Jan Vermeer of Delft
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JAN VERMEER OF DELFT [AIN ' WITH RE PROD C KNOWN PAIN 1 THE won: T3J3CI 30 H33M337 VIAL HO ,OOl 33TAW A HTIW UAMOW OKUOY A TVT3M38A0 A 0V1IV1330 VIA MOW OVIUOY A aaoY w3 V: ,mA io MuaeuM v*atuo<k>*thM JAN VERMEER OF DELFT A YOUNG WOMAN WITH A WATER JUG, OR A YOUNG WOMAN OPENING A CASEMENT Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York JAN VERMEER OF DELFT BY PHILIP L. HALE WITH REPRODUCTIONS OF ALL OF VERMEER’S KNOWN PAINTINGS AND EXAMPLES OF THE WORK OF CERTAIN OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1913 By Small, Maynard and Company (incorporated) THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. PREFACE HIS book is written to make the name and the T work of Jan Vermeer of Delft better known to Americans. Although he is now well known to artists and connoisseurs he still remains quite unheeded by very many intelligent and cultivated people. It is to overcome, if possible, this neglect, to bring the man and his work home to people, and to tell so far as may be the curious story of this artist’s disappearance and of his later reappear- ance that the following pages are written. Since there is but little to tell of Vermeer’s life a good deal of this book is given to a study of his artistic qualities and so far as may be of his tech- nical processes. His particular qualities — his design, his study of edges, his intuition for colour values, his pecu- liar and very personal system of colour arrange- ment — are very characteristic and have not perhaps been overmuch dwelt on by previous writers. Anyone who writes of the life and times of Vermeer is of necessity under great obligation to vi PREFACE half a dozen or more men whose researches have cleared up much of the mystery concerning him. The investigations of Biirger-Thore, of Ha- vard and of Obreen; and the later discoveries and corrections of Dr. Bredius, Dr. Martin and Dr. Hofstede de Groot are of the greatest im- portance. Due acknowledgment is hereby made to all of these gentlemen for the assistance which they, quite unconsciously, have afforded the writer of this book. Grateful acknowledg- ment is also made for the kind assistance and advice given for certain details by Dr. VV. R. Valentiner and by Dr. Philip Gentner. P. L. H. CONTENTS Chapter Pace I The Art of Jan Vermeer 3 II Holland in Vermeer’s Day 35 III Vermeer and His Times 53 IV Characteristics of Vermeer’s Technique 99 V Values in Vermeer’s Painting . 143 VI Composition and Design 161 VII Old Masters 193 VIII Vermeer and Modern Painting . 215 IX Vermeer’s Pictures 237 Bibliography 377 Index 385 6 ILLUSTRATIONS A Young Woman with a Water Jug, or a Young Woman Opening a Casement. Jan Vermeer of Delft Frontispiece Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Facing page A Lady Reading a Letter, and a Maid-servant. Gabriel Metzu. (Attributed by Lord Ronald Gower to Jan Vermeer of Delft) 8 Collection of the late Alfred Beit, London The Soldier and the Laughing Girl. Jan Vermeer of Delft 1 Collection of Henry C. Frick, New York The Lace Maker. Jan Vermeer of Delft 24 Museum of the Louvre, Paris Woman Weighing Pearls or Gold. Jan Vermeer of Delft 30 Collection of P. A. B. Widener, Philadelphia Dutch Room. Artist unknown. ( Wrongly attributed to Jan Vermeer of Delft; possibly by Pieter de Hooch) . 40 Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin A Street in Delft. Jan Vermeer of Delft 54 Collection of J. Six, Amsterdam A View of Delft from the Rotterdam Canal. Jan Vermeer of Delft 58 Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague The Lesson. Artist unknown. (Formerly attributed to Jan Vermeer of Delft; probably by Michiel Sweerts) . 66 National Gallery, London The Goldfinch. Karel Fabritius 72 Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague 2 X ILLUSTRATIONS Facing page Portrait of a Woman. Jan Vermeer of Delft .... 82 Museum of Fine Arts, Buda-Pesth Interior, with Woman and Boy. Pieter de Hooch . 88 Wallace Collection, London Portrait of a Young Man. Jan Vermeer of Delft. (Au- thenticity not established) 92 Museum of Brussels The Procuress, or The Courtesan. Jan Vermeer of Delft 100 The Picture Gallery, Dresden Christ in the House of Mary and Martha. Jan Vermeer of Delft 1 1 Collection of W. A. Coats, Skelmorlie Castle, Scotland Lady with a Lute. Jan Vermeer of Delft 124 Collection of Mrs. Henry E. Huntingdon, New York Diana at Her Toilet. Jan Vermeer of Delft. {Authen- ticity not fully established) 132 Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague The Girl with the Wine Glass. Jan Vermeer of Delft 136 Picture Gallery, Brunswick A Girl at the Spinet. Jan Vermeer of Delft 144 Collection of the late Alfred Beit, London The Love Letter. Jan Vermeer of Delft 156 Rijks Museum, Amsterdam The Concert. Jan Vermeer of Delft 162 Collection of Mrs. John L. Gardner, Boston The Sick Child. Gabriel Metzu 168 In the possession of F. Kleinberger, Paris A Girl Asleep. Jan Vermeer of Delft 174 Collection of the late B. Altman The Love Letter. Jan Vermeer of Delft 182 Collection of the late Alfred Beit, London A Maid-servant Pouring Out Milk, or The Milk- Woman. Jan Vermeer of Delft 188 Rijks Museum, Amsterdam ILLUSTRATIONS xi Facing page The Concert. Gerard Terburg 196 Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin Allegory of the New Testament. