Seventeenth-century Delft has traditionally been viewed as a quaint town whose artists painted scenes of domestic life. This important book revises that image, showing that the small but vibrant Dutch city produced fine examples of all the major arts—including luxury goods and sophisticated paintings for the court at The Hague and for patrician collectors in Delft itself. 
The book traces the history and culture of Delft from the 1200s through the lifetime of the city's most renowned painter, Johannes Vermeer. The authors discuss at length some ninety major paintings (seventeen by Vermeer), forty drawings, and a choice selection of decorative arts, all of which are reproduced in full color. Among the paintings are state portraits, history pictures, still lifes, views of palaces and church interiors, illusionistic murals, and refined genre pictures by Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch. The rich works on paper encompass exquisite drawings by Delft artists and sketches of the town by visiting artists. Included in the decorative arts are tapestries, bronze statuary, silver, Delftware, and glass. The volume concludes with an essay that takes the reader on a walk through seventeenth-century Delft. It is accompanied by maps of the city's neighborhoods that indicate major monuments and the homes of patrons, art dealers, and painters.

Vermeer and the Delft School (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series)

Arts & Photography

Plomp, Michiel C.

Rüger, Axel

LIEDTKE, Walter

History & Criticism

Metropolitan Museum of Art

This book is a collection of writings on aspects of painting in Delft during the period 1650-1675. Walter Liedtke discusses at length the work of four artists: Carel Fabritius, Gerard Houckgeest, Pieter de Hooch, and Johannes Vermeer. Liedtke considers recent interpretations and research on these artists works, exploring in particular the relationship between style and observation in their paintings.The book examines the question of whether such a community or tradition as the "Delft School" ever existed and by reviewing earlier opinions on the matter. The second chapter is devoted to Fabritius's small townscape A View in Delft, its reconstruction as an illusionistic image originally mounted in a perspective box, and the painting's significance in the narrow and in the broadest sense. In the third chapter, Leidtke focuses on a specialized genre in Delft - views of actual church interiors - and offers another explanation of how naturalistic paintings, even those that carefully record existing sites, inevitably depend upon pictorial precedents. The fourth chapter on De Hooch and the "South Holland" tradition of genre painting prepares the way for the fifth, a look at Vermeer's early work. In the final chapter, the author considers Vermeer's work as a mature artist, one who has completely mastered his means.

A View of Delft: Vermeer and his Contemporaries

Liedtke, Mr. Walter

Yale University Press

Dutch paintings of the seventeenth centurythe Golden Age of Rembrandt van Rijn, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeerhave been eagerly collected in America over the past two centuries. From its founding purchase in 1871 of many Dutch landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and scenes of everyday life, the Metropolitan Museum now houses the finest and most comprehensive collection of Dutch pictures in the western hemisphere.
This monumental publication, wherein the Museum’s 229 Dutch paintings dating from 1600 to 1800 are catalogued for the first time, celebrates an extraordinary collection. Included are a full discussion of each picture and complete records of its scholarly literature, exhibition history, and provenance. Every work is reproduced in color and comparative illustrations enrich the presentation. A biography of each artist and a comprehensive bibliography reflect the latest research.

Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portraits and genre scenes by the great Dutch painter Frans Hals (1582/83€“1666) are celebrated for their immediacy and dazzling brushwork. His dramatic compositions and bold technique brought his subjects to life in an unprecedented way. This book focuses upon eleven major works by Hals from the Metropolitan Museum's collection, supplemented by two Hals paintings from private collections and a selection of other Dutch paintings and prints. The pictures included here span forty years of Hals's career, from the early Merrymakers at Shrovetide of about 1616 to engaging portraits he painted in Haarlem during his later years. The author discusses the formation of Hals's style, emphasizing his stay in Antwerp in 1616 and his knowledge of Flemish masters and of contemporary critical thinking. For the first time, Hals's work is considered in the context of broader European trends, in particular the Early Baroque movement that flourished in Antwerp during th

