Johannes Vermeer died in 1675. In the 1860s, when the French writer Théophile Thoré began publishing essays about Vermeer’s work— few connoisseurs outside Holland had heard of the artist’s name. Indeed, even in Holland it was possible, during that period, for great works by Vermeer to go completely unrecognized: in 1881, the collector A.A. des Tombe purchased perhaps Vermeer’s most iconic painting, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, for all of 2½ guilders at a small auction in The Hague. The quotation is […]

Categories: William Eaton, ZiR • Tags: art, Donald Judd, Jenny Holzer, Lisbon, theater, Vermeer