Vermeer's Hat (Paperback)

The seventeenth century and the dawn of the global world

Timothy Brook

As a record-breaking, rapturously reviewed exhibition at the Rijksmuseum gathers together more paintings by Vermeer than have ever been shown in the same place, Vermeer's Hat is a fascinating examination of the world in which the Old Master painted.

'Effortless and compelling, Brooks is a wonderful storyteller. I doubt I will read a better book this year.' Sunday Telegraph

Each of Vermeer's paintings tells a story. In one, a military officer leans toward a laughing girl; in another, a woman stands by a window and weighs silver; in a third, fruit spills from a porcelain bowl onto a lavish Turkish carpet.

Hiding in plain sight, these details hint at the intricate threads that bound Vermeer's world together - the officer's hat is made from North American beaver, bought with silver extracted from the mines of Peru, while beaver pelts were traded in their thousands for the Chinese porcelain so beloved by the Dutch in the Golden Age. From a view of Delft, Vermeer gives us the world.

As a new Vermeer exhibition opens at the Rijksmuseum, the largest of its kind in history, Vermeer's Hat offers a fascinating perspective on how the burgeoning forces of trade and commerce shaped Vermeer's masterpieces.

Publication date: 16/07/2009

£29.99

ISBN: 9781846681202

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: History & Classics

Vermeer's Hat (Ebook)

The seventeenth century and the dawn of the global world

Timothy Brook

As a record-breaking, rapturously reviewed exhibition at the Rijksmuseum gathers together more paintings by Vermeer than have ever been shown in the same place, Vermeer's Hat is a fascinating examination of the world in which the Old Master painted.

'Effortless and compelling, Brooks is a wonderful storyteller. I doubt I will read a better book this year.' Sunday Telegraph

Each of Vermeer's paintings tells a story. In one, a military officer leans toward a laughing girl; in another, a woman stands by a window and weighs silver; in a third, fruit spills from a porcelain bowl onto a lavish Turkish carpet.

Hiding in plain sight, these details hint at the intricate threads that bound Vermeer's world together - the officer's hat is made from North American beaver, bought with silver extracted from the mines of Peru, while beaver pelts were traded in their thousands for the Chinese porcelain so beloved by the Dutch in the Golden Age. From a view of Delft, Vermeer gives us the world.

As a new Vermeer exhibition opens at the Rijksmuseum, the largest of its kind in history, Vermeer's Hat offers a fascinating perspective on how the burgeoning forces of trade and commerce shaped Vermeer's masterpieces.

Publication date: 09/07/2010

£9.99

ISBN: 9781847652546

ISBN 10 / ASIN: B003F5NSWE

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: History & Classics

Reviews for Vermeer's Hat

'Spell-binding ... as a guide to the world behind the pictures Vermeer's Hat is mind-expanding'

John Carey Sunday Times

'A brilliant attempt to make us understand the reach and breadth of the first global age'

Kathryn Hughes Guardian

'Brook takes you into the paintings in a way that can be spookily intimate'

William Leith Evening Standard

'Brook is a gifted storyteller... spellbinding... a treasure trove of astonishing pleasures'

 The Lady

'How brilliantly Brook connects all with all'

 Guardian

'Revelatory'

 Sunday Business Post

'Illuminating footnotes to Vermeer's miracles on canvas'

 Independent

'An erudite, surprising book that finds traces of swashbuckling where you'd least expect'

Thomas Marks Daily Telegraph

'Truly mesmerising. In this accessible but authoritative study, he... shows better than anyone I've read so far, the truly subversive power of detail'

Lesley McDowell Independent on Sunday

Timothy Brook

Timothy Brook

A native of Toronto, Timothy Brook has taught Chinese history at the University of British Columbia since 2004. He was appointed Shaw Professor of Chinese at Oxford in 2007, but returned to UBC in 2009, where he holds the Republic of China Chair in UBC's Institute of Asian Research. An honorary professor of East China Normal University in Shanghai, he holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick.
Primarily a historian of the 16th and 17th centuries, Brook also works on Japan's wartime occupation of China and human rights in contemporary China. He has written eight books and edited nine, in addition to serving as editor-in-chief of the six-volume History of Imperial China from Harvard University Press.
Profile published his most widely read book, Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global Age, in 2008. It was awarded the Mark Lynton Prize from the Columbia School of Journalism and the Prix Auguste Pavie from the Académie des Sciences d'Outre-mer, Paris, and has been translated into a dozen languages.
Brook lives on Salt Spring Island with his wife, Fay Sims. Their four children are spread from Vancouver to New York.

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