This week’s works of art is an early work by the renowned Dutch painter Jan Vermeer, though technically Johannes Vermeer. In fact, the Swiss Berger Foundation claims it’s Vermeer’s very first known painting, though others disagree. It’s most often known as The Procuress, though occasionally it’s called The Go-Between. Painted in 1656, today the painting hangs in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, which is in Dresden, Germany. I saw the original when I visited the nearby Radeberg Brauerei a number of years ago, as we stayed in downtown Dresden.

In “Vermeer: The Complete Works,” author Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr, describes the painting:

Few of Vermeer’s paintings are as provocative as this fascinating scene of mercenary love, which, in its subject, as well as in its momentary gestures and expressions, seems to differ from his earlier biblical and mythological scenes. Here, behind a balustrade covered by a richly decorated rug, a procuress looks approvingly at a soldier, who offers a young woman a coin while fondling her breast. Holding a glass of wine in one hand, she willingly accepts his proposition with her other.

Wikipedia has its own page for the painting. And Essential Vermeer also has analysis of the painting from additional sources. They also have a very cool interactive Procuress where you hold your mouse over different parts of the painting to get detailed information about that area. For our purposes, here’s what they have to say about the beer in the picture:

And here’s the information about the Römer glass referred to above:

You can read Vermeer’s biography at Wikipedia and at ArTable. There are also endless resources at Essential Vermeer. To see the rest of Vermeer’s paintings, the Essential Vermeer has a complete collection or check out the Web Museum, the Web Gallery of Art or the Artchive.

As tomorrow is Halloween, this week’s works of art involves the supernatural as well as beer. It’s from around 1639 and was painted by Judith Leyster, one of three significant Dutch Golden Age female artists. It’s known by various titles, The Last Drop, the Gay Cavalier and the Merry Drinkers. Whatever you call it, the original is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The museum describes the painting:

The costume that the standing figure wears over his clothes suggests that the setting is vastenavond, the night before the beginning of Lent, when people frequently went on binges in order to prepare themselves for fasting and abstinence. This painting speculates on the consequences of such overindulgence. In their dissipated state, the gay cavalier and his companion ignore the menacing presence of the skeleton, which bears an ominous hourglass in one bony hand and a skull in the other.

But another art critic had this to say:

This candle-lit cabaret scene depicts beer drinkers engaged in a drinking competition of sorts. The use of shadow and contrasts in light is pronounced and is reminiscent of Caravaggio. Although the scene is a merry one, Death, symbolized by the skeleton, is present to encourage their excesses, marking them for an all too obvious fate. The setting is magnificently constructed and the lively treatment owes much to Frans Hals. The allegory is striking in the contrast it depicts between the carefree frolickings of the figures and the tragedy awaiting them.

So it seems not everyone agrees about what’s going on in the painting, but it seemed appropriate for Halloween because of the skeleton and the spectre of death it represents.

Leyster painted a number of portraits and genre paintings, and at least one more with beer. Below is The Merry Drinker, from 1630.

Unfortunately, she stopped painting after she married. Of course, it was the 17th century. You can read her biography at Wikipedia and at the National Museum
of Women in the Arts. And you can see more of her paintings at ArtCyclopedia, Olga’s Gallery, the Web Gallery of Art and the WikiMedia Gallery.

Last week’s artworks were all paintings of wheat fields by Vincent Van Gogh for the most recent Session on wheat beers. Since wheat fields were a favorite subject for Van Gogh — throughout his life he painted at least 40 artworks that included a wheat field — I couldn’t help but feature several more again this week.

Wheat field, painted in 1889.

Green Wheat Field, also painted in 1889.

Wheat Field with Reaper, from 1888.

Sheaves of What in a Field, from 1885.

Sunset Wheat Fields Near Arles, from 1888.

Wheat Field Behind Saint Paul Hospital with a Reaper, from 1889.

Wheat Field with Cypresses at the Haute Galline Near Eygalieres, from 1889.

Sunset Wheat Field with Sheafs, from 1888.

For more about Vincent Van Gogh, Wikipedia is a good place to start, though there’s even more at the Vincent Van Gogh Gallery, which has a complete list of his works. There are also tons of links at the ArtCyclopedia and another biography at the Web Museum.

Today’s artworks are all by one of the world’s most well-known artists, Vincent Van Gogh. Given last Friday’s Session topic — wheat beers — I thought it would be fun to look at some paintings of what fields. Wheat fields were a favorite subject for Van Gogh and throughout his life he painted at least 40 artworks that included a wheat field.

One of his most famous wheat field paintings was Wheatfield with Crows, painted toward the end of Van Gogh’s life, in 1890, the same year he passed away. It was also the subject of an episode of Simon Schama’s Power of Art, a wonderful documentary series on art that I heartily recommend. In addition, it was used in a surreal sequence of a lesser know film by Akira Kurosawa called Dreams. The original is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Here’s what the Van Gogh Museum has to say about the painting:

Wheatfield with Crows is one of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings and probably the one most subject to speculation. It was executed in July 1890, in the last weeks of Van Gogh’s life. Many have claimed it was his last work, seeing the dramatic, cloudy sky filled with crows and the cut-off path as obvious portents of his coming end. However, since no letters are known from the period immediately preceding his death, we can only guess what his final work might really have been. Some scholars believe it was the Tree-roots, but we have no proof that this was the case.

Another one painted around the same time was Wheat Field Under Clouded Sky, also painted in 1890.

Can Gogh also executed a series of paintings called “The Wheat Field” series. All of the paintings “depict the view Van Gogh had from the window of his bedroom on the top floor of the asylum” at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence from June 1889 to May 1890. Here’s one from that series, Wheat Field, Sunrise, painted in 1890.

And here’s another one, Wheat Field with Rising Sun, from 1889.

For more about Vincent Van Gogh, Wikipedia is a good place to start, though there’s even more at the Vincent Van Gogh Gallery, which has a complete list of his works. There are also tons of links at the ArtCyclopedia and another biography at the Web Museum.