The World of Vermeer: 1632-1675

Time-Life Library of Art

by Hans Koningsberger

And not just Vermeer and his paintings, but also a very good survey of the socio-political context of the Golden Age of 17th-century Dutch painting, and the painters working then besides Vermeer. - From review.

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Reference

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astounding early art book on Johannes Vermeer! Rather than focus solely on the Dutch painter, the author gives more of glimpse of the period of the Dutch Golden Age, specifically, the Golden Age of Dutch Painting. We are given the timeline of the Netherlands' fight for independence and the rise of a period of great prosperity, along with introductions of Vermeer's contemporaries, and the painting techniques that defined the period. Each chapter gives devotion to the artistic style of notable paintings that made numerous careers and sold in high quantities, each also given a high zoom-in of the details in each work. Chapters fully devoted to Vermeer are near the end, so by then, one would believe they had all the information they needed to know of what kind of era the artist was living through that influenced the masterpieces he made in his short career.

I found this book to be very insightful and came out with more knowledge than I expected about Dutch art history in the 17th century. For something that was published in the 1960s, most of the information is presented well, though some can be considered outdated with new findings at this point. The photo scans of the paintings are of nice quality, but it is clear that majority of them were not given proper restoration as many appeared in not the best of quality. I enjoyed its merit towards a period of art history we will never see again, and would definitely recommend this to anyone who is an art lover.

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I've read and own several artist books, and this one surprised me in that the writing was all about the Dutch history during the time of Vermeer, not so much he himself. Also, much of the book compared OTHER art works and styles instead of focusing on Vermeer.

[Peter Herrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 4-star rating could perhaps be unwarranted in light of the fact that I don't normally read art books, so was greatly impressed by this one. Other comments indicate that this book lacks info about Vermeer and is filled with extraneous info about other 17th Century Dutch artists. But, as the author says, little is known about Vermeer. And because I know little about Dutch art, I appreciate the additional information. I enjoyed the book very much and would have given a 5-star rating if many of the black & whites had been presented in color. (Not to imply that there weren't a lot of color plates; but even more would have helped).

[Ingar Rudholm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though Johannes Vermeer painted less than 50 small paintings, he made a huge impact on the art world. With precision and intricate detail, he created photo-realistic paintings. To achieve such meticulous detail, he used the early form of the camera, called the camera-obscura. Known as the master of light, he created intimate interior scenes filled with great emotion and depth. Today, his paintings fetch millions dollars, but unfortunately Vermeer passed away under the financial pressure of debt.

[LeAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up while I was reading Tracy Chevallier’s Girl with the Pearl Earring. It was fun to see where the novelist had drawn on what was known of Vermeer’s life and the Netherlands in the 17th c. This is a coffee table book with lush illustrations and a lot of repetition presumably because the assumption is that it will be picked up and read in bits rather than studied like an academic book. It is part of a series that has been sitting on my shelf for years, a legacy of my mother. This is the first I have read, but I will probably pick up more.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. I read this author's World of Rembrandt and found it very interesting, but this one included so much information about other artists that the only thing I really learned about Vermeer is that there is very little available information about his life or his work. The artwork was also disappointing, again because works of others are also included and not the photography just is not very good.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading 'Girl in Hyacynth Blue' I wanted to know more about Vermeer. This was well written but the illustrations were not plentiful and sometimes in black and white. I really want to see the art being discussed so that was a disappointment. However the story of Vermeers obscurity and the continuing difficulty in identifying true Vermeer paintings is fascinating.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty dense history, but very interesting if you enjoy history. The author provides some historical background to set the scene for Vermeer. The history is good but can be dry at times. Definitely a book for history readers.

[WSL Library]

X2

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care for this book at all as he wrote almost nothing about Vermeer. I understand he says that there is little known about him so it hard finding information, but if that is the case you should instead not mislead the reader but call it the Golden Age of Dutch Art or Everyone but Vermeer. Also lots of the paintings were in black and white which makes it hard to look at the light and color the author goes on about.