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Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Love Letter by Johannes Vermeer at Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

The lady dressed in fur and fine materials, stops playing lute and looks up to the maid with a letter in her hand that just arrived and still unopened. We as viewer are looking into a bright room with these two figures and two paintings on wall. The paintings in the paintings usually provide a clue, a cue, a motto and a story to tell. The landscape above is a man walking in the country. The one below is a sail boat on sea. Main object in both paintings are lined up with the lady’s gaze. Both painting suggests journey and distance which are linked to the lady’s concern; the person who wrote the letter.

Scholars elaborate on every single subject on the painting. From the clogs and a broom that lay astray which might indicate that the lady is conducting an affair rather than a legitimated love, to the chosen instrument, lute, and sheet music on the front right which suggest harmony and companionship. The mystery of Vermeer remains unascertained.

情書/維美爾/阿姆斯特丹的國家博物館

女人穿在皮草和漂亮精緻的衣服, 停止裡手上的lute ( 網上有翻譯做魯特琴，或翻成琵琶，總之是弦樂器的一種。) 抬頭看著傭人，手裡剛拿到信。剛剛拿到，還沒打開，可是看兩個女人的眼神，她們已經知道是誰寄來的。我們作為看畫的人，由暗處看進一個明亮的房間裡，有這兩個女人和二張清楚的畫。
畫中畫通常提供一個線索、一個暗示、一個老生常談，座右銘或一個畫家要告訴你的故事。上面的那幅風景是描繪一個人走在郊外。下面的是一條帆船在海上。在兩張繪畫的主角，人和船與坐著的女人抬起的目光成一直線。暗示了女人關心的對象，那個寄信的人現在不在身邊。

學者會極其詳盡地闡述在每一個繪畫中的物件。像地上的木屐，斜擺的掃帚可能表示這份愛情不是太正當的。魯特琴這個樂器和散佈在前面的譜也許也有當時的含意。維美爾畫中的故事會永遠充滿未解的神秘。

Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Dutch artist Jan van Eyck

Dutch artist Jan van Eyck

Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Lady in blue dress reading letter/Dutch/J. Vermeer/Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Although the lady appears to be pregnant, probably she isn’t. There are scholars saying the theme of a pregnant woman is quite unusual during 17th century. She is probably just wearing wide blue jacket, fashionable and common at that moment. She is reading a letter with full concentration. Behind her on the wall is a large map depicting Dutch’s formidable sea trade in its golden age. The letter in painting often associates the idea with love. And the map of exotic place is likely indicating a traveling and absent lover.

A great artist is one that knows how to tell stories. Even in this painting, a static composition, we can hear a suggestion, a question mark, or a hidden story in Vermeer’s master piece.

The blue tone dominates the scene contrasting with and balancing the yellow brown map. He uses a particular technique to bring a layer of transparent lighting to the painting. The light from the left casts shadow on table, chair and map but not affect the lady. She glows without shadow.

讀信的女人/荷蘭/維美爾

雖然畫裡的女人看起來是懷孕中，但據一派專家說法指出，17世紀時把懷孕的女人作為做畫對象是不太平常的事，她應該沒有懷孕，只是穿這樣大大鬆鬆的外衣在當時是流行的。她正專心得在讀信，牆上掛著大幅荷蘭殖民地的地圖，原畫裡可以清楚得看見海岸線。信件這個主題如果出現在當時的畫中，通常與愛情有關。遠方的地圖也許在表示信是由遠方的人寄過來的，可能是她出遠門的情人或丈夫。

偉大的藝術家都是會說故事的人。甚至在這樣一幅簡單，安靜的構圖裡，你可以聽見一個提示，一個問號，或一個故事。

藍色調是整幅畫的重心，平衡與對照著褐黃色的地圖。維美爾把畫面加上一層淡淡透明純淨的光，這是他做畫常用的技巧之一。就像大部份他的畫作一般，光由左邊照進來。桌子，椅子和地圖都有陰影，只有畫中人如同獨立於畫外，身上罩著一層微光而沒有陰影。

Tree

Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Kitchen Maid/Dutch/J. Vermeer/Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

In the original painting, you will be amazed by all the details, from a broken window pane, nails and holes on the wall, faded tiles near the ground, feels of materials of copperware, crunchy bread and its crumbs, till texture of her ironed headpiece, feel of weight of her drapes, fluidity of the milk... and you are drawn into her intensity of focus and hearing the milk pouring into the brown earth ware. Now if your eyes take into its color, the kitchen maid is dressed in unrealistic combination of bright colors as a tropical parrot; white, red, blue, green and yellow.

