Alas Vermeer

Interesting 'Secret Life of the Artist' by Andrew Graham-Dixon on the Beeb recently  which uses paintings, locations and public records in the Netherlands to lay bare the life of Vermeer. I had always surmised that he was the cliched enigma wrapped in a mystery despite books, films, exhibitions and extensive commentaries; part of the attraction, of course.

    "Andrew Graham-Dixon, travelling to Vermeer's hometown of Delft and a dramatic Dutch landscape of huge skies and windmills, embarks on a detective trail to uncover the life of a genius in hiding.Renowned for painting calm and beautiful interiors, the real life of Vermeer was marred by crime and violence. His life was a bid to escape the privations of his family and yet even a glamorous marriage and artistic success failed to save him from the fate he dreaded more than any other."

When I discovered Vermeer I became intrigued by the use, and the effort, of a painting within a painting.

So there you have it, allegedly, the Last Vermeer, painted while his mother in law screamed at him to sell a few pictures for gods sake if only to repay the money he had possibly stolen from her and pay the baker.

And after Vermeer?
See the photo by John Naughton  at the link.
Very fine snap, a real cracker.