Vermeer

For the month of February I choose the artist Johannes Vermeer to study. I don't know how much Sophie or any of the kids are getting out of the study but I am enjoying it. I have always liked Vermeer's paintings and remember seeing a few of them when in the Louvre. The Lace Maker is one I distinctly remember seeing. (I went to Paris before I had really studied art so didn't know what I was looking at a lot of the time.)It is actually a lot smaller then I would have ever imagined. They had it displayed with a large, wide frame to make it seem bigger. When I looked up it's measurements today in the Vermeer book we have, it gives the dimenions in cm and not inches like many of the other paintings in the book.
This afternoon I sat with the Vermeer Book on my lap listening to Chasing Vermeer and looking up the paintings that are mentioned in the story. Sophie came and sat down with me and looked at the book with me for a bit. I don't know how much she is listening to the story but that is alright, I am enjoying it. As I was flipping through the book I noticed a few of Vermeer's earliest works. I had never seen some of them. He actually did a few biblical scenes which were the normal subjects for paintings in his day. I noticed this one in particular. Christ in the home of Mary and Martha. I just thought it was lovely. It doesn't totally feel like a Vermeer. The colors seem a little too vibrant but then some of his paintings do have some very strong reds in it. It does has an intimate feeling about it, like most of Vermeer's works. Anyway.. I just liked it and especially enjoy the fact that I found a new painting of his that I hadn't seen before.