The Inspiration

Vermeer's paintings first caught my eye in the Musee du Louvre, Paris. The picture was 'The Astronomer'. It was the way the light from the window gently illuminated the room, drawing the eye to the constellations on the globe, the astronomer turning the globe, distracted from studying his book, perhaps just imagining what could be out there.

I also saw ‘The Lacemaker’ in the Louvre. I think it’s exquisite, she is so content in pursuing her handicraft, the composition of the picture so perfect. Again he’s used the light from the window to command our perception of the scene.

Johannes Vermeer was not a prolific painter; there are only 36 works in the catalogue. They’re described as ‘scenes of contemporary life’, known in the art world as ‘genre’ paintings. Ordinary scenes rendered beautifully by the composition and Vermeer's masterly execution. It is not surprising that each one took him a long time to paint and make it so visually satisfying. X-rays show in some pictures where he’s changed his mind and painted something out.

A trip to Amsterdam and the Rijkmuseum rekindled my enthusiasm for Vermeer’s work. Some years later I saw the film ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ and was struck by how beautifully director Peter Webber had caught the feel of the paintings.

“We also tried to be aware that not everything should look like a Vermeer, which is why we looked at a bunch of other painters as well. We kept a specifically Vermeer like look for the studio and the attic but the rest of the world is culled from a variety of different Dutch genre painters.
You look at Rembrandt and you think that the work could almost be stills from a 17th century film noir, and that’s the sensibility that Eduardo Serra (Cinematographer) and I share. We like darkness and that’s the kind of things European filmmakers do. In America they tend to light from the top down; start with everything being lit and bring it down from there, but in Europe I think we go the other way. There’s a lot of darkness in this film, in fact there was almost too much to begin with. When the first graded prints were produced we realised we had gone a little bit too far, so we pulled it back. If it had been up to me and Eduardo I think we would have left it that way but we had to let the audience in a little bit to see what’s happening.” Peter Webber

My family portraits draw on the genius of Vermeer, bringing his aesthetic look and feel to the modern age and the medium of photography.



Singer songwriter Jonathon Richman has a fascination for Vermeer, as he wrote in his; “Vermeer was eerie, Vermeer was strange,
He had a more modern colour range.”




Essential Vermeer is an incredibly complete resource which I've used in compiling this website.

Get in touch to talk about the picture you would like me to create for you. Call on 078 3484 5556 or email.