—what stories lay behind these stunningly rendered moments? As Timothy Brook shows us, these pictures, which seem so intimate, actually offer a remarkable view of a rapidly expanding world. The dashing officer’s hat is of beaver fur from Canada, while the pieces of silver, mined in Peru, might be used to purchase the Chinese porcelain seen in other Vermeer paintings. Moving outward from Vermeer’s studio, Brook traces the web of trade that was spreading across the globe in the seventeenth century. The wharves of Holland, wrote a French visitor, were “an inventory of the possible.” Vermeer’s Hat shows just how rich this inventory was, and how the urge to acquire such things was refashioning the world more powerfully than we have yet understood.

Vermeer s Hat Book
Score: 3.5
From 12 Ratings

Vermeer s Hat

  • Author : Timothy Brook
  • Publisher : Bloomsbury Press
  • Release Date : 2008
  • Genre: Art
  • Pages : 304
  • ISBN 10 : UOM:39015073976865
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Discusses how the moments captured in the paintings of Johannes Vermeer portray the increasing globalization of the seventeenth century, identifying significant objects and explaining how they document economical, industrial, and societal changes around the world.

Great State Book

Great State

  • Author : Timothy Brook
  • Publisher : Profile Books
  • Release Date : 2019-09-19
  • Genre: History
  • Pages : null
  • ISBN 10 : 9781782833475
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China is one of the oldest states in the world. It achieved its approximate current borders with the Ascendancy of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century, and despite the passing of one Imperial dynasty to the next, it has maintained them for the eight centuries since. Even the European colonial powers at the height of their power could not move past coastal enclaves. Thus, China remained China through the Ming, the Qing, the Republic, the Occupation, and Communism. But, despite the desires of some of the most powerful people in the Great State through the ages, China has never been alone in the world. It has had to contend with invaders from the steppe and the challenges posed by foreign traders and imperialists. Indeed, its rulers for the majority of the last eight centuries have not been Chinese. Timothy Brook examines China's relationship with the world from the Yuan through to the present by following the stories of ordinary and extraordinary people navigating the spaces where China met and meets the world. Bureaucrats, horse traders, spiritual leaders, explorers, pirates, emperors, invaders, migrant workers, traitors, and visionaries: this is a history of China as no one has told it before.

Vermeer s Family Secrets Book

Vermeer s Family Secrets

  • Author : Benjamin Binstock
  • Publisher : Routledge
  • Release Date : 2013-03-07
  • Genre: Art
  • Pages : 428
  • ISBN 10 : 9781136087066
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Johannes Vermeer, one of the greatest Dutch painters and for some the single greatest painter of all, produced a remarkably small corpus of work. In Vermeer's Family Secrets, Benjamin Binstock revolutionizes how we think about Vermeer's work and life. Vermeer, The Sphinx of Delft, is famously a mystery in art: despite the common claim that little is known of his biography, there is actually an abundance of fascinating information about Vermeer’s life that Binstock brings to bear on Vermeer’s art for the first time; he also offers new interpretations of several key documents pertaining to Vermeer that have been misunderstood. Lavishly illustrated with more than 180 black and white images and more than sixty color plates, the book also includes a remarkable color two-page spread that presents the entirety of Vermeer's oeuvre arranged in chronological order in 1/20 scale, demonstrating his gradual formal and conceptual development. No book on Vermeer has ever done this kind of visual comparison of his complete output. Like Poe's purloined letter, Vermeer's secrets are sometimes out in the open where everyone can see them. Benjamin Binstock shows us where to look. Piecing together evidence, the tools of art history, and his own intuitive skills, he gives us for the first time a history of Vermeer's work in light of Vermeer's life. On almost every page of Vermeer's Family Secrets, there is a perception or an adjustment that rethinks what we know about Vermeer, his oeuvre, Dutch painting, and Western Art. Perhaps the most arresting revelation of Vermeer's Family Secrets is the final one: in response to inconsistencies in technique, materials, and artistic level, Binstock posits that several of the paintings accepted as canonical works by Vermeer, are in fact not by Vermeer at all but by his eldest daughter, Maria. How he argues this is one of the book's many pleasures.

Summary of Timothy Brook s Vermeer s Hat Book

Summary of Timothy Brook s Vermeer s Hat

  • Author : Everest Media,
  • Publisher : Everest Media LLC
  • Release Date : 2022-06-30T22:59:00Z
  • Genre: Art
  • Pages : 30
  • ISBN 10 : 9798822541245
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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I was 20 years old when I bought a bicycle in Amsterdam and cycled southwest across the Low Countries on what would be the final leg of a journey that took me from Dubrovnik on the Adriatic to Ben Nevis in Scotland. I was on my second day out when the light began to fade and the drizzle turned the road under my tires slick. #2 The churches of Delft are decorated with paintings of the interiors that date from the seventeenth century, when the town was Protestant and the Catholic religion was being purged. Vermeer was a headman of the artisans’ guild of St. Luke, and he enjoyed a position of honor in the town militia. #3 Vermeer’s paintings are the only way to step into his world. However, none of them remain in Delft. They were sold after he died or carted to auctions elsewhere, and now are dispersed among seventeen different galleries. #4 The story of Delft is similar to that of Shanghai, if we consider the two cities’ histories from a different perspective. Delft was built on land that had once been under the ocean, and it depended on water sluices to drain the bogs on which it rests.

