NG London/Past Exhibitions/2001/Vermeer and the Delft School (original) (raw)
Johannes Vermeer,
'A Young Woman seated at a Virginal', about 1670.
London, The National Gallery.
Vermeer and the Delft School
20 June - 16 Sept 2001
Sainsbury Wing
Sponsored by Ernst and Young
The Dutch town of Delft emerged as an important artistic centre rather suddenly in the late 1640s. Above all, the works of Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch established Delft's fame, yet during that period the city also sustained a vibrant artistic community that involved a wide variety of very accomplished painters as well as tapestry-makers, silversmiths and faiencers. To the present day Delft is famous for its blue and white porcelain, so-called Delftware.
This major international exhibition presented the work of Delft's two most celebrated artists, Vermeer and De Hooch, within the broader context of the local artistic environment. It also investigated the earlier developments that paved the way for their important innovations.
Here in London the exhibition brought together 13 paintings by Vermeer and 11 by De Hooch. They were shown with almost 50 works by some of Delft's most accomplished painters, such as Gerard Houckgeest's luminous church interiors, the elegant portraits of Michiel van Mierevelt, Paulus Potter's atmospheric landscapes, Leonaert Bramer's dramatic interpretations of biblical stories and the magnificent flower still lifes by Balthasar van der Ast.
Exhibition book, 'Vermeer and Painting in Delft' by Axel Rüger