Review: ‘Vermeer Suite’ hits tranquil notes at Dallas Museum of Art

In the Netherlands during the 1600s, music was the most popular pastime. It was enjoyed by all classes of people, even though the subject matter was contentious.

Music was considered either a divine gift or the work of the devil. Music could inspire or lead you to ruin. It could cause you to drink too much, loosen your morals and possibly bring embarrassment to your family.

Music could be a gateway to hell or heaven depending on who was preaching. The Dutch painters of the time painted both scenes — ribald and reflective, to appeal to the largest possible audience.

The Netherlands is a Protestant country, so there were no commissions coming from the church to support artists. The church encouraged music, so the artists painted musical scenes but had to find their patrons among the newly striving middle class of merchants, which is why the paintings are small.

They were sized for homes, not palaces. The middle class was not interested in God, Romans or the king. They didn’t want high life; they wanted daily life.

The Dallas Museum of Art has gathered eight diminutive paintings from the Leiden Collection and put them on exhibit in “Vermeer Suite: Music in 17th-Century Dutch Painting.” The dark-walled gallery looks like a jewelry store displaying precious gems; bright little jewels hang on the wall. The star attraction is a painting by Johannes Vermeer, one of the period’s greatest artists.

Of the 36 paintings attributed to Vermeer, 12 of them are musical endeavors.

Unfortunately, Young Woman Seated at a Virginal is not one of his best efforts. The painting is dark and doesn’t have the luminosity of other Vermeers; neither is it a very interesting composition. Poor restorations may account for the muddiness, and some specialists think the young woman’s shawl has been overpainted and made larger, hiding the top half of her skirt, and it is the fabric of the skirt that best illustrates the deft touch of Vermeer.

There is not much going on this scene, but that is typical of Vermeer, says Olivier Meslay, the associate director of curatorial affairs and senior curator of European and American art for the DMA. Many of Vermeer’s paintings are of tranquil scenes, “probably because it was a mess at home,” Meslay says. “He had 10 children, and he was broke.”

When Vermeer died at 43, “he was in a desperate financial situation,” Meslay says.

Vermeer didn’t travel, so few people outside Delft were aware of him, and by the end of the 17th century, he was slipping from the history books. His reputation was resurrected in the 19th century, and he is now considered one of the greats of the Dutch Golden Age.

It was a tight circle of painters in Holland during this time. Gerard Dou was the most famous of them, and his student Jan Steen was also given great regard. Gerard ter Borch and Frans van Mieris are also in this exhibition; they were all living in the early 1600s and painted domestic scenes or tavern bawdiness.

The other master of the time was Rembrandt, who lived in Amsterdam. His style was quite different, as he was more interested in the power of light and dark.

These painters were more intent on accurate depiction of texture and surfaces. Fabrics and skin tones are rendered with great finesse.

The musical instruments that are presented are often laden with symbolic meaning. Violas have the hourglass shape of a woman’s body, and bows are often pointing suggestively. The virginal, an early piano, is thought to have been called that because it was a favorite instrument of England’s Queen Elizabeth I, although there is no sound history, so the name is purely conjecture.

Also without absolute proof is the provenance one of the loveliest paintings in the small exhibition, A Boy Playing the Flute. It is attributed to Dirck van Santvoort, but Meslay acknowledges it may actually be a French painting, and if that is the case, “it would be a disaster.”

As pretty as the flute player is, the subject in A Man Tuning a Violin, is awkward. This painting, by Frans van Mieris, is not one of his best. It is believed to be a self-portrait, and one certainly can’t suspect him of flattering himself.

“The face is really quite horrible,” says Meslay. The hand is pretty awful, too; the fingers look quite squidlike. The painting was included because van Mieris’ skill with textures is excellent, and it makes an interesting complement to Vermeer’s handling of textures.

While this is not as powerful a show as the Jackson Pollock exhibit next door, it does press home the point that as an encyclopedic museum, the DMA has a variety of offerings. To have this eclectic gathering makes it a good time to visit.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Review: ‘Vermeer Suite’ hits tranquil notes at Dallas Museum of Art."