What I Watched -- Tim's Vermeer

For T's birthday last month, we headed to Plaza Frontenac to see Tim's Vermeer.  It tells the tale of curious entrepreneur Tim Jenison, and his completely unambitious attempt to recreate a Vermeer's The Music Lesson.

Vermeer's luminous paintings have been a mystery to art historians for the 350 years since the artist's death.  Imaging techniques of other artists' works reveal sketches of the final work on the canvas under the paint.  Vermeer's paintings, at least his later ones (the famous ones), don't have those sketches.  So the question was this: how did he get that perfect perspective, not to mention those wonderful colors, without doing a little bit of sketchwork first?

Tim had an idea.  It involved a not-very-complicated setup of lenses and mirrors, and he was sure he was right.  He set about the task of recreating a Vermeer as a way to prove himself right.

That alone would be hard enough (as you eventually learn), but first he also had to recreate Vermeer's studio as depicted in The Music Lesson.  He rented warehouse space, framed windows, built 400-year-old musical instruments, fashioned mannequins, and so on.  Then the real work began.

Tim is funny, a bit irreverent, and quite an interesting character.  He makes for a good subject.  If you have any interest in art history, in Vermeer specifically, or just a curiosity about curious people, I think you'll enjoy it.