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Vermeer Booklist

Books related to Vermeer and his art

• Girl with a Pearl Earring: A Novel
  by Chevalier, Tracy
  PW
  With the precision and focus of an Old Master's painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring paints a vivid portrait of colorful 17th-century Delft, as well as the hauntingly poignant story of one young girl's rite of passage.
• Circles of Confusion: A Clarie Montrose Mystery
  by Henry, April
  When DMV employee/sleuth Claire Montrose inherits a painting that looks as if it might be valuable, she encounters two men who are a little too eager to assist her in its appraisal.
• The Dance of Geometry
  by Brian Howell
  Brian Howell has masterfully interwoven three imagined episodes from the life of Vermeer. Praised by Katherine Weber (The Music Lesson) and artist David Hockney, this novel provides insight into the artist's vision and the creative process. - From Publisher Marketing.
• Girl in Hyacinth Blue
  by Vreeland, Susan
  Booklist PW Kirkus
  In Susan Vreeland's gentle and beautiful new book, the ownership of a supposed vermeer painting is traced back to the moment of its inspiration; and as the painting moves through each owner's hands, what was long hidden or forgotten or repressed quietly surfaces. Like Vermeer's paintings, this novel illuminates the poignantly dear moments in people's lives. Tied together by a collective admiration, even love, for the painting, Vreeland's characters remind us how beauty transforms and why we reach for it, what lasts and what in our lives is singular, and unforgettable.
• The Music Lesson: A Novel
  by Weber, Katharine
  PW LJ
  A startling, contemplative literary thriller about a passionate love affair, a stolen painting, and a violent splinter group of the IRA, by the author of Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.

More novels about Vermeer or Flemish/Dutch art:

• Tulip Fever
  Author: Moggach, Deborah
  Publisher: Delacorte $ 21.95 ISBN: 0385334893
  PW
  With critical raves from Britain and film rights already sold to Steven Spielberg, Tulip Fever is a tour de force set in 1630s Amsterdam - a tale about a smoldering passion that develops between a married woman and the artist painting her portrait.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars

And . . .
The Red Hat by John Bayley
The Recognitions by William Gaddis
Landscape of Lies by Peter Watson

Nonfiction:

• Vermeer: A View of Delft
  by Bailey, Anthony
  Publisher: Holt $ 27.50 ISBN: 0805067183 Date: 2001
  LJ
  Bailey presents a compelling portrait of Vermeer's life and character as he recreates the atmosphere of the times, introduces Vermeer's contemporaries, and portrays his domestic life in vibrant detail. Bailey sheds light on the science and artistry behind the glorious, almost mystical, paintings.
• The Golden Age of Dutch Art: Painting, Sculpture, Decorative Art
  by Kiers, Judikje
  Publisher: Thames $ 50 ISBN: 0500237743 Date: 2000
  Library Journal
  This sumptuous survey illuminates the extraordinary riAugust 6, 2007enteenth century -- the Dutch Golden Age. It is published on the occasion of an ambitious exhibition organized to celebrate the bicentenary of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. - Publisher Marketing.
  

Vermeer Links:

Paintings of Vermeer

Webmuseum, Paris - Vermeer

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