Identifier: dictionaryofpain05brya (find matches)
Title: Dictionary of painters and engravers
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Bryan, Michael, 1757-1821 Williamson, George Charles, 1858-1942
Subjects: Painters Engravers
Publisher: London, G. Bell
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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the Little Dutchmen ;moreover, he had a most rare quality of vision.Burger called him the Sphinx of Delft because ofhis mystifyingly diverse manners ; but it is notimpossible to trace the stages of his development. The Courtesan is a triumphant essay in thedecorative use of figures—even the faces conformto a pattern—wonderfully spaced, audaciouslyoriginal in colour. Dramatically knit it is not,nor is the Christ picture. Later, single figurestook the place of groups, and here Vermeer becamean inimitable weaver of spells, abiding if elusive.The Milk Woman, atonce profoundly sane and pro-foundly discerned, is a liuk between the groups andworks such as The Pearl Necklace, whereinVermeer seeks to be the interpreter not so muchof light as of the illumining spirit. He seemsto have apprehended life in terms of serene yetradiant light—light which, as a benediction, as avibration of peace that beats in every heart,silences all drama save that of the soul. Vermeer JOHANNES VERMEER OF DELFT
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Hanfstangl thoto\ ( 11 indsor Castle THE MLSIC LKSSON 3fT J PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS. refines, purifies, uplifts our sense of life. Noneshared his way of approach. By genius of sighteven more than of hand he is isolated. As an in-dependent colourist, relating rich vermilion tolight lemon or playing subtly with blue and palegold, as a technician adding dot to luminous dotand so enriching surfaces for his special purpose,as a designer making personal use of rectangularmaps and pictures, of lion-headed chairs, of square-tiled floors to circumstancegraciousfigures, Vermeerhas a distinctive place. But the essence of his art,that towards which from the first he seemed to befeeling his way, lies deeper. He had a nostalgia forthe interpretation of a visioned beauty which en-abled bim almost to capture the spirit of light, ofmusic, on the wing : all art resolves into music.Confucius said that all painting is in the sequenceof wbite. Vermeer dreamed of evoking a space ofsun-lighted greys, gradate

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