By: Jonathan Janson

Jonathan Janson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:57:05 +0000

Dear Mr Lindsay ,
Thank your for the through-provoking thoughts. Although it is my self-proclaimed “job” is to be as supportive to Vermeer initiatives as possible, one of the most stimulating Vermeer exhibitions that I have attend in recent decades was with just one Vermeer, not his most extraordinary, the London “Lady Seated at a Virginal.” In the same room were tastefully displayed the MFA Baburen “Procures” which is represented in Vermeer’s work, a period viol, some Delft tiles, a period spinet, a handful analogous Dutch paintings and the Kaart Figuratief of Delft. The frailness of the spinet, the vulgarity of the Baburen (hardly evident in reproductions), the smallness of the viol and the incredible love with which the engravers worked out every detail in the Kaart evoked the real context in which Vermeer created his painting better than many essays. I imagine logistics and the monetary costs of the exhibit were not extravagant.

Please allow one more consideration. There are many ways to promote art a low costs. My own Vermeer site tallies about 500,000 unique visits a year and over 1,5000,000 page views which I assure you is an astounding number of a monographic website. It is also followed and supported by Dutch art historians and art writers who routinely use it for their research. With a bit of creativity, I crafted an interactive Vermeer catalogue which, false modesty aside, I succeeds in promoting the love of art and divulging art history in an efficient and stimulating manner. I would imagine my yearly expenses are practically nil when compared to quite a few risky museum expenditures.

Here is the interactive study of the Milkmaid.

http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/milkmaid.html

Comments on: Queuebism. Are Blockbuster Exhibitions damaging Art? Spears WMS magazine, Issue No. 23, November/December 2011.

By: Jonathan Janson