The 17th - 18th century

TASK - Compare the paintings of Vermeer and Rembrandt, particularly relating to their methods of lighting in their subjects.

Johannes Vermeer was a 'genre' painter who specialized in painting 'middle-class' people and would use oil paint in most of his work. His most famous painting is 'The girl with the pearl earring' and is considered to be an artistic masterpiece.



The girl with the pearl earring' by Vermeer, 1665

His paintings were inspired by Italian art and the baroque era. He was also considerably skillful at capturing realistic lighting in his paintings, something which was very hard to master at the time and would use specially positioned mirrors to manipulate lighting.



'The music lesson' by Vermeer, 1665




'Girl with the wine glass' by Vermeer, 1969


Rembrant, another Dutch painter, was considered to be one of the greatest painters in European art history and first gained popularity as a portrait painter.



'Self portrait with beret and upturned collar' by Rembrant, 1659


He painted many self portraits during his career and would also paint pictures of his friends and peers as well as scenes from religious imagery, despite not being a religious man.



'Self portrait with Saskia' by Rembrant, 1635

Rembrant would also experiment with lighting, usually manipulating the light on the left side of what ever or whoever he would be painting, and would use mirrors like Vermeer to create lighting effects.

Bibliography: 

http://www.essentialvermeer.com/
http://www.artble.com/artists/johannes_vermeer
http://www.pubhist.com/person/1/rembrandt
http://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/presentaties/uitgelicht/rembrandt_prive/introductie/index.nl.html