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 204 Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague; lent by Dr. A. Bredius A Lady and a Maid-servant. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 210 Collection of James Simon, Berlin A Young Lady with a Pearl Necklace. Jan Vermeer of Delft 220 Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin The Sleeping Servant. Artist unknown. ( Formerly attributed to Jan Vermeer of Delft by Burger-Thore) . 228 Collection of P. A. B. Widener, Philadelphia Portrait of a Young Girl. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 232 Arenberg Gallery, Brussels Lady Writing. Jan Vermeer of Delft 240 Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan; lent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York A Gentleman and a Young Lady, sometimes called The Music Lesson. Jan Vermeer of Delft .... 252 Collection of Henry C. Frick, New York A Young Girl with a Flute. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 264 In the possession of M. Knoedler and Company, New York, London and Paris A Lady Playing the Guitar. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 268 Collection of John G. Johnson, Philadelphia A Young Lady at the Virginals. Jan Vermeer of Delft 272 National Gallery, London Lady at the Virginals and a Gentleman. Jan Ver- meer of Delft 278 Royal Collection, Windsor Castle A Girl Reading a Letter. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 284 Rijks Museum, Amsterdam Portrait of a Young Girl. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 296 Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague xii ILLUSTRATIONS Facing page A Girl Drinking with a Gentleman. Jan Vermeer of Delft 310 Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin Study of a Head. Jan Vermeer of Delft. ( Authenticity contested) 316 Royal Print Collection, Berlin A Girl Reading a Letter. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 324 Picture Gallery, Dresden The Astronomer. Jan Vermeer of Delft 328 Stadel’sches Kunstinstitut, Frankfort-on-Main The Astronomer. Jan Vermeer of Delft. (Authenticity contested) 334 Collection of the Vicomte du Bus de Gisignies, Brussels Artist at Work, or The Studio. Jan Vermeer of Delft . 344 Collection of Count Czernin von Chudenitz, Vienna A Young Lady Seated at the Spinet. Jan Vermeer of Delft 354 National Gallery, London Family in the Courtyard of a House. Pieter de Hooch 364 Academie der Bildenden Kiinste, Vienna The Astronomer. Jan Vermeer of Delft 372 Collection of the late Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, Paris THE ART OF JAN VERMEER JAN VERMEER OF DELFT CHAPTER I THE ART OF JAN VERMEER E find the best men by a process of elimi- W nation. At the outset it may seem strange to call Vermeer the greatest painter who has ever lived. Yet if one looks at painting from the realistic standpoint one of necessity arrives at something like this idea. One may readily con- ceive that Titian and Giorgione were more se- ductive artistic personalities; that Da Vinci was more subtle, Raphael a greater draughtsman. But when it comes to sheer downright painting it would seem that Vermeer was in most respects the leader of all. Indeed, it might almost be said that from our ultra-modern point of view, till Vermeer painted no one had tried to paint at all. Of course there were giants like Velasquez, Rubens and Rembrandt who did very wonderful things. But none of these conceived of arriving 3 JAN VERMEER OF DELFT at tone by an exquisitely just relation of colour values, and it is this idea that lies at the root of all really good modern painting. It is true that Vermeer himself seems to have tried to come at a certain tonality by underpaint- ing in blue. Still, compared to any other old master, his sense of colour values, the relations of various tints and hues one with another, seems to have been exquisitely acute. This and the man- ner in which he studied the “edges” of objects — a subject which is discussed in another chap- ter — are the two chief qualities which lead to his preeminence as a painter. They may not seem to the lay mind very important qualities. But it is not claimed that Vermeer is an impor- tant painter from the layman’s point of view. Rather it is asserted that to other painters Ver- meer seems very great, perhaps the greatest painter per se who has lived.