Customer Reviews
A New Perspective - By: Vineyard, 25 Jul 2008 
This book is an interesting new perspectivein Vermeer studies, looking at the objectsin his paintings from the point of view of the expanding trade networks of the 17th century. It is engagingly written & he wears his scholarship lightly.
I was disappointed the author did not investigate Vermeer's famous blue colour (anachronistically called "cobalt blue"in the book), since the ultramarine would itself have come from a complex trade network, & how it came to Delft would itself have made quite a story.
Breathtaking - By: Paul Callick, 24 Jul 2008 
Simply, a beautiful & breathtaking book. Full of marvels & curiousities, each chapter opens out to show the wider maps & ideas we thought we knew about...small details from the paintings are peered closely at, & behind them the seventeenth-century world of travel & trade, narrated through human encounters & stories. He writes wonderfully well & with such clarity about often complex issues, effortlessly moving the focus & scene from place to place: so there's a lovely rhythm about the book as he paces the (frequent) surprises subtly & narrates them with a drole & deceptively easy style. I started to read the other day & was still sat there seven hours later, transfixed by it, slowing up the pace of reading, not wanting it to end.
It didn't sparkle - By: Martin, 24 Apr 2008 
I was a little disappointedin this book. Although its concept sounded very interesting the narrative was a bit flat.
The chapters concentrated on one particular objectin a painting such as a beaver hat & then went on to explain where that object was most likely to have come from & some background history about, for example, the beaver trade. Unfortunately, the author tended to go on at length about one particular character or location for page after page of a chapter, barely referred back to Vermeer or Delft and, for most chapters, lost my interest.
I also felt cheated by the fact that although the book was trailed as a book about Vermeer's paintings separate chapters were included about works not involving Vermeer's paintings so that the author could discuss immigration into Holland & smoking.
Admittedly I did learn something about Vermeer & a few interesting facts about seventeenth century life but overall I thought the reviews I had readin newspapers were too generous.
