COURTYARD, DELFT

Like fellow Delft artist Johannes Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch specialized in quiet scenes of Dutch domestic life especially courtyards at the back of upper middle class homes. Painted in the 1650s, this painting may be one of de Hooch's earliest examples of the subject and offers a glimpse into the private world of the Dutch home that visitors rarely saw.

This painting is part of the fabulous permanent collection of the Toledo Art Museum. The Toledo Art Museum is FREE to the public. 

Thank you for visiting.

A Great Europe Trip Planner

This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on November 18, 2012. 
The photo was taken by me during my visit to the Toledo Art Museum.

VERMEER AND CAMERA OBSCURA

Many art historians believe the 17th-century Dutch Master painter Johannes Vermeer used the camera obscura. 

(photo courtesy: www.essentialvermeer.com)

The reason they believe Vermeer used camera obscura is by observing the visual effects in some of his paintings. For example, when you look at the above painting Officer and Laughing Girl, you will notice the officer's body is nearly twice the size of the girl.  The disproportionate size is a result of seeing the scene through a lens, in other words, a photographic perspective.  If this were a photograph rather than a painting, the size variation would not be as noticeable. We are quite familiar today with foreground objects appearing very large in snapshots, but in a 17th century painting this was rather unusual.  Vermeer's fellow painters would have painted the officer and girl equally in size.  This scene is correct in the visual sense; the officer just looks so much bigger because of his closeness to the viewer.

If you would like to read more about Vermeer and his use of camera obscura, click here for a very interesting three-part article, Vermeer and the Camera Obscura.

Thank you for visiting.

A Great Europe Trip Planner

This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on July 10, 2012.