1.
Essential Vermeer website article
Mechelen: 1625 to 1885
curated by Jonathan Janson with the collaboration of Peter Jochems
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/delft/delft_today/mechelen.html
Created by Timothy De Paepe
In 1641, the young Vermeer and his family moved into a large building on the corner of Market Place and Old Men's Ally in Delft called Mechelen. Here his father would conduct his business as an innkeeper, art dealer and caffa worker, and, perhaps, Vermeer made his first paintings. Little is know about the building except that it had four fireplaces and was demolished in 1885. In mainstream Vermeer-related literature Mechelen has been traditionally illustrated with a print of the Market Place published in c. 1730 by Leonard Schenk.
However, only a few of today's Vermeer devotees are aware that a number of images of Mechelen have survived.
This brand-new, richly illustrated EV article traces the life of the building from 1625, when the first known effigy was made, to 1885, when plans were drawn up to widen the narrow Old Men's Ally by demolishing the historic building.
The article features an in-depth analysis of rarely considered period engravings, lithographs, maps, diagrams and pre-1885 photographs. Moreover, two 3-D virtual reconstructions help us to picture what Mechelen may have looked like in 1625 and in its final days. In-depth research was done in collaboration with the painter and Vermeer lover Peter Jochems. 3-D reconstructions by Timothy De Paepe, curator of the Museum Vleeshuis.
2.
The Frick Collection Relocates
from the Frick Collection website:
The Frick Collection announced a two-year installation plan for the Frick Madison, the institution’s temporary home while its historic buildings at 1 East 70th Street undergo renovation. Anticipated to open in early 2021 and remain operating for the duration of construction, Frick Madison will occupy the Marcel Breuer–designed building on Madison Avenue, formerly home to the Whitney Museum of American Art and most recently The Met Breuer.
For the first time, audiences will be able to enjoy a substantial gathering of highlights from the collection outside the domestic setting of the Frick’s Gilded Age mansion, only five blocks away. In a departure from the Frick’s customary presentation style, works will be organized chronologically and by region. The exhibition will feature treasured paintings and sculptures by Bellini, Clodion, Gainsborough, Goya, Holbein, Houdon, Ingres, Piero della Francesca, Rembrandt, Titian, Turner, Velázquez, Vermeer, Whistler, and many others, alongside impressive holdings in the decorative arts.
The three Vermeer paintings of the Frick—Officer and Laughing Girl, Girl Interrupted in her Music and Mistress and Maid—will be hung side by side, a rare event.
The installation is organized by the Frick’s curatorial team, led by Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, with Curator Aimee Ng, guest curator Giulio Dalvit, and former Curator of Decorative Arts Charlotte Vignon, now director of the Musée National de Céramique in Sèvres.
3.
Frick curator Aimee Ng pulls back the curtain on Vermeer's Mistress and Maid in video
Cocktails with a Curator: Vermeer's Mistress and Maid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJx8C8AsjQo
In an initiative intended to bring the public closer to its unique collection, the Frick is "concocting the perfect mix of cocktails and art." Every Friday at 5:00 p.m. The Frick invites the public for happy hour (remotely) while a museum insider offers insights on a work of art with a complementary cocktail (sorry, the Frick will provide the happiness but you have to mix you own beverage).
The video features Vermeer's luxurious Mistress and Maid, in which Curator Aimee Ng skillfully pulls back the curtain on hidden details in the painting, the largest of the Frick’s three Vermeers. Take a closer look at the rumpled tablecloth, the lady’s wispy curls, and the dark background to understand how this mysterious work has changed since Vermeer applied paint to canvas in the mid-17th century.
Youtube Cocktails with a Curator playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNVeJpU2DHHR_0y_Zvgn3MgZQQFcFx2eI
suggested cocktail:
Genever Brulée: 2 oz. genever, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, few dashes of classic bitters, dash of orange bitters, a splash of sparkling water, garnished with a caramelized orange slice.
suggested image:
In order to get the most out of the talk you might wish to pull up a good image of the Mistress and Maid and set it side by side on your monitor as the video plays. The largest image is at the Google Art Project:
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/mistress-and-maid-johannes-vermeer/xwFyx_AQGT2Y-w?hl=en\
But the colors are far superior on the Frick website, although it is a bit more tricky to maneuver the painting in the zoom box.
https://collections.frick.org/objects/274/mistress-and-maid
4.
