Vermeer

The paintings of Johannes Vermeer are some of the most sublime in the history of art. Yet until now they have, like the life of Vermeer himself, defied explanation. Following new leads, and drawing on a mass of historical evidence, some of it freshly uncovered in the archives of Delft and Rotterdam, Andrew Graham-Dixon paints a dramatically new picture of Vermeer, revealing many of the painter’s hitherto unknown friendships as well as his previously undetected allegiance to a persecuted, underground radical movement.

Taking us through the watery world of global trade networks, menacing fortresses, and lively taverns, Graham-Dixon vividly evokes the world of the Dutch Republic in its so-called Golden Age, showing us the ways that the violent legacy of the Thirty Years War and Eighty Years War for Dutch Independence influenced the artist.

In this revolutionary reassessment of nearly all of Vermeer’s most beloved works – including The Girl with a Pearl Earring, A View of Delft and The Milkmaid – our image of him is transformed from an isolated and mysterious figure into an artist at the nexus of a web of philosophers, financiers, patrons, preachers and regents, giving rich new insight into one of the most enigmatic figures in art history.