Vermeer

[CaliAnn]

Amazing work!

 

[Joy]

Like everyone else, I am blown away! You must have seen the movie Tim's Vermeer. We saw it twice. Your deft handling of the light is laudable.

 

[Marc]

All they need is a protester glued to them!

 

[Desforges]

WOW!

 

[Andy_in_Vienna]

simply amazing ... what can one say??? impeccable .... I especially love the girl with the pearl earring!!!! please present us with more paintings that might still be in your vault!!!!

 

[Artyczar]

Excellent rendition!

 

[Hamburgefions]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

As you know, all this has nothing to do with art per se. It's just 'copying', and you can throw anything on a blank canvas, there will always be someone for whom this is art, no matter what it says. Making a copy of an existing masterpiece will never be considered art. And that's exactly why I'm making this series.
This clarity creates some peace.
Moreover, it is a wonderful way to learn something about our old masters.

 

[Joy]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

As you know, all this has nothing to do with art per se. It's just 'copying', and you can throw anything on a blank canvas, there will always be someone for whom this is art, no matter what it says. Making a copy of an existing masterpiece will never be considered art. And that's exactly why I'm making this series.
This clarity creates some peace.
Moreover, it is a wonderful way to learn something about our old masters.

Very well said! Although you have shown considerable skill in technique with your renderings, creating an astonishing depiction of light. My admiration is immense for those that can creatively interpret a subject, with which I struggle. Thank you for sharing these with us!

 

[john]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

As you know, all this has nothing to do with art per se. It's just 'copying', and you can throw anything on a blank canvas, there will always be someone for whom this is art, no matter what it says. Making a copy of an existing masterpiece will never be considered art. And that's exactly why I'm making this series.
This clarity creates some peace.
Moreover, it is a wonderful way to learn something about our old masters.

Yeah what they all said above. Impressive. But I think it does have to do with art. You are studying important art. But not making it? Hmmm.

I find the comment about just copying and not being art thing.....interesting. Very. Of course this opens a whole can of worms doesn't it. What about "copying" an original photo in paint? And what about copying that face? Or the landscape? The only reason it's seen as art might just be that we can't copy like a camera does. Once the impressionists moved outside they needed to paint quickly and this resulted in a certain fast dash look. How often did they invent what wasn't there? Hardly ever. Accent it or change colors maybe. So what they did was not art?

Of course, Vermeer was just copying also so.......

That's another reason that copying a Vermeer as you have done is brilliant.

 

[snoball]

Fantastic job!

 

[fedetony]

Amazing skills you have!

 

[Hamburgefions]

Here's another one.

"The Milkmaid" , Oil on canvas 46 x 42 cm (18,7 x 17,1 in)

 

[fedetony]

Beautiful... are you also mixing the paints and preparing the canvas? or what materials you use for this?

 

[Terri]

This is one of my favorite Vermeers. Your rendition makes it sing again for me. The blues, the lighting, and even the loaf of bread - all just exquisite.

 

[john]

Nothing profound about this at all. Milkmaid? What does that even mean? So why the bread? And who drinks milk out of a bowl? The cat? What's that thing on the floor? They can afford fine Delftware and a maid but not a paint job on the walls? And pick up those things on the floor before someone trips on them, or worse. And what's with all the blue cloth? What, did he just discover ultramarine? A ridiculous painting.

But really well done.

 

[Artyczar]

Magnificent!!!!

 

[Artyczar]

Nothing profound about this at all. Milkmaid? What does that even mean? So why the bread? And who drinks milk out of a bowl? The cat? What's that thing on the floor? They can afford fine Delftware and a maid but not a paint job on the walls? And pick up those things on the floor before someone trips on them, or worse. And what's with all the blue cloth? What, did he just discover ultramarine? A ridiculous painting.

You're too funny John. I think he's just all about the light, but you do point out the ridiculousness of this.

 

[Hamburgefions]

Nothing profound about this at all. Milkmaid? What does that even mean? So why the bread? And who drinks milk out of a bowl? The cat? What's that thing on the floor? They can afford fine Delftware and a maid but not a paint job on the walls? And pick up those things on the floor before someone trips on them, or worse. And what's with all the blue cloth? What, did he just discover ultramarine? A ridiculous painting.

But really well done.

A milkmaid was someone who came around with milk to the people, back in those days. You are right, what you see on the painting was more of a kitchen maid, rather than a milk maid.
The woman is making a meal with bread and milk. She will not drink the milk from the bowl, neither will the cat. She's only preparing it in the bowl. And that "thing" on the floor is a device to warm your feet. The things on the floor are remnants of straw/wood which they used to warm up that device.
The blue skirt and cloth are very present, probably because they are surrounded mostly by warm colors.
It is true that the walls may be thoroughly painted once, but it is far from impossible that a Vermeer once hung on that same wall. And who of us can say this?

Thanks to you and everyone else for the comments.

 

[Hamburgefions]

Beautiful... are you also mixing the paints and preparing the canvas? or what materials you use for this?

I am preparing the canvas with another extra 3 layers of gesso and it is glued on Dibond.. The oilpaints are tube paints (Schmincke/Williamsburg).
The underpainting is very thinly applied with a mixture of gesso and acrylic paint (Golden).

 

[john]

A milkmaid was someone who came around with milk to the people, back in those days. You are right, what you see on the painting was more of a kitchen maid, rather than a milk maid.
The woman is making a meal with bread and milk. She will not drink the milk from the bowl, neither will the cat. She's only preparing it in the bowl. And that "thing" on the floor is a device to warm your feet. The things on the floor are remnants of straw/wood which they used to warm up that device.
The blue skirt and cloth are very present, probably because they are surrounded mostly by warm colors.
It is true that the walls may be thoroughly painted once, but it is far from impossible that a Vermeer once hung on that same wall. And who of us can say this?

Thanks to you and everyone else for the comments.

I was thinking that the bread might go in the milk. My Dad used to eat that way. Echoes of living through the Great Depression. Did not know about the foot warmer. Interesting. Yeah the blue is luscious, why not use it? I found this about Vermeer's blue....

Ultramarine was by far the most expensive blue pigment available in the seventeenth century. Dutch high-life genre painters, including Vermeer, were especially fond of ultramarine, and its distinctive intense blue colour [1,2,3]. Its presence may even have enhanced the value of a painting for collectors Analysis with synchrotron sulphur K-edge XANES suggested that the ultramarine pigment was prepared—at least in part—from a heat-treated lapis lazuli rock [3]https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-020-00364-5

As far as the walls, it was probably the unheated maid's kitchen? so would not be attended to that much plus with all the wood burning? foot warmers things were probably quite sooty. Maybe it was her own modest meal of bread and milk.