BornKnight
Jan 23, 2024
8/10
Complementary to "Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition 2023", that tell us about some of the works exhibit in 2023, when the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam displayed 28 Vermeer paintings in the largest exhibition ever by this famous Dutch painter of the 17th century.
During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy at his death, leaving his wife in debt when he died at 43yo (due to the stress after the 1672, a severe economic downturn caused by three invasion of Dutch territories) father of 8 girls and 3 boys with a 44yo wife - he and Rembrand are probably nowadays the names of that era that we remember the most on duct painting.
His works were only rediscovered around the 19th century that had an essay saying that he had 66 paintings, but we knows only 34 of them (and three more contested - that are discussed here).
This documentary by BBC instead takes a more technical side, telling about the hunt and trades to get the masterpieces to the exhibition and more about the scientifical and technical side of Veer Meer works, with maybe camera obscure and his use of pigments.
You also see more of the humane side of people involved in the exhibition, being better than the first documentary I mentioned.
A solid 8.3 out of 10.0 / A- I would say. Watch it if you admire the works of this dutch great master so much admired in his city in his days, but unknown by the rest of the world (his major patron where of the city of Delft).