Ruth Leon recommends…. Johannes Vermeer at National Gallery
Ruth Leon recommendsYoung Woman Standing at the Virginals – National Gallery
Bart Cornelis, whom you have met before on Ruth Leon’s Theatrewise, is the Curator of Flemish and Dutch Paintings at the National Gallery in London. A few weeks ago he was enthralling us with insights into the new Frans Hals exhibition.
This time, he’s showing us another familiar painting – Johannes Vermeer’s Young Woman Standing at the Virginals – and through it, indicating a whole host of details which we could look at for a lifetime and never see.
We might notice that the woman’s scarf was the same colour as the painting behind her but we’d never see that the line of the musical instrument matched the line of a shadow on the wall. He does, and as soon as he points it out you will never look at that painting the same way again.
This is what I find so fascinating about these art history videos that I share with you as soon as I find them, they give us gifts that go on giving for ever. Thank you, Bart. And thank you, Mein Heer Vermeer.
The video has been taken down. Rats…
I’m surprised that this post could be found on Slippedisc. The prevailing opinion on this site might be that Vermeer was a musical ignoramus who should have painted a 9’ Steinway concert grand piano instead of that quaint virginals, never mind that that particular iteration of the pianoforte wouldn’t be invented until decades later.