Johannes Vermeer is celebrated today as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age, but for much of the 18th and early 19th centuries his work was virtually forgotten. Literary scholar Ruth Bernard Yeazell draws on her book Vermeer’s Afterlives to recount the story of how French journalist and art critic Théophile Thoré rediscovered Vermeer in the 1860s, introducing his enigmatic interiors, masterful use of light, and intimate subjects to modern audiences.
Yeazell examines the critics, historians, and artists who brought Vermeer into the canon, tracing the painter’s cultural resurrection and exploring why his quiet, introspective works continue to inspire fascination. She also explores the variety of ways in which Vermeer’s art has been interpreted through the centuries and shows how his paintings take on afterlives of their own in the imaginations of viewers.
Vermeer's Afterlives (Princeton University Press) is available for purchase.
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