Frans Hals: Style and Substance

Seventeenth-century Delft has often been viewed as a quaint town whose artists painted scenes of domestic life. This important book revises that image, showing that the small but vibrant Dutch city produced a wide range of artworks, including luxurious tapestries and silver objects, as well as sophisticated paintings for the court at The Hague and for patrician collectors in Delft itself. The volume traces the history and culture of Delft from the 1200s through the lifetime of the city's most renowned painter, Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675). Some ninety paintings (sixteen of them by Vermeer), forty drawings, and a choice selection of decorative arts are examined at length and reproduced in full color. The paintings include state portraits, history pictures, still lifes, views of palaces and church interiors, illusionistic murals, and refined genre pictures by Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch. Besides magnificent still lifes, portraits and landscapes, the rich works on paper encompass exquisite drawings by Delft artists on the vellum pages of a presentation album and sketches of the town by visiting artists. Among the decorative arts are tapestries, bronze statuary, silver gilt, Delftware, and glass. Some two hundred additional works, by both Delft artists and masters from other Dutch cities, are also illustrated and discussed. A final essay takes the reader on a walk through seventeenth-century Delft. It is accompanied by maps of the city's neighborhoods that indicate major landmarks and the homes of patrons, art dealers, and artists―who in addition to De Hooch and Vermeer, include Balthasar van der Ast, Leonaert Bramer, Carel Fabritius, Gerard Houckgeest, Michiel van Miereveld, Adam Pynacker, Jan Steen, Willem and Hendrick van Vliet, and Emmanuel de Witte. This handsome book serves as the catalogue for the exhibition "Vermeer and the Delft School" presented from March 8 to May 27, 2001, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and from June 20 to September 16, 2001, at The National Gallery, London. [This book was originally published in 2001 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]

Vermeer and the Delft School

Individual Artists

Phaidon’s classic illustrated monograph on Rembrandt, updated with an elegantly crafted design for today’s burgeoning art aficionados.
Reviving a much beloved group of artist monographs from the Phaidon archive, the new Phaidon Classics bring to life the fine craftsmanship and design of Phaidon books of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Updated with a contemporary "classic" design, full color images and new introductions by leading specialists on the work of each artist, these elegantly crafted volumes revive the fine bookmaking of the first half of the twentieth century, making Phaidon Classics instant collectors’ items.
Rembrandt (1606–1669) was arguably the finest painter of the northern Baroque period, and his intimate self&amp;hyphen;portraits and vast historical canvases such as The Nightwatch open up the world of the seventeenth&amp;hyphen;century Netherlands. The luxurious large&amp;hyphen;format book highlights Rembrandt’s unique lighting techniques and rich palette.

Rembrandt (Phaidon Classics)

Borenius, Tancred

Phaidon Press

Since his rediscovery in the later half of the 19th century, Johannes Vermeer (16321675) has been one of the most admired and influential European painters. His extremely private life, his supposed use of a camera obscura, and the fact that his teacher remains unidentified have, until recently, encouraged a view of the Sphinx of Delft” as an isolated genius shrouded in an air of mystery. Walter Liedtke’s new monograph reveals Vermeer’s life to be well-documented and places his work in the context of the Delft school and of Delft society as a whole. Vermeer’s many admirers will relish Liedtke’s exploration of subtleties of meaning and refinements of technique and style. Alongside the most historical approach to Vermeer to date, the annotated color catalogue of Vermeer’s complete paintings reveals a master whose rare sensibility may be described but not explained.

Vermeer: The Complete Paintings (The Classical Art Series)

Abrams

Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) is one of the most admired and influential European painters. His limited output, as well as his extremely private life and his supposed use of a camera obscura, have until recently made him appear to be an isolated genius shrouded in mystery. Walter Liedtke’s superb monograph, now available at a new affordable price, reveals Vermeer’s life to be well-documented and places his work in context. Vermeer’s many admirers will relish Liedtke’s exploration of the subtleties of meaning in Vermeer’s work and the refinements of his technique and style. Alongside the most historical approach to Vermeer to date, large, stunning color plates of Vermeer’s complete paintings—with many close-up details—reveal a master whose rare sensibility may be described but not explained.

Vermeer: The Complete Paintings

Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London accompanies the first tour of an important group of works from the Iveagh Bequest, a magnificent painting collection that resides at Kenwood House, a neoclassical villa in London. Donated to the nation by Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927) and heir to the world's most successful brewery, the collection was shaped by the tastes of the Belle Epoque-Europe's equivalent to America's Gilded Age-and reveal the earl's taste for the portraiture, landscape, and seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish works that could typically be found in English aristocratic collections.The publication includes an illustrated checklist of the works in the exhibition and texts by Guest Curator Susan Jenkins, Curator at English Heritage; Julius Bryant, Keeper of Word and Image at the Victoria & Albert Museum and formerly Chief Curator at English Heritage; and Walter Liedtke, Curator of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among the works in the publication are Thomas Gainsborough's Mary, Countess Howe (ca. 1764), Frans Hals's Pieter van den Broecke (1633), Rembrandt's sublime Portrait of the Artist (ca. 1665), Joshua Reynold's Lady Louisa Manners (1779), and Anthony van Dyck's Princess Henrietta of Lorraine Attended by a Page (1634).

Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London

BRYANT, Julius

Jenkins, Susan

American Federation of Arts

A View of Delft. Vermeer and His Contemporaries

Reference

Waanders

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