After Vermeer



After Vermeer, originally uploaded by jjn1.

I like Vermeer’s work, for several reasons: it reminds me of the time I lived in Holland; I love his use of window lighting; and my former colleague Philip Steadman wrote a convincing book establishing that the ‘photographic’ feel of much of his work arose because Vermeer used a camera obscura. So whenever I see a window shedding interesting light on an interior, I go for it.

Interestingly, David Hockney, in an equally fascinating book went further than Phil, arguing that Vermeer and some other artists probably used lenses as well.