What to read after Vermeer and the Delft School?

Seventeenth-century Delft has often been viewed as a quaint town whose artists painted scenes of domestic life. This catalogue revises that image, showing that the small but vibrant Dutch city produced a wide range of artworks, including luxurious tapestries and silver objects, as well as sophisticated paintings for the court at The Hague and for patrician collectors in Delft itself. The volume traces the history and culture of Delft from the 1200s through the lifetime of the city's most renowned painter, Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675). Some ninety paintings (sixteen of them by Vermeer), forty drawings, and a choice selection of decorative arts are examined at length and reproduced in full color. A final essay takes the reader on a walk through seventeenth-century Delft, and is accompanied by maps of the city's neighborhoods that indicate major landmarks and the homes of patrons, art dealers, and artists. -- Metropolitan Museum of Art website.