I might be a little more informed because I’m Dutch, but Vermeer is fairly well-known, and e.g. The Milkmaid and View of Delft are, I believe, other fairly famous paintings of his (albeit less famous than The Girl with the Pearl Earring).
Vermeer might have been a pupil of Carel Fabritius, who was a pupil of Rembrandt. The interesting thing about Fabritius is that many of his paintings got destroyed in an explosion (that also killed Fabritius), and only about a dozen remain. Which I think is also mind-blowing: this potential important link between two famous painters might very well himself have produced such wonders, but we’ll never know.
(If you’re ever in the area, I would highly recommend a visit to the Mauritshuis in The Hague. And if you like reading, The Goldfinch (referencing the Fabritius painting) by Donna Tartt is the novel that got me into all this in the first place.)
Yep, my schools didn’t teach art history. I only learned of French impressionalists in school, and that’s just because I took French class. Even art classes didn’t touch the classics, so I’m learning through my own studies now as an adult. This is what a typical American education system gives us. :(
I might be a little more informed because I’m Dutch, but Vermeer is fairly well-known, and e.g. The Milkmaid and View of Delft are, I believe, other fairly famous paintings of his (albeit less famous than The Girl with the Pearl Earring).
Vermeer might have been a pupil of Carel Fabritius, who was a pupil of Rembrandt. The interesting thing about Fabritius is that many of his paintings got destroyed in an explosion (that also killed Fabritius), and only about a dozen remain. Which I think is also mind-blowing: this potential important link between two famous painters might very well himself have produced such wonders, but we’ll never know.
(If you’re ever in the area, I would highly recommend a visit to the Mauritshuis in The Hague. And if you like reading, The Goldfinch (referencing the Fabritius painting) by Donna Tartt is the novel that got me into all this in the first place.)
Vermeer is definitely famous worldwide. This person just didn’t know him.
Yep, my schools didn’t teach art history. I only learned of French impressionalists in school, and that’s just because I took French class. Even art classes didn’t touch the classics, so I’m learning through my own studies now as an adult. This is what a typical American education system gives us. :(
Any age is a good time to learn anything! Most people stop caring after school and you don’t, and that’s fantastic.