GALLERY: The Sphinx of Delft
Whenever one happens to be in The Hague, what a pleasure it is to visit Delft, a peaceful town full of crisscrossing canals less than half an hour’s bus ride away from The Netherlands’ capital. On a fine, warm day even sipping a cup of tea at a sidewalk café or enjoying a soft drink while watching the boats row by is ecstasy in itself.
However, this little Venice has much, much more to offer to an art enthusiast. Though the Vermeer Museum has nothing of the monumental grandeur of a Louvre, stepping into it is a sensation similar to the one you have when you enter a home to see the works of a painter who invites you in.
Following his rather early death in 1675, Johannes Vermeer’s untraditional creations were practically immediately forgotten in Delft where he was born, where he worked all his life and died. After being ignored for nearly two centuries, about 20 of his masterpieces were discovered in 1866 by French art critic and researcher Théophile Thoré-Burger.
He was astounded to notice the total mastery with which Vermeer captured the rays of light and the illuminated or shadowed angles of flowers, human forms, tables, chairs and other objects in his paintings. The expert’s persistent inquiry inevitably resulted in a thorough hunt by other art enthusiasts of the time. Soon enough, a total of 70 works were listed in a catalogue that Thoré-Burger painstakingly prepared. However, it is generally believed today that no more than 37 of these paintings were actually done by Vermeer, the others being works created under his influence at later dates.
Vermeer masterpieces are being exhibited for the first time at Louvre, Paris which is a part of a season dedicated to the Dutch Golden Age
This may appear to be a small figure for an artist’s achievements, but when you think of the relatively brief, 43 years of Vermeer’s lifetime, things start falling into place more comprehensively.