Vermeer s Camera Book
Score: 4
From 3 Ratings

Vermeer s Camera

  • Author : Philip Steadman
  • Publisher : Unknown
  • Release Date : 2002
  • Genre: Camera obscuras
  • Pages : 238
  • ISBN 10 : 0192803026
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Art historians have long speculated on how Vermeer achieved the uncanny mixture of detached precision, compositional repose, and perspective accuracy that have drawn many to describe his work as "photographic." Indeed, many wonder if Vermeer employed a camera obscura, a primitive form of camera, to enhance his realistic effects? In Vermeer's Camera, Philip Steadman traces the development of the camera obscura--first described by Leonaro da Vinci--weighs the arguments that scholars have made for and against Vermeer's use of the camera, and offers a fascinating examination of the paintings themselves and what they alone can tell us of Vermeer's technique. Vermeer left no record of his method and indeed we know almost nothing of the man nor of how he worked. But by a close and illuminating study of the paintings Steadman concludes that Vermeer did use the camera obscura and shows how the inherent defects in this primitive device enabled Vermeer to achieve some remarkable effects--the slight blurring of image, the absence of sharp lines, the peculiar illusion not of closeness but of distance in the domestic scenes. Steadman argues that the use of the camera also explains some previously unexplainable qualities of Vermeer's art, such as the absence of conventional drawing, the pattern of underpainting in areas of pure tone, the pervasive feeling of reticence that suffuses his canvases, and the almost magical sense that Vermeer is painting not objects but light itself. Drawing on a wealth of Vermeer research and displaying an extraordinary sensitivity to the subtleties of the work itself, Philip Steadman offers in Vermeer's Camera a fresh perspective on some of the most enchanting paintings ever created.

Mr Selden s Map of China Book

Mr Selden s Map of China

  • Author : Timothy Brook
  • Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
  • Release Date : 2013-11-12
  • Genre: History
  • Pages : 256
  • ISBN 10 : 9781620401446
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From the author of the award-winning Vermeer's Hat, a historical detective story decoding a long-forgotten link between seventeenth century Europe and China. Timothy Brook's award-winning Vermeer's Hat unfolded the early history of globalization, using Vermeer's paintings to show how objects like beaver hats and porcelain bowls began to circulate around the world. Now he plumbs the mystery of a single artifact that offers new insights into global connections centuries old. In 2009, an extraordinary map of China was discovered in Oxford's Bodleian Library-where it had first been deposited 350 years before, then stowed and forgotten for nearly a century. Neither historians of China nor cartography experts had ever seen anything like it. It was so odd that experts would have declared it a fake-yet records confirmed it had been delivered to Oxford in 1659. The “Selden Map,” as it is known, was a puzzle that needing solving. Brook, a historian of China, set out to explore the riddle. His investigation will lead readers around this elegant, enigmatic work of art, and from the heart of China, via the Southern Ocean, to the court of King James II. In the story of Selden's map, he reveals for us the surprising links between an English scholar and merchants half a world away, and offers novel insights into the power and meaning that a single map can hold. Brook delivers the same anecdote-rich narrative, intriguing characters, and unexpected historical connections that made Vermeer's Hat an instant classic.

Vermeer and His Milieu Book

Vermeer and His Milieu

  • Author : John Michael Montias
  • Publisher : Princeton University Press
  • Release Date : 2018-06-05
  • Genre: Art
  • Pages : 477
  • ISBN 10 : 9780691188591
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This book is not only a fascinating biography of one of the greatest painters of the seventeenth century but also a social history of the colorful extended family to which he belonged and of the town life of the period. It explores a series of distinct worlds: Delft's Small-Cattle Market, where Vermeer's paternal family settled early in the century; the milieu of shady businessmen in Amsterdam that recruited Vermeer's grandfather to counterfeit coins; the artists, military contractors, and Protestant burghers who frequented the inn of Vermeer's father in Delft's Great Market Square; and the quiet, distinguished "Papists Corner" in which Vermeer, after marrying into a high-born Catholic family, retired to practice his art, while retaining ties with wealthy Protestant patrons. The relationship of Vermeer to his principal patron is one of many original discoveries in the book.

The Man Who Made Vermeers Book
Score: 3.5
From 10 Ratings

The Man Who Made Vermeers

  • Author : Jonathan Lopez
  • Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Release Date : 2009
  • Genre: Art forgers
  • Pages : 356
  • ISBN 10 : 9780547247847
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It's a story that made Dutch painter Han van Meegeren famous worldwide when it broke at the end of World War II: A lifetime of disappointment drove him to forge Vermeers, one of which he sold to Hermann Goering in mockery of the Nazis. And it's a story that's been believed ever since. Too bad it isn't true. Jonathan Lopez has drawn on never-before-seen documents from dozens of archives to write a revelatory new biography of the world's most famous forger. Neither unappreciated artist nor antifascist hero, Van Meegeren emerges as an ingenious, dyed-in-the-wool crook--a talented Mr. Ripley armed with a paintbrush. Lopez explores a network of illicit commerce that operated across Europe: Not only was Van Meegeren a key player in that high-stakes game in the 1920s and '30s, landing fakes with famous collectors such as Andrew Mellon, but he and his associates later cashed in on the Nazi occupation. The Man Who Made Vermeers is a long-overdue unvarnishing of Van Meegeren's legend and a deliciously detailed story of deceit in the art world.

