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Vermeer
"Vermeer" is considered by some to be one of the most profound books ever written on the artist. The text has been updated for this third edition to appear in paperback. The volume also includes an essay on Vermeer, "Counterfeiter of Grace", written by the author shortly before his death in which he sums up current Vermeer research. All the illustrations used have been newly reproduced for the reissue of this classic work in the field of art history.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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About the author
Lawrence Gowing
70 books5 followersSir Lawrence Gowing was an English artist, writer, curator, and teacher. Initially recognized as a portrait and landscape painter, he quickly rose to prominence as an art educator, writer, and, eventually, curator and museum trustee. As a student of art history he was largely self-taught.
Sir Lawrence was born Lawrence Burnett Gowing to Horace Gowing, a draper, and his wife, Luisa. Born in Stoke Newington and raised in London, his first painting of note, Mare Street, Hackney, made reference to his father's shop. After attending the Downs School at Colwall, Herefordshire and Leighton Park School, in 1938 he enrolled in the Euston Road School, where he studied with William Coldstream.
He was Principal of the Slade School of Fine Art at University College, London from 1975 to 1985.
Sir Lawrence was born Lawrence Burnett Gowing to Horace Gowing, a draper, and his wife, Luisa. Born in Stoke Newington and raised in London, his first painting of note, Mare Street, Hackney, made reference to his father's shop. After attending the Downs School at Colwall, Herefordshire and Leighton Park School, in 1938 he enrolled in the Euston Road School, where he studied with William Coldstream.
He was Principal of the Slade School of Fine Art at University College, London from 1975 to 1985.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 28, 2008
I simply adore Vermeer.
Many years ago I saw The Astronomer, at the Louvre, and I have never looked back. Since then I have seen both Lady Standing at a Virginal and Lady Seated at a Virginal [National Gallery], The Allegory of Faith, Portrait of a Young Womand, Woman with a Water Jug and A Girl Asleep [MOMA] and I have also had the pleasure of viewing A Woman Holding a Balance, and Girl with a Red Hat [Washington].
The man was a true genius of his trade, yet his works [except for Girl with a Pearl Earring] are seldom known by the public. This is a real pity.
The book itself is simply a vehicle to bring us Vermeers works... the telling of his methods/style are interesting, but the story of his life drags somewhat and detracts from the brilliance of his masterpieces.
Many years ago I saw The Astronomer, at the Louvre, and I have never looked back. Since then I have seen both Lady Standing at a Virginal and Lady Seated at a Virginal [National Gallery], The Allegory of Faith, Portrait of a Young Womand, Woman with a Water Jug and A Girl Asleep [MOMA] and I have also had the pleasure of viewing A Woman Holding a Balance, and Girl with a Red Hat [Washington].
The man was a true genius of his trade, yet his works [except for Girl with a Pearl Earring] are seldom known by the public. This is a real pity.
The book itself is simply a vehicle to bring us Vermeers works... the telling of his methods/style are interesting, but the story of his life drags somewhat and detracts from the brilliance of his masterpieces.
January 20, 2020
I enjoy reading about the societal messages and symbolism in 17th Century Dutch art. Who knew a hanging chicken represented unbridled carnal desire? Roasted, maybe, with all the trimmings. But, raw and just plucked?
October 6, 2014
Lawrence Gowing understands Vermeer's characters and the worlds they inhabit--all interiors of rooms--in a very Jamesian manner. He details, at one with Vermeer, how the singular detachment, refinement, the hieratic finesse and immaculate gestures of withdrawal of his subjects, and above all how light is used to convey this stance in relation to persons and the material world-- a fabric gleaming distantly in the air, for example, or the shining ring of a wine glass--render "the very shape of stillness and seclusion."
It is a rich experience to look at individual paintings by Vermeer with Gowing, a distinguished British painter in his own right, who is brilliantly competent to point out all the craft with which Vermeer achieves his effects. And it is also thrilling, for example, to have him point out the link in imagery between Vermeer and Piero della Francesca--of course! and to think that "the marbling of the virginals of the 'Lady Seated' in the National Gallery has the kind of life which a Sung painter might discover in the leaves of bamboo."
Lighted surfaces that reflect epitomes of windows we do not see, Vermeer's ladies who hold a flute or guitar but are never discovered playing, "Whenever modeling approaches continuity, there is a scattering of irrelevant light to contradict it," and "For all the stature with which he endows the inhabitants of his world, indeed perhaps because of it, Vermeer stops short of humanity."
"He knows that all that the eye can possess is light."
One of the most insightful great books of art criticism.
It is a rich experience to look at individual paintings by Vermeer with Gowing, a distinguished British painter in his own right, who is brilliantly competent to point out all the craft with which Vermeer achieves his effects. And it is also thrilling, for example, to have him point out the link in imagery between Vermeer and Piero della Francesca--of course! and to think that "the marbling of the virginals of the 'Lady Seated' in the National Gallery has the kind of life which a Sung painter might discover in the leaves of bamboo."
Lighted surfaces that reflect epitomes of windows we do not see, Vermeer's ladies who hold a flute or guitar but are never discovered playing, "Whenever modeling approaches continuity, there is a scattering of irrelevant light to contradict it," and "For all the stature with which he endows the inhabitants of his world, indeed perhaps because of it, Vermeer stops short of humanity."
