Dear Cheryl,

Your choice of A Girl with A Red Hat as your favorite did not surprise me, as it is indeed exquisite. Also, among the girls Vermeer portrayed I know of no other female character as conspicuous as this one, with the exception of the Girl with a Pearl Earring of course, though this still could be a subject of debate.

By the way, I guess the author of A Girl with a Pearl Earring (the book, not the film) may have had that other intriguing female main character as a second best choice for his novel before opting for the former as its protagonist. Who was this other girl, the one with the hat, I wonder? Another maid? And if he had chosen her, would he also have created the fiction that she asked Vermeer to borrow her mistress' hat for the painting, just like the other girl is said in the novel to have asked him to borrow her mistress' pearls before accepting to be painted? Simple curiosity of course.

Here is yet another beautiful portrait of a girl by this master of light, perhaps not as impressive as the others but nevertheless equally charming and, in my opinion, most exquisite too. Please accept it as a token of my recognition for your kind words. I hope you will like it as well.




Best Wishes,

Luis Miguel Goitizolo

Dear Alain,

Thank you very much for your kind message. Your visiting this thread is all the more appreciated because I have derived a special pleasure creating it. In fact, Jan Vermeer's art has been kind of an obsession for me for a long, long time.

I also very much like your choice, View of Delft. It's such a special painting. I fell in love with this extraordinary master work from the moment I put my eyes on it for the first time. Also, it is most atypical of the Vermeer art and absolutely not an antiquated work. In fact, it could very favorably compete with any contemporary photograph taken of that city (if it were at all possible), as both Phil and Sara have very aptly pointed out. And that I know, Vermeer only painted another similar work in his entire life, the so-called Little Street (Branka's choice), although this one does look, in fact, old-fashioned.

In the other hand, you don't have to be sorry for being late, it is I who must sincerely apologize since I am replying with almost a week's delay.

Thanks again,

Luis Miguel Goitizolo

Dear Jill,

I so appreciate your visit and message. You have said a word very rarely mentioned here: LOVE. A word that is the key, along with Jan Vermeer's use of light, in of all of Jan Vermeer's work.

Not that other painters in the past did not love what they did or love was not there in their works or was not communicated to the viewer. Maybe love is so implicit in those works that we don't perceive it anymore.

But in Jan Vermeer's paintings, light and love permeate everything. And it is maybe for that reason that they are so close to perfection.

Thanks for reminding us of it.

Best Wishes,

Luis Miguel Goitizolo

P.S. I say, nowhere in Jan Vermeer's production can perhaps this all-permeating love be better appreciated than in the wonderful masterpiece below.

Dear Branka,

I am so glad that you finally showed up. Your choice of Vermeer's "The Little Street" is perfectly understandable in a person no longer enticed by the rush and noise of modern cities. Fortunately enough, you seem to still be able to enjoy placid and charming spots up there in the old, tradition- permeated parts of noble Europe. I love your phrase, "...very often, I climb to the upper window and just enjoy one special Dutch wind ..."

How sad that Jan Vermeer apparently painted only two views of the city, "The Little City" and his View of Delft. I can just imagine what would be like to gaze at one or two views of the Dutch channels painted by him. Would they look like some of the celebrated land- and seascapes by the also Dutch Rococo painter Jacob van Ruysdael (who in addition was more or less his contemporary and who, like him, died in extreme poverty)? Very probably, and I guess they would look rather timeless, as all of Vermeers' late masterpieces are.

Here is a precious landscape by Jacob van Ruysdael. I hope you like it.

Hi Luis,

I sure have enjoyed all your posts of these wonderful painters. I have never bothered about any of it, You are making me aware of art. Thank you.

Here is a rose just for you.