From a Linen Closet

We arrived late at Rotterdam, where was their annual marte or faire, so furnished with pictures (especially landskips and drolleries as they call those donnish representations) that I was amaz'd. . . .

When John Evelyn in 1641 thus recorded the flourishing artistic life of Holland, Jan Vermeer of Delft, who was to become the most finished realist of the Dutch School, was just nine years old. Last fortnight, visitors at a far greater fair--Queen Wilhelmina's Jubilee (TIME, Sept. 12)--found Rotterdam again furnished with pictures, and the greatest attraction of all was a painting by Jan Vermeer. Displayed among 450 Netherlands-owned masterpieces at the Boymans Museum, Christ at Emmaus (see cut) is no drollery but one of the three religious paintings ascribed to the artist. To Netherlanders who know their Vermeer it had as much novelty as if it were dated 1938, for a year ago it was not known to exist.

Discovered in a Paris linen closet and identified by The Netherlands' eminent Art Historian Abraham Bredius, the painting shows Christ in that episode after His Resurrection when He was not recognized by two of His followers until the moment He blessed the bread at their meal. In composition, it resembles a painting by Caravaggio, which Vermeer could only have seen in Rome as a young man. This and the head of Christ which is evidently based on the head in Leonardo da Vinci's famed Last Supper are strong evidences that Vermeer studied in Italy. The wine-jug, the girl in the background, and the young man who posed for both the male disciples were all used in well-known later paintings. Characteristic of Vermeer are the stiffly-painted garments and the delicate colors, lemon yellow and pearl grey, setting off the deep blue of Christ's robe. Dutch visitors, who like to look at works of art in absolute silence, complained that the parquet flooring in the room where Christ at Emmaus is hung was noisy. Carpets were immediately provided and religious silence prevailed.

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