http://norman.walsh.name/2004/02/08/vermeer 7 23 2004-02-08T10:22:00-05:00 2004-03-31T23:22:00-05:00 $Date: 2005-09-11 10:27:02 -0400 (Sun, 11 Sep 2005) $ Norman Walsh 2004 Norman Walsh On Friday and Saturday evening, Amherst Writers & Artists Press presented a theatrical fundraiser: dinner accompanied by a series of tableaux vivants of Vermeer paintings. [Update: there are now 35 known Vermeer paintings.] Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum. On Friday and Saturday evening, Amherst Writers & Artists Press presented a theatrical fundraiser: dinner accompanied by a series of tableaux vivants of Johannes Vermeer paintings. They were generous enough to allow photographs, sans flash. Several came out passably well. The obligatory “Girl with a Pearl Earring” did not, alas. As you can see, my angle of view was often not the same as the painter’s. The inspiration for the event was the black and white tile floor at the Amherst College Alumni House which greatly resembles the floor in “The Concert”. My photo of that tableau vivant didn’t come out. The original, in case you didn’t know, is missing, it was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum . It was a great venue and a wonderful evening! The actual Vermeer images in this essay come from Roy Williams Clickery ’s excellent Paintings of Vermeer site. Update 31 Mar 2004: I learned by way of Paul Sumner Downey that a 35th painting has been confirmed as a Vermeer. (I learned of Paul’s post by way of Technorati which noticed his pointer to this essay.)