Excerpt from Vermeer of Delft: With a Frontispiece in Photogravure and Twelve Other Illustrations<br><br>The technical problems involved by this novel vision were unknown to the Low Countries. Their traditional method, the use of a foundation of transparent brown into which touches of more positive colour were crisply worked, with infinite craft by Metsu and Terborch, with marvellous vigour by Rembrandt and Rubens, was bankrupt in face of Vermeer's requirements. The crystalline purity of light on white walls or linen, the adj ust ment of contours and edges as trimly and precisely as the camera shows them to us to - day, the making of tones as flat and simple and solid as nature exhibits to the unsophisticated eye, and, last and most difficult of all, the suppression of every trace of human handiwork which might intervene between the spectator and complete optical illusion -such were his demands. And allied with these almost scientific ideals there was in Vermeer a spirit of refined aloofness, of leisurely aristocratic distinction, which lifts him high above his clever, but for the most part rather homely, colleagues.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.