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As you probably know, the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam had an exhibition about Vermeer. It had a huge press, marketing was full-stop on it, and tickets were sold out before the doors opened. So, Let’s Talk Vermeer!
In this episode, I want to discuss the documentary I have watched: Close To Vermeer and propose a way we might look at Vermeer’s art. With all the tech available, how deep should we go and demystify the mystic? In other words, if an old ‘master’ is declared a ‘genius’ when demystifying his methods, should it still give him that label of genius?
Then I will also discuss the discrepancy between his early works and later work that made him famous and the attribution of a painting; still up for discussion? These are discussions that art historians like, obviously, but often end in an endless yes, because, no because, or the expert, the expert decides it is not real or is real. Obviously, artists in that time and even before that were not even remotely thinking about something as copyright. Masters frequently used work from their fellow artists if someone commissioned them and pointed to a painting they liked and wanted themselves placed into it. Copyright is a very modern invention, rightfully so, btw. It has also to do with the values added to an artist and a work and that is what for many it is all about. The discussion is interesting for art historians, but not necessary if we do what I will discuss later.