On Vermeer's Hat

This is a great popular history. In it, Timothy Brooks examines the details of a number of paintings by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, as well as a piece of delftware, and a painting by Vermeer’s contemporary, Hendrik van der Burch, to explore the ways in which express a larger image of the world. Although the seventeenth century was not a time of “first contacts,” Brooks argues that it was a time of more intensive relations with peoples that Europe had contacted in the sixteenth century. For this, he uses the term “second contacts” to describe the constant interconnections between Europeans and peoples of the outside world; in this case, Brooks is particularly interested with Dutch-East Asian relations, especially between the Dutch and the Ming.

Ultimately, Brooks’s book is not about paintings as such, but about the 17th century world. Rather than examine the history of art, he finds one or two specific details within each painting and elaborates on how such an object came to be painted. The first painting that he explores, A View of Delft (1660-61) is notable in that it is Vermeer’s only large-scale painting, and only one of two outdoor paintings. He highlights herring boats, which indicate the importance of the Little Ice Age to the 17th century (herring fisheries shifted southward from the North Sea), and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) warehouse, which is symbolic of the rise of capitalism and the emergence of multinational, monopolistic companies.

Other details that Vermeer highlights include a map in Officer and Laughing Girl (1658), which was made possible by French contacts with indigenous peoples in North America and the development of the arquebus; a bowl of fruit in Young Woman Reading a Letter at an Open Window (1657)—some of the fruits came from China and the dish is almost surely Chinese; a globe in The Geographer (1669), which indicates European cartographic knowledge; a Chinese man smoking tobacco (which came from the Americas) on a delftware plate; and more.

None of the processes in the book will be new to world historians, but the stories themselves are interesting and surprising. I’m fascinated by Brooks’s approach, in particular, of looking at details and pulling out the threads to make sense of larger processes.

This is a great, easy introduction to 17th century world history, and—although I consumed the entire thing in one sitting over the course of a few hours—it’s probably better suited to keeping on a bedside table and reading a few pages each night. Recommend.