Girl with the Pearl Earing

Johannes ‘Jan’ Vermeer (1632-1675), one of the most admired of all Dutch artists, was born in Delft and baptized there on October 31, 1632 -- the exact date of his birth is unknown. Public records afford historians what little facts are known about Vermeer’s life – in many ways, Vermeer is as mysterious and enigmatic as the subject of one of his best known works: “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, sometimes called ‘the Dutch Mona Lisa’.

Vermeer was a respected member of the painters' guild in Delft, but he left no journals, nor was much written about him during his life, and he produced relatively few works for a small circle of patrons. He remained in relative obscurity until the latter part of the nineteenth century, and it is the 35 or 36 paintings generally attributed to him that reveal most of what is known about the artist himself. Many of his works portray figures in interiors, often with the same furniture and decorations appearing in various arrangements; he favored bright colors and sometimes used expensive pigments, with a preference for blue and yellow. His application of paint reveals extraordinary technical ability and time consuming care, and his works are admired for the sensitivity with which he rendered effects of light and color and for the poetic quality of his images. Since the rediscovery of his work Vermeer has inspired not only other painters, but books, movies, and songs. 

 Girl with a Pearl Earring (detail)
Art Print
By Jan Vermeer
 

Rothko painting defaced at Tate Modern

Man inscribes words in black ink in corner of 1958 canvas Black on Maroon before quickly leaving room.

A photo posted on Twitter of the defaced corner of Rothko's Black on Maroon




A man has defaced a multimillion-pound Mark Rothko mural hanging in the Tate Modern gallery in front of onlookers. A police investigation is now under way into the vandalism of the US artist's work.


A visitor to the museum said he raised the alarm after a man inscribed some words in black ink in a corner of Rothko's 1958 canvas Black on Maroon, before quickly leaving the room.


Tim Wright, who posted a picture on Twitter of the canvas after it was defaced, said that he saw the man sitting quietly in front of the painting beforehand.


"Then we heard the sound of a pen, but by the time we turned around he was pretty much finished with his tag," said Wright, who was with his girlfriend on a weekend visit to London from Bristol. "The pen ink then just dripped down the painting. Once we realised what had happened, we went to find a member of staff. They were really shocked when they came and saw what he had done."


The museum said in a statement: "Tate can confirm that at 15.25 this afternoon there was an incident at Tate Modern in which a visitor defaced one of Rothko's Seagram murals by applying a small area of black paint with a brush to the painting. The police are currently investigating the incident."


The gallery was closed for a short time after the incident.


The canvas, one of a number by Rothko owned by the Tate, was in a room with several other works painted by the Russian-born artist, who emigrated to the US at the age of 10 and went on to become one of America's most important postwar artists.


His work commands huge prices. In May, his Orange, Red, Yellow was sold in New York for $86.9m (£53.8m) – the highest price ever fetched by a piece of contemporary art at auction.


The Seagram murals were painted by Rothko in 1958 for Manhattan's Four Seasons restaurant, but they were never installed. He presented a number of them to the Tate gallery shortly before he died in 1970. This year, Tate Modern opened a new Rothko Room as part of its rehung permanent galleries.


Art lovers made their feelings known on Twitter, scrutinising the image of the defacement, which appeared to include the word "Vladimir".


"I am a naturally peaceful person, but I wouldn't be that upset if 'Vladimir' accidentally met with a baseball bat," said one.


The graffiti on the painting appears to read "a potential piece of yellowism." According to an online manifesto, Yellowism is an artistic movement run by two people named Vladimir Umanets and Marcin Lodyga.

Rothko painting vandalised in Tate Modern

A vandal defaced a Mark Rothko painting worth tens of millions of pounds in the worst security breach ever to hit Tate Modern.

Mark Rothko's 'Black On Maroon' painting was defaced Photo: JANE MINGAY

By Anita Singh

Astonished witnesses saw the culprit, described as a man in his late 20s, calmly walk up to Black On Maroon (1958) and scrawl a graffiti message in black marker pen or paint.

Police were called but the man could not be located and last night no arrest had been made. The Tate’s conservationists are currently assessing the damage.

The painting was one of a series, known as the Seagram murals, gifted to the Tate by the artist in 1969. The last Rothko work to sell fetched £53.8 million at Christie’s in New York earlier this year, a new record for contemporary art.

The graffiti read: “Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism.”

It appears to be a reference to a website, www.thisisyellowism.com, run by two individuals called Vladimir Umanets and Marcin Lodyga and described as a “superficial blog” on conceptual art.

The website declares that it is a “Manifesto of Yellowism”, saying: “Yellowism is not art or anti-art. Examples of Yellowism can look like works of art but are not works of art.”

One of the witnesses to the attack, Tim Wright, posted a picture of the defaced painting on Twitter. He said: “This guy calmly walked up, took out a marker pen and tagged it. Surreal.

“We gave a description to the gallery. Very bizarre, he sat there for a while then just went for it and made a quick exit.”

Mr Wright, 23, described the culprit as a "trendy" man in his late 20s with facial hair and a tattoo on his neck.

Mr Wright, a marketing executive from Bath, said: “He was sitting down in the middle of the room and we were all looking at the paintings.

“It was quite strange, we kind of heard before we saw that sound of a pen scratching on canvas.

“We looked around and he was finishing a tag and was off like a shot.”

He and the other gallery-goers who had seen what had happened rushed to inform staff.

“They were shocked but I think the overwhelming feeling was disappointment because the damage had been done by that point,” he said.

Tate Modern is the world’s most-visited art gallery and was packed with visitors yesterday afternoon when the vandal struck in the ‘Rothko Room’.

The gallery is covered by CCTV and police are studying the footage. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We were alerted at 3.35pm to a report of criminal damage at Tate Modern.

“The suspect was a white male, believed to be in his late 20s. No arrest has been made at this time.”
The Tate said a visitor had defaced one of the Seagram murals “by applying a small area of black paint with a brush to the painting”.

Questions will be asked about security at the gallery, where the Rothkos are not protected by glass and are separated from visitors only be a low-level barrier that can easily be stepped over.

Typically, each room is monitored by a single gallery attendant.

It was Rothko himself who stipulated how his work should be displayed at the Tate.
The defaced painting was one of a series commissioned from Rothko in 1958 for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s Seagram Building, but never installed.

In 1969, the artist donated nine of the paintings to the Tate on the proviso that they be displayed “as an immersive environment”. He died the following year.

Last year, the National Gallery also fell victim to vandalism when two 17th century masterpieces were defaced. A man sprayed red paint from an aerosol can over Nicolas Poussin’s The Adoration of the Golden Calf and The Adoration of the Shepherds. On that occasion, the culprit was swiftly arrested.