The Frick Collection upgrades web presence and adds a new page on Vermeer.
Johannes Vermeer
https://www.frick.org/art/artists/vermeer
The Frick Collection website recently upped their digital presence with an elegant, user-friendly web study dedicated exclusively to their three paintings by Vermeer: Officer and Laughing Girl, Girl Interrupted in her Music and Mistress and Maid. their three Vermeers. The page offers access to the paintings, articles, podcasts and a few videos, as well links to as the Frick's rich collection of Photoarchive images, scanned books and archival documents.
5.
Upcoming Mauritshuis exhibition tailored to children:
Hello Vermeer!
Mauritshuis, The Hague
10 July–05 September, 2021
from the Mauritshuis website:
From 10 July 2021, the hands-on family exhibition Hello Vermeer! can be enjoyed at the Mauritshuis. Families with children aged 3 to 11 can get to know Vermeer via various activities in the museum. During the summer of 2019, families got to know Rembrandt in the hands-on family exhibition Hello Rembrandt! Now children can follow in the footsteps of another great Dutch master: Johannes Vermeer.
Together, families will learn more about Vermeer. What paint did he use in his pictures? How did he play with light? How do his paintings continue to inspire people around the world? Various fun activities and creative workshops will enable children to really get to know this seventeenth-century artist. Entry is free to visitors aged 18 or under.
6
Mauritshuis: First Gigapixel museum of the world
https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/press/persarchief/2020/mauritshuis-eerste-gigapixelmuseum-ter-wereld/
While some museums are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a few institutions have opened digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.
As the result of a long collaboration between the Mauritshuis and the company Madpixel, the museum in The Hague is the first in the world to be fully digitized in gigapixel format–meaning that its virtual tour, which can be accessed via its website or on Madpixel’s Second Canvas app, is viewable in greater resolution than any other. The brushstrokes and craquelure of the museum’s masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt and others can now be experienced from afar as never before– while the 360-degree format means that the same can be said of the interior in which they are housed.
7.
Rijksmuseum releases video on Vermeer
We Love Vermeer
Pieter Roelofs, Head of Paintings and Sculpture at the Rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum has released a short video in which Pieter Roelofs, Head of Paintings and Sculpture, explains why Vermeer was virtually unknown until the mid-19th century while today he is one of the most renowned artists in the world.
6.
New film about Vermeer forger, Han van Meegeren
The Last Vermeer
director: Dan Friedkin
writers: Jonathan Lopez (based on the book The Man Who Made Vermeers)
stars: Guy Pearce, Claes Bang, Vicky Krieps
The Last Vermeer (originally titled Lyrebird) is an American drama film directed by Dan Friedkin from a screenplay by John Orloff, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby. It is based on the 2008 book The Man Who Made Vermeers by Jonathan Lopez, and tells the story of Han van Meegeren (played by Guy Pearce), an art forger who forged Vermeer paintings and swindled millions of dollars from the Nazis, alongside Dutch Resistance fighter Joseph Piller (Claes Bang).
The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2019, and is scheduled to be theatrically released on November 20, 2020, by Tristar Pictures.
6.
2020 Reminders: Essential Vermeer website additions
- Vermeer's Studio
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/technique/vermeer's-studio.html
Vermeer's studio, drawn from three drawings of Philip Steadman, Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces (2002) courtesy of Philip Steadman. - Vermeer's Maps
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/maps/vermeers-maps.html
- Historical Maps of Delft (expanded)
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/maps/delft/maps_of_delft.html
Map of Delft from: Civitates Orbis Terrarum. Liber tertius
Georg Braun & Joris Hoefnagel
Date of the first edition: 1558
Copper engraving, 35.5 x 48.5 cm. - Seventeenth-century Dutch Studios: 66 paintings of seventeenth-century Dutch painters at work displayed with a user-friendly carousel interface.
