Vermeer

Vermeer

<div id="description_text_headlines"> <div> <strong>Vermeer's women, their duties and unspoken dreams</strong></div> <div>  </div> </div> <div id="description_text"> The 35 paintings that have come down to us from the hand of <strong>Jan Vermeer (1632-1675) </strong>place him beside Rembrandt and Frans Hals as one of the great masters of the golden age of Dutch art.<br /> <br /> <strong>Little is known of Vermeer€s early life and training,</strong> though we can be certain that he never knew great success or acclaim during his lifetime, and after his death€"reputedly in part because of the stress of his debts€"his work was almost completely forgotten for the best part of two centuries. <strong>And yet today he is acknowledged as an exquisitely talented and highly original artist. </strong>Most of his pictures (all of which are reproduced in this book) show middle-class women about their daily business. <strong>Vermeer records the tasks and duties of these women, the imperatives of virtue under which their lives were lived, while also evoking their dreams and their contrasting inner worlds.</strong><br />  </div> <div id="series_text" style="display: block;"> <strong>About the Series:</strong><br /> Each book in TASCHEN€s Basic Art series features:<ul> <li>a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance</li> <li>a concise biography</li> <li>approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions</li> </ul> </div>