Vermeer Paintings Exhibition Notes (Patreon)

Last week I visited an exhibition of 17th century Dutch paintings, including Vermeer. I have been studying layout and composition recently, so I focused on that part of the exhibition.

In this exhibition, the cupid hidden in Vermeer's "Girl Reading at an Open Window" was finally restored, and the real one is coming to Japan, which was the topic of discussion. Incidentally, the cupid was discovered by X-ray inspection in 1979, and the latest research has revealed that it was hidden not by Vermeer himself but by a third party.

However, I was more interested in seeing the works in the collection of the Kunsthaus Dresden, so I spent more time there.

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In the 17th century, painting techniques were largely developed and entered a period of stability.  All the techniques seen here are techniques that are also used in modern illustrations.  Here we will introduce two main types.

 Light and dark first.  Shine a strong light on the parts I want to show, and place shadows on the parts I don't want to show.  Another technique is to prioritize what you want to show by brightness (②).  The method of emphasizing a person brightened by light by surrounding it with dark shadows can be seen in many paintings, including portraits (①, ②).

 It is no exaggeration to say that the light source settings for a painting are determined by what you want to show first.  And this is true for all the techniques described below.

 Placement of things and people.  It is the so-called composition or layout.

 These are always placed to emphasize what you want to show.  In ②, the woman in the middle is the main character, so she is surrounded by pillars in the background, and the direction of the faces of other people guides her gaze.  Also, by dividing the placement of the characters into triangular groups, even a large space can be compactly organized.

In ③ and ④, the lines of surrounding objects are arranged so that they converge on the main subject, and the figures are arranged to surround the main subject, helping to guide the eye. In addition, the design here is designed to draw more attention to the main subject by securing a large space around the main subject.