Holland

Sharjah: Aladdin Mahmoud

The Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer “1632 1675” presents artistic practices and innovations of great magnificence and beauty. He is one of the artists of the Baroque period, and is considered one of the greatest creators of the 17th century in Europe. He specialized in painting interior scenes of middle-class life, despite his later fame. , he lived poor, he left his wife and children mired in debt at his death, and this may be due to the production of relatively few oil paintings; Vermeer worked slowly and carefully, often using expensive pigments. He is particularly noted for his unique handling and use of light in his work.

Vermeer experienced a period of domestic success in his life during his time in Delft and The Hague in the Netherlands, but his modest fame gave way to obscurity after his death; He was barely mentioned in a book by Arnold Houbraken in the 17th century, but Vermeer was discovered by Gustav Frederick and Theophel Berger, when they published an article containing 66 portraits of Vermeer even though only 34 are attributed to him today. Since then, Vermeer’s fame has expanded To become recognized as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age, this artist never traveled abroad, and so did many Dutch artists of the Golden Age such as Rembrandt and Franz Halzen, his life was recently covered in a movie bearing his name.

special moments

The painting “The Officer and the Laughing Girl” is one of Vermeer’s most famous works ever. He painted it with oil colors on canvas in 1657; Where it found great popularity, and it is evident in this work, the artist’s distinctive style in dealing with lighting, and its employment in the work scene; Where Vermeer showed great ingenuity in this field that had an impact on the history of the arts, and the painting also belongs to the methodology and vision of the artist in his depiction of real life from the surrounding environment, and the drawing of houses and homes, especially the bourgeois and wealthy classes, and it is clear that all those scenes in his paintings took place in two rooms two little girls in his home in Delft; It shows the same furniture and decorations in different arrangements, and often depicts the same people, most of whom were women; Where he was taken by the charm of the rich class, their way of life, and their life traditions, and this painting expresses those special moments in the lives of members of the bourgeois class to which the artist belongs; As the painting makes the viewer feel comfortable and happy.

In the scene of this painting, a soldier appears in a red military uniform, and wears a large hat, and he sits with his back to the viewer, and he talks to a beautiful girl who smiles, and she puts a veil on her head and wears a long dress in shades of yellow, and she holds a glass of water in her hand, while the sun is shining The bright, enchanting face floods her face with that charming smile, and in the background a large map appears; Where the artist was famous for drawing this type of maps, and the maps appear a lot in his other artwork, in addition to many other elements, while a light coming from the left side of the painting sneaks through the open window, and in this painting the artist’s skill appears in the use and distribution of colors in their different degrees with strokes the brush, and the use of lighting in an innovative way; So that the picture looks completely real.

details

It seems clear, through the scene and the sitting position, that the main character in the painting is the smiling woman, and critics and art historians point out that this woman is very similar to Vermeer’s wife, Katharina Bolnes, who is believed to have been Vermeer’s model in many of his paintings, and a number of art historians have indicated Using X-rays, Vermeer was planning to paint the woman with a large white collar, which would have hidden much of her yellow dress. The girl’s veil, or hat, was later extended to cover all her hair, in order to draw attention to her face and expressions. This yellow dress has appeared remarkably in many of Vermeer’s other paintings, and it is also noted that the woman also wears a blue apron over her dress, but it is hidden in the shadow added by the table; The apron was a common garment at the time, and was worn in homes, and art historians have interpreted this to mean that the officer surprised the woman with an impromptu visit during her morning duties and she did not expect it, which made her wear two types of clothes, but it is generally clear That the girl belongs to the wealthy class.

As for the other person, who is the officer, it is clear that he belongs to the cavalrymen in their uniforms known at that time, with that large hat that seems to be expensive, as it is wide-brimmed and made of beaver skin that is resistant to cold, snow and rainy weather, and it is clear that the hat with its luxurious leather has been It was imported from abroad, and critics point out that the red color in the officer’s uniform is associated with strength and passion, which gives the painting a mood and emotional splendor. It gives the general painting scene a kind of drama and mystery, and that is a special stylistic for which the artist is famous, as well as the famous artist Caravaggio, and Vermeer may have learned it from him.

Critics talked a lot about the window that appears in the scene of the painting, and it is always employed by the artist in many other works, as it is similar to those in the painting “A Girl Reading a Message at the Window”, “The Milk Bartender”, and many of the paintings that the artist painted. However, the glass in the window of this particular work contains many differences in colors, which indicates Vermeer’s accuracy in the details of this painting, and it seems clear that the bright light that floods parts of the room sneaks through that window, while no external scene can be observed ; Where Vermeer never allows the viewer to see the outside world, and this is also one of his methods of drawing, and perhaps he wants from behind that that all the focus of the viewer be on the scene directly in front of him, and does not transcend it to others, and even inside the painting, Vermeer makes two worlds, one of them primary and the other marginal, and through the game of lighting and colors focus on the main scene while the marginal languishes in the shadows, and the color test conducted by expert W. Cohen revealed Vermeer’s use of pigments typical of the Baroque era; Such as: ochre, pigment, lapis lazuli, azurite, and other types of original and strong dyes.

The painting was considered one of the timeless artistic icons. Where it enjoyed great popularity, and dealt with critics and art historians a lot, and is now one of three paintings by Vermeer in the collection of the «Frick» Museum in New York.