An American fan of Vermeer who trained under Gérôme in Paris thought he’d discovered Vermeer’s optical secrets, and revived his defocussed style.
Vermeer
For a decade from about 1658, his indoor figurative paintings show soft and blurred edges. Establishing the optical basis for this is key to understanding.
The human visual system seldom sees blur, and the great majority of paintings don’t show it either. This series explores the use of blur in paintings.
Brunelleschi’s geometry, Masaccio’s technique and vision, Alberti’s initial and popular account, followed by a comprehensive account by Piero della Francesca.
Evoking music from a painting is a serious challenge, yet many artists have tried it. See if any of these work for you. From Lavinia Fontana to Degas.
Apelles, Vermeer, Goya, Hogarth, Courbet, Pissarro, de Haan, and Gustav Klimt: their paintings now lost forever.
A trip round the painter’s palette, with outstanding examples of well-known colours in use. Starts with yellow, then to red and finally to blue.
There were few good reasons to blur what should be sharp edges in paintings. Aerial perspective and Vermeer’s unusual optical effects explored in paintings.
An offshoot of still life paintings of food, it was never very popular, and most of these are decidedly odd. From Jan Brueghel the elder to
Did Vermeer use a camera obscura? What went wrong with Impressionist oil sketches? When did Klimt paint from photographs? Does any of this really detract from the art in a painting?
The Eclectic Light Company 