Thursday, October 26, 2017

Consider This --- Day 6/258

Walk: The Hood and The Pad
Distance: 1.2 miles, 5 minutes at home Without Immobilizer!, seated marching Without Immobilizer!, 4 exercise/asana/flexion

Johannes Vermeer, The Art of Painting, 1665-1668, oil on canvas

Vermeer was trained in and employed the techniques taught in the art guilds of his time and practiced by his contemporaries.  His paints were the same and only ones available during his career.  The only color he used more often than his contemporaries was the more expensive ultramarine blue instead of azure. His brushwork was by the book of his time.  His subject matter was often identical to his contemporaries and sometimes copied from them (which was acceptable practice among his fellow artists).  He most probably used the camera obscura as a tool for producing his paintings.  When he died, his reputation was such that his paintings were often ascribed to other, more well regarded artists in order to ensure their sale when they came up for auction.

So, what demarks a genius, an adjective every art viewer from the most casual to the most learned would agree applies to Vermeer?

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