‘Vermeer’s Afternoon Delights’
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‘Vermeer’s Afternoon Delights’
I find James Gardner’s statement “… the Italian artists whom Vasari admired are the same artists we admire today, in nearly the same ranking and degree” utterly fantastic [Arts & Letters, “Vermeer’s Afternoon Delights,” July 7, 2008].
For Vasari, the artists of the 16th century were better than those of the 15th century, whereas for modern viewers it is the reverse.
Who today admires Pontormo more than Piero della Francesca, who admires Titian, the best of the lot, more than Uccello? During the rise of the Renaissance “advance” was from abstraction to realism whereas for us, “advance” proceeds from realism to abstraction.
The best of the 16th century (before Vasari) is very good, but it doesn’t reach the general level of the 15th century. This change of taste I describe came over the course of the 19th century, coincident with the rise of the Modern.
THOMAS KILLIAN
New York, N.Y.
