
The various rooms of the exhibition included grouping of
oils related to such topics as lacemaking, musicians, pendants, courtship and
love, and prominent men. But the focus
is on women. My favorite paintings were
Vermeer’s “The Astronomer” (1668) and “The Geographer” (1669). Both of these works show the vibrancy of
exploration in the Dutch Republic of that time.
I came to Vermeer and other Dutch painters of the period
through my interest in the political and naval power of the Dutch
Republic. I was enthralled by the might
of this tiny country which I grew to appreciate through the magnificent work of
the American historian John Lothrop Motley, “The Rise of the Dutch Republic,” a three-volume
set published in 1856.
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