mceRnACionAL
Vermeer of Delft would have
been interested in the Atlantic
voyage of his works. He prob-
ably, {would not willingly have
stuck pins in a map, but he
might have been accessible to
the compliment of a carto-
graphic description of his later
fame. Commenting on the
Czernin Vermeer in Vienna with
its wall map, Mr. Lucas, who
will weary of being quoted, says
that "Vermeer was the first to
see the decorative possibilities
that lie in cartography." That
might mean the uses of a map
in the composition of the inte-
rior walls on which the painter
spent such triumphant pains.
Instances of fine wall maps, in-
truded at a varying rectangular
proportion into the upper right
corner of the canvas, are those
in the Frick painting, "Soldier
and Laughing Girl;" the Hun-
tington, "Lady with a Lute,"
and the Marquand "Woman
with a Water Jug," both in the
"mistress and servant" by jan vermeer Metropolitan; and the Ryks
in the Frick Collection, Neu, York Museum "Woman Reading a
Writing" from the Morgan collection, and the Letter" in Amsterdam. When in such instances
"Lady with a Lute" from the Huntington collec- the interest of the composition is focussed cen-
tion The three now in the Frick collection are trally on the canvas between a pair of figures, the
the "Soldier and Laughing Girl," the "Music horizontal map rectangle is crowded within the
Lesson" and the "Mistress and Servant." In left margin, as in the case of the Czernin map,
1924 the Duveens brought over a "Portrait of a with its twenty views of Dutch towns decorating
Youth," which brings the total for New York to the complete border, or the map of Holland in
eight. Philadelphia's three include, besides the the barer interior of the Frick example. The
Johnson painting, the two in the Widener collec- corner of the Europe map in the Huntington
tion—the "Woman Weighing Gold," brought to painting, with its seated figure truncated by the
light by Dr. de Groot in 1910, and the "Young countering shadow of the almost rectangular table
Girl with Flute" added in 1924. The Boston mass of the lower right, is still predominantly
example is the "Concert" in the late Mrs. Jack horizontal; that of the Amsterdam picture with
Gardiner's collection, which came from the collec- its heavily weighted though standing figure even
tion of the first Vermeer enthusiast, Thore, and more so. The small intruded rectangle in the
in 1892 at the Thore sale in Pans fetched twenty- Marquand painting is unusual in being a vertical
nine thousand francs. Mr. Lucas refers to one of area; the figure here is not only standing but taut
Vermeer's "Geographer" type of paintings as in its laced stays. The disposition of these geo-
being in this country. There is some indication metrical, not to say rectilinear, elements of en-
that it may be a picture which has visited these closed area in the design may be counted part of
shores without taking up a permanent abode; but the decorative possibilities of which the minute
if it is here it would bring the total American surface detail is the feature carrying the more
Vermeers to thirteen out of a grand total, as we obvious but not more undisguised emphasis. Of
have attempted above to reckon them, of thirty- any and all the decorative possibilities in such
nine—or forty, if the Paterson painting in Lon- maps, it would be a leap in the dark to say that
don, "Diana and Her Nymphs," is included. Vermeer had not seen them. But, after all, they
one twenty-four
november i Q 2 $
Vermeer of Delft would have
been interested in the Atlantic
voyage of his works. He prob-
ably, {would not willingly have
stuck pins in a map, but he
might have been accessible to
the compliment of a carto-
graphic description of his later
fame. Commenting on the
Czernin Vermeer in Vienna with
its wall map, Mr. Lucas, who
will weary of being quoted, says
that "Vermeer was the first to
see the decorative possibilities
that lie in cartography." That
might mean the uses of a map
in the composition of the inte-
rior walls on which the painter
spent such triumphant pains.
Instances of fine wall maps, in-
truded at a varying rectangular
proportion into the upper right
corner of the canvas, are those
in the Frick painting, "Soldier
and Laughing Girl;" the Hun-
tington, "Lady with a Lute,"
and the Marquand "Woman
with a Water Jug," both in the
"mistress and servant" by jan vermeer Metropolitan; and the Ryks
in the Frick Collection, Neu, York Museum "Woman Reading a
Writing" from the Morgan collection, and the Letter" in Amsterdam. When in such instances
"Lady with a Lute" from the Huntington collec- the interest of the composition is focussed cen-
tion The three now in the Frick collection are trally on the canvas between a pair of figures, the
the "Soldier and Laughing Girl," the "Music horizontal map rectangle is crowded within the
Lesson" and the "Mistress and Servant." In left margin, as in the case of the Czernin map,
1924 the Duveens brought over a "Portrait of a with its twenty views of Dutch towns decorating
Youth," which brings the total for New York to the complete border, or the map of Holland in
eight. Philadelphia's three include, besides the the barer interior of the Frick example. The
Johnson painting, the two in the Widener collec- corner of the Europe map in the Huntington
tion—the "Woman Weighing Gold," brought to painting, with its seated figure truncated by the
light by Dr. de Groot in 1910, and the "Young countering shadow of the almost rectangular table
Girl with Flute" added in 1924. The Boston mass of the lower right, is still predominantly
example is the "Concert" in the late Mrs. Jack horizontal; that of the Amsterdam picture with
Gardiner's collection, which came from the collec- its heavily weighted though standing figure even
tion of the first Vermeer enthusiast, Thore, and more so. The small intruded rectangle in the
in 1892 at the Thore sale in Pans fetched twenty- Marquand painting is unusual in being a vertical
nine thousand francs. Mr. Lucas refers to one of area; the figure here is not only standing but taut
Vermeer's "Geographer" type of paintings as in its laced stays. The disposition of these geo-
being in this country. There is some indication metrical, not to say rectilinear, elements of en-
that it may be a picture which has visited these closed area in the design may be counted part of
shores without taking up a permanent abode; but the decorative possibilities of which the minute
if it is here it would bring the total American surface detail is the feature carrying the more
Vermeers to thirteen out of a grand total, as we obvious but not more undisguised emphasis. Of
have attempted above to reckon them, of thirty- any and all the decorative possibilities in such
nine—or forty, if the Paterson painting in Lon- maps, it would be a leap in the dark to say that
don, "Diana and Her Nymphs," is included. Vermeer had not seen them. But, after all, they
one twenty-four
november i Q 2 $