Vermeer by Andrew Graham-Dixon audiobook review – a sharp and authoritative guide
The author offers intriguing insights into the way this Dutch artist worked, including fresh perspectives on The Girl With the Pearl Earring In the decades after the death of the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer in 1675, few knew his name or work. He was so unknown that his paintings were sold with the forged signatures of more popular artists attached. All that changed in the mid-19th century, when his art was…
Key points
- Andrew Graham-Dixon's six-year biography Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found is reviewed as a sharp and authoritative audiobook.
- Vermeer was largely forgotten after his 1675 death, with his paintings sold under forged signatures.
- Graham-Dixon offers an unprovable new perspective on the figure in The Girl With the Pearl Earring.
Andrew Graham-Dixon's biography Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found, which took six years to write, is reviewed as a sharp and authoritative audiobook. The review notes that after Johannes Vermeer died in 1675, few knew his name or work, and his paintings were sold with forged signatures of more popular artists. French critics reassessed his art in the mid-19th century, and today he is one of the world's most admired painters.
Graham-Dixon, an art historian, says Vermeer has proved "stubbornly resistant to interpretation". The biography seeks to answer unresolved questions about Vermeer's life, his painting style, and the intent behind his 36 surviving works. Unlike other Dutch genre painters of his time, the Delft-born Vermeer painted solemn yet luminous scenes of women in domestic settings, and his rendering of light was unparalleled.
Audiobook narration and insights
Graham-Dixon narrates the audiobook himself, and the review describes his reading as sharp, authoritative and animated. He conjures the world Vermeer inhabited and theorises about his relationship with his patrons. The author also offers an intriguing new perspective, though impossible to prove, on the identity of the figure in The Girl With the Pearl Earring.
proved stubbornly resistant to interpretation
— Andrew Graham-Dixon
Bonus material and other audiobooks
Listeners who doubt audio is the best medium for exploring a Dutch master's life will find an attached file with copious colour plates of Vermeer's paintings. The review also mentions two other audiobooks: Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, Liza Minnelli's memoir read by the author, and Good Good Loving by Yvvette Edwards, narrated by Sara Powell.
