Vermeer was an inventor

The Renaissance was a complicated era. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a rather long period of darkness. Crusaders kept on crusades to retake the homeland occupied by Islam. This was also the great vision of the whole of Europe at that time. And it all ended in the last peace between Charlemagne and Saladin. The Europeans still failed to retake Jerusalem from the Muslims. Since then, it may be because the Eastern Expeditions again and again are tantamount to laboring the people and hurting the wealth, and the nobles and commoners have not gained much benefit from the Eastern Expeditions. Europeans are saying in their hearts: Since the lofty ideals cannot be realized, then stop worrying and start focusing on the present. Since then everything in Europe has taken off again, and the French have given this period a catchy name Re (re) naissance (sheng). The Renaissance symbolized another evolution in Europe. From science and technology to economic culture, everything in this period was subverting people's perception of the world.

The Vermeer described in this documentary is a subversive. When visiting art galleries in Europe, the paintings by Rembrandt in the same period are often separated from Vermeer's paintings. Maybe you don't know Rembrandt, but you must know the famous "Rembrandt". Night Watch. It was also because of this painting that Rembrandt was brought to court, then went bankrupt, and spent the rest of his life destitute. Rembrandt's portrait painting skills are very superb, especially his use of light in portrait painting. Through the contrast between the highlights and shadows of the picture, I always feel that he is not only painting portraits, but can draw the hearts of the characters. I was most impressed with Rembrandt's self-portraits as a young man, in which he wore a funny big hat, stand-up shirt and fur coat, not at all in keeping with the trend of the time. Rembrandt seems to be an interesting person, so in the self-portrait, the corners of his mouth are slightly raised because of something, complacent, as if he is full of hope in life. Although Vermeer was not a famous painter at the time, his paintings could not sell for high prices at that time, but the paintings he painted were very different from the oil paintings of Rembrandt and Caravaggio in the same period. Vermeer's oil paintings were more like shot with some kind of instrument. His paintings are more of a meticulous depiction of that era, not letting go of anything. In his paintings, you can see Persian carpets that symbolize trade between East and West, globes that symbolize the beginning of human exploration of the world, and classical cellos and harpsichords that symbolize prosperity. , his paintings can show details that are invisible to the human eye, such as the decorative patterns on the indoor carpet, the decorative patterns on the piano, and the reflections on the edge of the basket. These details that are generally ignored by other painters will be in Vermeer's work. Reproduced as in the painting. Until now, everyone was wondering how Vermeer captured these elements and "copied" them to the canvas in the proper proportions.

Until David Hockney, an old British urchin who is obsessed with art, he is not only keen on oil painting, but his style is a bit like Picasso + Van Gogh + Miro + Impressionism. Maybe his style will continue to "+" indefinitely, in short, this is his style. His attitude towards art is play. One day he became curious about Vermeer's oil paintings, so he probably figured out Vermeer's painting skills through simple optical instruments. But what tool Vermeer really used in his creation is a question left to many people.

The question was answered when David Hockney met Tim Jenison, who were both attracted to Vermeer's painting skills. Tim is an inventor who likes to repair various sound-producing instruments since he was a child. Tim has repaired game consoles, assembled robots, and even picked up old church organs and assembled them into a set of large pipe organs with three parts. In short, Tim is full of curiosity about everything around him. After a lot of investigation into Vemeer's era. Tim concluded that Vermeer is a painting completed using techniques such as mirrors and pinhole imaging. These technologies are also in line with the scientific trend of the 17th century, when Galileo invented the telescope, the glass produced on the island of Murano in Venice was popular in the European continent, and the streets and alleys were full of manual workshops that used cannonballs to grind glass. Endless exploration of the world. After getting a grasp of the technology, Tim's biggest project is to restore the home furnishings of that period. The painting he wants to reproduce is "The Music Lesson". In the original painting, you can see the trendy elements at that time: Delft white porcelain Water bottles, pearl earrings, black and white interior floors, wrought-iron glass windows. So he rented a warehouse and transformed it into the same room as in the painting. Even the patterns on the piano were drawn stroke by stroke according to the oil painting, and even the chair in the painting could not be bought, so Tim made it himself. Tim's pursuit of technology is no less than David's pursuit of art. The collision between the two seems to be arranged by God. Finally, after 180 days of copying one by one, Tim finally completed this painting. Tim cried after finishing, because the dream of hunting in my heart has finally come true. After seeing Tim's remake, David Hokney sat in a wheelchair for a long time, unable to speak. He moved the wheelchair in and looked at the painting carefully. His expression was proud, surprised, and moved.

The two old urchins both explained their curiosity, as well as Vermeer. If there's any great merit in this picture as a work of art, It's Vermeer's composition and it's Vermeer's invention. It's just been forgotten for 350 years.

The more unconventional painters like Vermeer are, the more we feel how precious the shining point of art is. There are also people around us who play cards according to common sense or make people feel unreliable, but don't despise them, maybe one day they will become the "Vermeer" that will be talked about by future generations.