"He knows that all that the eye can possess is light."
One of the most insightful great books of art criticism.
November 9, 2017
Lawrence Gowing explores the ways in which Johannes Vermeer was similar to and different from his contemporaries—especially Vermeer's early struggles with genre scenes and his "solutions" (solitary women lost in their own worlds, little human interaction) and the unprecedented ways in which optics and light take primacy in his works rather than recognizability or visual continuity. Gowing unpacks some of the allegory and symbolism in the paintings and identifies both recurrent motifs and shapes (the vertical, the bell, the buttress—usually a curtain). I enjoyed the prose immensely, and it was a joy to read this in advance of the exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
February 1, 2018
Mi misión es leer todos los libros escritos sobre el pintor de Deltf. Los misterios de Johannes Vermeer me producen una insaciable curiosidad. ¿Quién era Vermeer? ¿Por qué pintaba lo que pintaba y como lo hacía?. En este libro Lawrence Gowing hace un recorrido por todas las pinturas de Vermeer, comparándolas con obras de otros pintores holandeses. Hace muchas comparaciones con el arte de Pieter de Hooch, quien era coetáneo de Vermeer; pero también muestra la influencia de Rembrandt, Caravaggio y sobre todo Gabriël Metsu.
Pero lo que yo no puedo entender de Vermeer es esa habilidad de captar fotográficamente situaciones cotidianas. No hay nada igual en la pintura de esa época. Fue todo producto de un accidente... una ingenuidad brillante o es simplemente el trabajo calculado e hiper-meticuloso de un genio. Sus pinturas están hechas a base de luz. Tiene resplandor.
Que diablos...
Muchos culpan esta genialidad a la cámara oscura, pero Vermeer no era el único que la usaba. Nadie absolutamente nadie consiguió este efecto. Parece como un fotógrafo del siglo XX, peor aún, parece un director de Cine.
Quizás fue un hombre que viajo al futuro. ¿Quién sabe?
Pero lo que yo no puedo entender de Vermeer es esa habilidad de captar fotográficamente situaciones cotidianas. No hay nada igual en la pintura de esa época. Fue todo producto de un accidente... una ingenuidad brillante o es simplemente el trabajo calculado e hiper-meticuloso de un genio. Sus pinturas están hechas a base de luz. Tiene resplandor.
Que diablos...
Muchos culpan esta genialidad a la cámara oscura, pero Vermeer no era el único que la usaba. Nadie absolutamente nadie consiguió este efecto. Parece como un fotógrafo del siglo XX, peor aún, parece un director de Cine.
Quizás fue un hombre que viajo al futuro. ¿Quién sabe?
June 12, 2020
I found this book accidentally and it’s super cool it’s got Vermeer’s paintings it’s like a nostalgic book, tbh i didn’t read much of the text in the book ‘cuz it’s boring but well! The paintings are on point and this rating is mostly for collecting the paintings in a mini book.
June 2, 2015
First, as an artist, I have to admit that Vermeer is one of my favorite artists. And I am thrilled that an English artist, Sir Lawrence Burnet Gowing (April 21, 1918--February 5, 1991) was an exceptional English artist, writer, curator and teacher. (As a student of art history he was largely self-taught.) Sir Lawrence was a trustee of the Tate Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and the British Museum, and was a member of the Arts Council of Great Britain. In 1978, he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and was made honorary curator of its collections in 1985. Beginning in the 1960s he travelled to the United States to serve as Kress Professor at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and was also curator of the Phillips Collection in Washington. Knighted in 1982, he was made a chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 1985.
Johannes Vermeer (1632--December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He seems never to have been particularly wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings. He worked slowly and with great care, using bright colours and sometimes expensive pigments, with a preference for lapis lazuli and Indian yellow. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work. But he is also known for using a "optical technique" that allowed him to paint almost photorealistic artwork.
I was also fortunate to see in person (at the Frick Museum in NYC) the collection from the The Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands--roughly 800 paintings reside there. As an artist, I'm in awe of the Dutch Golden Age that features Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Paulus Potter and Frans Hals, Vermeer is best known for Girl with the Pearl Earring at the Frick - http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content... and The Goldfinch -- http://www.frick.org/sites/default/fi...
Johannes Vermeer (1632--December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He seems never to have been particularly wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings. He worked slowly and with great care, using bright colours and sometimes expensive pigments, with a preference for lapis lazuli and Indian yellow. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work. But he is also known for using a "optical technique" that allowed him to paint almost photorealistic artwork.
I was also fortunate to see in person (at the Frick Museum in NYC) the collection from the The Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands--roughly 800 paintings reside there. As an artist, I'm in awe of the Dutch Golden Age that features Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Paulus Potter and Frans Hals, Vermeer is best known for Girl with the Pearl Earring at the Frick - http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content... and The Goldfinch -- http://www.frick.org/sites/default/fi...
December 29, 2007
Vermeer doesn't seem to have painted much - or at least not many of his painting have survived. They're all in this book and (not to hurt his feelings or anything) there were only a couple I really liked. The Little Street, View of Delft,
Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews