 |
| Lady and her Maidservant with a Letter Johannes Vermeer, c. 1667 Frick Collection |
It was Leonardo da Vinci, among the first boldly to use chiaroscuro technique, who brought pictorial art to a new level of intensity and narrative. Chiaroscuro reached its zenith in the 1600s with Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) and his followers, the Caravaggisti, in their astonishingly powerful paintings. We must remember that Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals also used this technique to powerful effect.
The great Frick painting, Lady and Maidservant with a Letter, is one of my favorite paintings in all of art history. I pay homage to it whenever I am at the Frick, which is frequently (there are two other smaller Vermeer’s in this spectacular collection. The Met has four Vermeers, making NYC a Vermeer city shrine to the Master). What is the Mistress thinking about as the Maid hands her the sealed letter? What do they each know of the source of the letter or its contents?
Why are the Lady’s lips almost trembling? The woman’s ermine lined fur, the strong use of the color yellow, the pearls, the light from the left, the ambiguity of meaning, are all iconic Vermeerian techniques. The chiaroscuro highlights the protagonists and creates even more drama and a three dimensionality to this masterpiece of Light and DarkVermeer’s ineffable genius lay in the way he could transfigure such quotidian and domestic scenes into visual narratives of an almost sacred monumentality.
The great Frick painting, Lady and Maidservant with a Letter, is one of my favorite paintings in all of art history. I pay homage to it whenever I am at the Frick, which is frequently (there are two other smaller Vermeer’s in this spectacular collection. The Met has four Vermeers, making NYC a Vermeer city shrine to the Master). What is the Mistress thinking about as the Maid hands her the sealed letter? What do they each know of the source of the letter or its contents?
Why are the Lady’s lips almost trembling? The woman’s ermine lined fur, the strong use of the color yellow, the pearls, the light from the left, the ambiguity of meaning, are all iconic Vermeerian techniques. The chiaroscuro highlights the protagonists and creates even more drama and a three dimensionality to this masterpiece of Light and DarkVermeer’s ineffable genius lay in the way he could transfigure such quotidian and domestic scenes into visual narratives of an almost sacred monumentality.
Lady with a Maidservant Holding a Letter
Johannes Vermeer c.1667
Frick Collection NYC
No comments:
Post a Comment