Welcome back for Season 3! We’re starting with this gorgeous, mysterious painting by Vermeer. We’ll discover the layers of meaning in this simple domestic scene, what’s in the balance and just what the Jesuits have to do with her.
We’ll also find out how a guy who started out as a butcher ended up donating this painting to the Gallery.
You can find reading recommendations and a transcript at the end of the post.
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SHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT)
“A Long Look” theme is Ascension by Ron Gelinas
Episode theme is Caro Mio Ben in C Major by Giuseppe Giordani, performed by Joel Meza. Courtesy of Soundcloud
Women Holding a Balance information
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Johannes Vermeer/Woman Holding a Balance/c. 1664,” Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century, NGA Online Editions, https://purl.org/nga/collection/artobject/1236 (accessed February 11, 2019).
https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/vermeer-woman-holding-a-balance.html
Vermeer information
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1951.html
Widener information
Dutch Paintings at the National Gallery of Art: The Untold Stories behind the Acquisitions of the Rembrandts, Vermeers, and Other Treasures in the Collection (audio)
RECOMMENDED READING
Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting (NGA shop)
Vermeer: Faith in Art by Daniel Arasse