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/technique/painters-studios-in-the-netherlands.html
Previous Next
The Workshop of the Artist, David Ryckaert the Younger, 1638, 42.0 x 29.2 cm., Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon
The Art of Painting, Johannes Vermeer, c. 1662–1668, Oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The Artist in His Studio, Michiel van Musscher, 1670, Oil on canvas, Bass Museum Miami Beach, Florida
A Painter and his Assistant in the Studio, Andries Both, c. 1640, Pen, brown ink and grey wash on paper, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
A Painter in his Studio, Tuning a Lute, Pieter Coddde, Oil on panel, 41 x 54 cm., David Koetser Gallery, Zurich
Paint Making in a Painter's Studio, David Ryckaert III, c. 1635–1638, Oil on panel, 42.8 x 31.7 cm., Stadtgeschichtliches Museum "Schabbelhaus", Wismar
The Young Draughtsman, Attributed to Pieter Codde, c. 1630, Oil on panel, 28 x 37 cm., Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Art Lovers in a Painter's Studio, Pieter Codde, c. 1635, Oil on panel, 38.3 × 49.3 cm., Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
A Boy seated Drawing, Wallerand Vaillant, probably 1700-1800, Oil on canvas, 127 x 99.5 cm., The National Gallery, London
Artist in his Studio, Simon Kick, c. 1645–1650, Oil on panel, 92 x 69.5 cm., National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
A Painter in his Studio, Gerrit Dou, 1649, Oil on canvas, 68.2 x 53.5 cm., Private collection
A Boy Drawing in a Painter's Studio, D. Witting, c. 1630–1635, Oil on panel, 39 x 50 cm., F. Stöcklin, Basel
The Artist's Studio, Jan Miense Molenaer, 1631, Oil on canvas, 86 x 127 cm., Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
The Workshop of Evangelist Luke, Karel Slabbaert, c. 1645-1654, Oak wood, 64.5 x 50.1 cm., Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
The Artist's Studio, Jacob van Oost, 1666, Oil on canvas, 111.5 x 150.5 cm., Groeningemuseum (Stedelijke Musea), Bruges
Portrait of a painter, Pieter Codde, Oil on canvas, 28.5 c 22 cm., Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
The Painter's Studio, Jan Matham, after Adriaen Brouwer, c. 1635–1645, Print, 15.3 x 19.5 cm., Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
The Painter's Rest, Dirck Hals, Oil on canvas, 34.5 x 27.2 cm., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg, Strasbourg
The Painter's Studio, Frans van Mieris, c. 1653-1657, Oil on canvas, 46 x 59.5 cm., Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
A Painter in his Studio under a Self Portrait on the Wall, Job Adrianesz. Berckheyde, c. 1675, Oil on panel, 36 x 30,7 cm., Private collection (Italy)
Painter in his Studio, Hendrick Gerritsz Pot, c. 1650, Oil on wood, 42 x 48 cm., Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
A Painter in his Studio, Anonymous pupil of Rembrandt, c. 1630, Oil on panel, 53 x 64.5 cm.. Kremer Collection (Aetas Aurea Holding)
Artist in a Studio (Possibly a self-portrait), David Teniers the Younger, c. 1635, Oil on panel, 27x 23 cm., Private collection
Portrait of the Artist in His Studio, Michiel van Musscher, 1673, Oil on panel, 37.4 x 28.6 cm. The Leiden Collection, New York
A Painter in his Studio, Michiel van Musscher, between 1665 and 1705, Oil on canvas, 34.5 x 29 cm., Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands Art
Visit to a Studio, Job Adriaensz. Berckheyde (attr.), 1659, Oil on panel, 49 x 36.5 cm., The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg,
A Young Boy Copying a Painting, Attributed to Wallerand Vaillant, c. 1660, Oil on panel, 31.1 x 39.5 cm., Guildhall (Samuel Collection), London
A Painter at Work in his Studio, Thomas Wijck, c. 1663–1677, Pen and brown ink, brown wash, white gouache, over black and red chalk, on blue paper; framing line at top and bottom in pen and brown ink, 40 x 49.6 cm., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
An Artist in his Studio (Self-portrait?), Gerrit Dou, c. 1629, Oil on panel, 66.6 x 50.9 cm., Leiden Collection, New York
Portrait of an Artist in her Studio, Michiel van Musscher, Between 1675 and 1685 Oil on canvas, 114.1 x 91 cm., North Carolina Museum of Art
Self-Portrait in the Studio, Gillis van Tilborgh the Younger, c. 1645, Oil on panel, 10.8 x 8.9 cm., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
