Metropolitan Musuem

1 Pages 316 Words

The “Vermeer and the Delft School” exhibition in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, is being displayed from March 8th till May 27th, 2001. The exhibit includes various paintings, “About 85 paintings by 30 artists- including 15 by Vermeer and 10 by Pieter de Hooch- and selected groups of drawings, tapestries, silver, and ceramics reveal for the first time Delft’s artistic stature in the 17th century.” (Catalog) Some works of art that I will talk about are some of the most famous in the exhibit such as The Courtyard of a House in Delft painted by Hooch, Girl with the Red Hat, The Art of Painting, and Allegory of faith both painted by Vermeer.
Vermeer is credited for only twenty- nine paintings in his lifetime, sometimes thirty. So how could he be so famous I thought? That could be answered with just one walk around the gallery. His “approach to space, light, and composition, reflects his awareness of current artistic conventions and trends in taste as well as his exceptional powers of observation.” (Catalog) Vermeer is one of the best at representing a composition that is based around space and light. In the work of art The Art of Painting Vermeer shows the source of light coming from behind the curtain on the right. Vermeer uses the shadows of the curtain and the darkness coming from behind the artist to contrast the light source and make the painting seem like the viewer is seeing this scene from behind a glass pane window. Vermeer always tried capturing the viewer within the painting, but without them knowing it.
Vermeer also used tonality and exquisite detail to produce some of the works he created. Most of the Delft school branched off of Vermeer’s style, as in Hooch’s The Courtyard of a House in Delft....