Vermeer - The Rijksmuseum's major exhibition catalogue

Overview

Vermeer's intensely quiet and enigmatic paintings invite the viewer into a private world, often prompting more questions than answers. Who is being portrayed? Are his subjects real or imagined? And how did he create such an unrivalled sense of intimacy?

Bringing together diverse strands of the Dutch master's professional and private worlds, this is the first major authoritative study of Vermeer's life and work for many years, throwing light on all thirty-seven of his paintings.The book was designed by Irma Boom, the ‘Queen of Books’, and printed on an uncoated, ‘Munken Print White’ paper, specially commissioned to ensure the veracity of colours. Irma Boom says: ‘the matte paper brings you closer to Vermeer; there is no gloss or glare in between, just like with the real works.

’With a wide selection of contextual illustrations, commentaries and up-to-date research by distinguished international Vermeer scholars, here is the definitive volume on the most admired of all seventeenth-century Dutch masters, one of the world's greatest artists.With contributions byBart Cornelis, National Gallery, LondonBente Frissen, Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamSabine Pénot, Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaPieter Roelofs, Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamFriederike Schuett, Staedel Museum, Frankfurt am MainChristian Tico Seifert, National Galleries of Scotland, EdinburghAriane van Suchtelen, Mauritshuis, The HagueGregor J.M. Weber, Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamMarjorie E. Wieseman, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Reviews

'Proust was once so excited to see a Vermeer show that he collapsed … I got chest pains merely leafing through the catalogue'
Jonathan Jones, Guardian

'Invest in the fat catalogue, stuffed with scholarly discoveries and photographic closeups, and you will learn about everything from Vermeer’s optical mastery to his moral symbolism'
Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times

'Excellent'
Artists & Illustrators

'A gorgeous thing. Nothing matches seeing a painting in the flesh, but this comes mightily close'
Herald Scotland

'Immerses the reader in the immensely rich pictorial world of the master painter from Delft .. extraordinary close-up detail'
Art Mag

'A book to treasure'
The Prisma

'Comprehensive... Vermeer scholars...give insight into his life and influences while analyzing the paintings and their compositions in great detail... A feast for the yes as well as the mind... Worthy of any art history collection'
Library Journal

'One of the Best Art Books of 2023. With its many pages of hyper-zoomed close-ups, this dense and snoopy catalog gets you obscenely close to the real thing... The choice of matte rather than standard glossy pages (a matter of some controversy) respects the painter’s soft lighting. This is armchair museum-going at its finest'
Walker Mimms, The New York Times

About the Author

Both authors work at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Pieter Roelofs is Head of Paintings and Sculpture, and Gregor J. M. Weber is Head of the Department of Fine Arts.