The source of light comes via the window from the left of the painting as in most of Vermeer’s remaining 35 paintings today. The light is the basic element of the composition in a painting and Vermeer is a master in its use. His light is no theatrical or dramatic but a transparent and general source that enlightens the scene. It adds a distinctive grey, blue-ish metallic notes to the painting. The young lady here is almost depicted as a figure in the context of bible stories or religious mythology.

倒牛奶的女人/荷蘭/維美爾

在掛在荷蘭國家博物館牆上的這幅維美爾的倒牛奶的女人，你會看到不可思議的細節像是窗戶玻璃的破裂，牆壁的洞與釘子，右邊接近地板的藍色年久失色的磁磚，銅器的金屬光澤，麵包和麵包屑，漿過熨過的頭巾，重的長裙，流動的奶；　是的，你幾乎可以聽見牛奶倒入陶器的聲音。接著是它的顏色，這個結實的荷蘭女人身上穿戴有白，紅，藍，綠，黃色，就像熱帶的鸚鵡那麼得鮮豔。

維美爾今天總共留下的35幅畫大部份都如同此幅的光源，從左邊照進來。光是構圖的基本要素，維美爾是個中的大師。他的光不是強烈對比與戲劇式的光，而是透明澄澈，把整個房間或場景加上淡淡灰藍，金屬般的光澤。畫中的主角專注的一刻，像是聖經或是神話故事裡的人物。

Restaurant Portugese

Restaurant Fernando's Macau
Praia De Hac Sa

黑沙海灘, 澳門

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the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building in Hong Kong by Norman Foster

香港滙豐銀行
香港中環皇后大道一號

French artist De La Tour

The Cheat by Georges de La Tour, French, Louvre Museum

In comparable to all contemporary masters in 17th-century, such as Vermeer, Rembrandt and Velázquez,..etc. you can see how distinctive of the light De La Tour sees, depicts and expresses.

The theme of playing cards was one of the favorite genre in painting - the scenes from everyday life that’s popular in later 16th- and 17th-century. Middle class is formed in west Europe and they want their portrait paint, their walls decorated. Their interest is not focused only on religious paintings as in the previous centuries. They appreciate elements close to daily life. Genre is a bit difficult word. It is like a theme a teacher suggests for his painting class to elaborate.

Two persons on the right wear exquisite fine clothing. The lady standing, who is about to serve wine and wears plain clothes, is a servant. The figure on the left with his face in the dark is the only peasant on this card game. He glances around to see if anyone found his tricks and catches our eyes. We see the sitting lady is keeping her face straight while her eyes moves totally to the corner with her crooked finger pointing at the peasant. He then holds the ace of diamond along with the other card under his belt and tries to win the game with cheats. The pretty young man with his high fashion hat, clothes with fine shining materials and embroidery at the right fixes his eyes only on his cards, totally not aware of what’s going on.

At that period of time, every town would at least have one resident painter to portrait local important figures, religious scenes, festival events. It is just like today where in small towns we still have our one favorite studio where everybody has their pictures taken.

作弊/喬治德拉圖/法國人/法國羅浮宮博物館

比較起所有17世紀的大師, 譬如維美爾, 林布朗特和維拉克茲,等. 你可以看到德拉圖如何與別人不同得去看, 去表現和去描繪光影.

玩牌是一個當時蠻受喜愛的體裁. 在16,17世紀時, 描繪日常生活的題材也才熱門起來, 也就是說畫家開始有平民百姓與中產階級為市場, 這些付錢交代畫家的人並不要只有宗教畫像以前一樣. 他們要一些可以掛在客廳,有平民趣味的東西. Genre是有點困難的字, 它是指流派或是題材, 在繪畫上如果用到這個字,　就好像一個繪畫班的老師建議這次上課用的主題.

我們從右邊看起, 這兩個人穿著華麗, 首飾, 衣服的質料相當好. 站著的是穿著簡單, 正要倒酒的僕人。左邊是唯一的市井小民, 他的臉在陰影裡, 背後藏兩張牌, 其中一張是黑桃或黑心王牌. 他的眼睛瞄來瞄去看看有沒有人看到這個作弊的把戲, 剛好接上我們看畫的人的眼神. 坐著的夫人是保持她的臉部表情不變, 而她的眼睛轉到角落斜看著女僕, 手指指向正在搞鬼的男人, 右邊漂亮的公子哥兒, 穿質料光亮的綢緞, 戴著搭配他高級時裝的羽毛帽子, 只有對他手上的牌專心, 完全不知道牌桌上發生什麼事.

在那個時期, 每個城市至少有一個駐當地畫家, 畫一些當地重要人物或是付得起錢的人的肖像, 宗教場面, 或節日慶祝活動. 這好比今天在小城鎮裡, 我們還是會有一個我們大部份的人都喜歡去的照相館.