Vermeer's Family Secrets: Genius, Discovery, and the Unknown Apprentice
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Vermeer's Family Secrets: Genius, Discovery, and the Unknown Apprentice Details
Review "Binstock resembles the detective Hercule Poirot in his methodical disentangling of the historical Vermeer from the accretion of too generous attributions and from the multiplicity of critical views, all directed to the uncovering of the artist whose autobiographical immersion in Delft, in home, and in family so fully constituted his art."―Richard Brilliant, Columbia University, author of Portraiture and My Laocoön: Alternative Claims in the Interpretation of Artworks "Impassioned and fascinating, this novel account of the intimate links between Vermeer’s art and life bristles with intelligence. It offers not only sympathetic and imaginative readings of the paintings, but questions some basic assumptions in art history. Anyone interested in Vermeer will be struck by Binstock’s audacity, erudition, and deep love of art."―Martha Hollander, Hofstra University, author of An Entrance for the Eyes: Space and Meaning in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art "Vermeer's Family Secrets is a highly original and searching account of one of the most elusive of painters. Written with delightful verve, visual subtlety, and the courage to upend the platitudes and received wisdom of certain forms of art history, Binstock's book promises a revolution in the study of Vermeer, his circule, and his milieu."―Jonathan Gilmore, Yale University, author of The Life of a Style: Beginnings and Endings in the Narrative of Art History "This book offers strong, informed opinions, bold claims, and precise chronology about one of art history’s favorite painters. While Binstock’s forceful arguments are sure to be controversial, they will inevitably provoke fresh scholarly discussion and rekindle close examination of Vermeer’s luminous pictures (and those of Carel Fabritius)."―Larry Silver, University of Pennsylvania, author of Hieronymus Bosch and Rembrandt’s Faith (co-authored with Shelley Perlove) Read more About the Author Benjamin Binstock earned his Ph.D. in Art History at Columbia University, after study in Aix-en-Provence, Berkeley, Berlin, and Amsterdam. He was a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton and the American Academy of Berlin, and has taught at Columbia, New York University, CUNY, and presently at Cooper Union in downtown Manhattan. Read more
Reviews
A book more likely to be enjoyed by the author's fellow art historians and students than the non-academic reader who only admires great art.The young scholar Benjamin Binstock writes with remarkable enthusiaum and deep knowledge while strongly asserting his numerous convictions, which include the suprising one that a Vermeer daughter--not the father--was responsible for several key paintings heretofore attributed to Johannes Vermeer, including "Girl with a Red Hat."Showing his youth, Dr. Binstock types likely art historian skeptics to his theory as "magpies" or "ostriches." It will be interesting to see, as time unfolds, whether other Vermeer experts adopt Dr. Binstock's novel convictions.Meanwhile, the whole intellectual kitchen sink is thrown into this book from the details of Vermeer's actual home, to Rembrandt, to Hieronymus Bosch, to religion, to etc. etc. (And, "didactics" is a word that apparently must be used by anyone writing about art.) While at times very interesting, this was simply a tough book for me to read from cover to cover.If you are quite interested in the detailed history of Vermeer's art, this is a book for you to purchase. For all others, just buy a nice conventional art book of this master's (or his daughter's?) beautiful paintings.As an aside, I think the author's dust jacket photograph (in shadow and light) was inspired by the self-portrait of Rembrandt on page 252.