An Artist in His Studio, Adriaen van Gaesbeeck, c. 1645, Oil on panel, 92.71 x 74.3 cm., Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee
Self-portrait, Jan Miense Molenaer, 1650s, Oil on canvas, 39,5 x 36,5 cm., Private collection
Self-portrait in the Studio, Edward Collier, 1683, Oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London
A Painter in his Studio, David Teniers, 1641, Oil on panel, 25 x 21.5 cm., Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Self-portrait, Michiel van Musscher, 1679, Oil on panel, 57 x 46.5 cm., Museum Rotterdam, Rotterdam
The Drawing Lesson, Jan Steen, c. 1665, Oil on panel 49.2 x 41.2 cm., J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Artist and Visitor in the Studio, Anonymous, Flemish, c. 1600, Pencil on blue paper, 19.4 x 29.2 cm,, Private collection
An Artist Painting "The Five Senses", Joos van Craesbeeck, c. 1655, Oil on panel, 48.5 x 66 cm., Collection Frits Lugt, Institut Neerlandais, Paris
Painter in his Studio, Jacob van Spreeuwen, c. 1630–1645, 35 x 30.5 cm., Private collection /h6>
An Artist in his Studio, Jacob van Spreeuwen, c. 1630–1645, Oil on panel, 30.5 x 36.8 cm., Private collection
Painter in his Studio, Attributed to Jacob van Spreeuwen, c. 1630–1645, Oil on wood, 40.6 x 33.8 cm., Private collection
Boy Drawing before the Bust of a Roman Emperor, Michael Sweerts, c. 1661, Oil on canvas, 49.5 x : 40.6 cm., Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
The Drawing Lesson, Jan Steen, c. 1665, Oil on canvas, 49.2 × 41.2 cm., John Paul Getty Colelction, Los Angeles
The Painter and his Model, Arnold Houbraken, c. 1690, Oil on panel, 28.5 x 19 cm., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The Painter's Studio, Adriaen van Ostade, c. 1670–c. 1675, Oil on canvas, 37 x 36 cm., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Painter Defacting on Palette and Brushes, Aert van Waes, 1645, Etching, 16.2 x 21.4 cm., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
An Artist in his Studio, Attributed to Jacobus Vrel, Oil on panel, 42.4 x 54.5 cm., Private collection
The Painter's Workshop, Isaac van Ostade (or imitator), Pena and ink on papaer, 18.9 x 18.9 cm., Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
An Artist with a Model in his Studio, Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, c. 1625–1635, Engraving, 10.2 x 13.4 cm., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
A Painter Seated at his Easel, Jan de Bisschop, Pen and brush on paper, 14.9 x 99 cm., Rijksmusuem, Amsterdam
Young artist, Drawing from Casts, including a Putto by Duquesnoy, Wallerand Vaillant, 1656, Oil on panel, 35.6 x 43.2 cm., National Trust for Scotland, Brodie Castle
Violin-Playing Painter, Abraham de Pape, c. 1645
The Painter in his Studio, Frans van Mieris, c. 1655–1657, 63.9 x 46.8 cm., Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
The Artist in His Studio, Michiel van Musscher, 1670, Oil on canvas, Bass Museum Miami Beach, Florida
A Painter at his Easel, Jacob Jansz. van Velsen, Oil on panel, 28.2 x 24.5 cm., Private collection (France)
A Young Artist before his Easel, Jacob van Velsen, Oil on woodm 26 x 20.6 cm. Formerly A. E. Popham Collection, London
Self-Portrait of an Artist Seated at an Easel, Attributed to Cornelis Bisschop, c. 1653, Oil on panel with arched top, 29.7 x 24.8 cm., The Leiden Collection, New York
The Painter in his Studio, Leonaert Bramer, c. 1650–1655, Brush and black ink, gray wash heightened in white on blue paper, Rijksprentenkabinet de Rijkssuniversiteit, Leiden
Painters in a Studio, David Ryckaert III, Oil on panel, 1638, Oil on panel, 59 x 95 cm., Museum Musée, Paris
The Artist's Studio, by or after Andries Both
The Distressed Painter (children behind him and wife grinding colors), Andries Both, Before 1640, Drawing on vellum, British Museum, London
The Successful Painter (apprentices grinding colors and drawing), Andries Both, Before 1640, Drawing on vellum, British Museum, London
A Painter's Studio, Jan Josef Horemans, Oil on canvas, 49 x 60 cm., Stockholm, National Museum
Self-portrait of an Artist among a Merry, Dinking Company of Peasants in a Tavern, Mattheus van Helmont, Between 1645 and 1679, Oil on panel, 49 x 65 cm., Douwes Fine Art, Amsterdam