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Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found

byAndrew Graham-Dixon

Andrew Graham-Dixon reconstructs the elusive life of Johannes Vermeer by placing his small body of paintings within the religious, political, domestic, and commercial world of seventeenth-century Delft. Because the documentary record is sparse, he reads rooms, gestures, light, objects, and materials for clues to the artist's beliefs and intentions. The book considers Catholic imagery, family pressures, artistic technique, and the economic crisis that shadowed Vermeer's final years. It offers a richly contextual portrait of a painter whose quiet scenes remain famous even as the person behind them nearly disappeared.

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Publication date

2026-04-07

Format

Hardcover

Pages

496

ISBN

9781324124115