Chasing Vermeer Scholastic Gold Book
Score: 3.5
From 77 Ratings

Chasing Vermeer Scholastic Gold

  • Author : Blue Balliett
  • Publisher : Scholastic Inc.
  • Release Date : 2012-12-01
  • Genre: Juvenile Fiction
  • Pages : 249
  • ISBN 10 : 9780545541015
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Chasing Vermeer joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!When a book of unexplainable occurences brings Petra and Calder together, strange things start to happen: Seemingly unrelated events connect; an eccentric old woman seeks their company; an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal, where no one is spared from suspicion. As Petra and Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth, they must draw on their powers of intuition, their problem solving skills, and their knowledge of Vermeer. Can they decipher a crime that has stumped even the FBI?

The Forger s Spell Book
Score: 3.5
From 13 Ratings

The Forger s Spell

  • Author : Edward Dolnick
  • Publisher : Harper Collins
  • Release Date : 2008-06-24
  • Genre: Art
  • Pages : 361
  • ISBN 10 : 9780060825416
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As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. The con man's mark was Hermann Goering, one of the most reviled leaders of Nazi Germany and a fanatic collector of art. It was an almost perfect crime. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. But, as Edward Dolnick reveals, the reason for the forger's success was not his artistic skill. Van Meegeren was a mediocre artist. His true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling both the Nazis and the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life. ARTnews called Dolnick's previous book, the Edgar Award-winning The Rescue Artist, "the best book ever written on art crime." In The Forger's Spell, the stage is bigger, the stakes are higher, and the villains are blacker.

Death by a Thousand Cuts Book
Score: 2.5
From 2 Ratings

Death by a Thousand Cuts

  • Author : Timothy Brook
  • Publisher : Harvard University Press
  • Release Date : 2008-03-15
  • Genre: History
  • Pages : 342
  • ISBN 10 : 0674027736
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In Beijing in 1904, multiple murderer Wang Weiqin became one of the last to suffer the extreme punishment known as lingchi, called by Western observers “death by a thousand cuts.” This is the first book to explore the history, iconography, and legal contexts of Chinese tortures and executions from the 10th century until lingchi’s abolition in 1905.

Vermeer s Secret World Book

Vermeer s Secret World

  • Author : Vincent Etienne
  • Publisher : Prestel Junior
  • Release Date : 2017-08
  • Genre: Painters
  • Pages : 0
  • ISBN 10 : 3791373293
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Now available in a paperback edition, this book for young readers traces the life and work of Johannes Vermeer, one of history's most distinctive and enigmatic painters. Scenes of domestic life and rich color make Johannes Vermeer's art both accessible and irresistible. Designed and written to appeal to young readers, this engaging introduction to the Dutch master encourages children to experience the charm and mystery of Vermeer's work. Large, vibrant reproductions allow a close study of the fascinating details that make Vermeer's paintings so compelling and enable the colors, for which he was so famous, to leap off the page. Recent books and movies have brought Vermeer into the forefront of popular culture, and this lively and informative book introduces the artist to children.

Vermeer Book

Vermeer

  • Author : Anthony Bailey
  • Publisher : Macmillan
  • Release Date : 2002-04
  • Genre: Art
  • Pages : 200
  • ISBN 10 : 0805069305
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Presents a portrait of Vermeer's life and character.

Traces of Vermeer Book

Traces of Vermeer

  • Author : Jane Jelley
  • Publisher : Oxford University Press
  • Release Date : 2017-07-14
  • Genre: Art
  • Pages : 336
  • ISBN 10 : 9780192506900
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Johannes Vermeer's luminous paintings are loved and admired around the world, yet we do not understand how they were made. We see sunlit spaces; the glimmer of satin, silver, and linen; we see the softness of a hand on a lute string or letter. We recognise the distilled impression of a moment of time; and we feel it to be real. We might hope for some answers from the experts, but they are confounded too. Even with the modern technology available, they do not know why there is an absence of any preliminary drawing; why there are shifts in focus; and why his pictures are unusually blurred. Some wonder if he might possibly have used a camera obscura to capture what he saw before him. The few traces Vermeer has left behind tell us little: there are no letters or diaries; and no reports of him at work. Jane Jelley has taken a new path in this detective story. A painter herself, she has worked with the materials of his time: the cochineal insect and lapis lazuli; the sheep bones, soot, earth and rust. She shows us how painters made their pictures layer by layer; she investigates old secrets; and hears travellers' tales. She explores how Vermeer could have used a lens in the creation of his masterpieces. The clues were there all along. After all this time, now we can unlock the studio door, and catch a glimpse of Vermeer inside, painting light.