Lawrence Gowing's classic study has long been treasured for the painterly sensibilities he brought to this greatly loved body of work. Finally the text is available again, with a new foreword and fresh reproductions of Vermeer's paintings.

Lawrence Gowing (1918-1991), art historian, teacher, and painter, was the author of Cézanne: The Early Years, and curator of the landmark exhibition mounted in Paris in 1988. His last books were Cézanne: The Basel Sketchbooks (1988) and Paintings in the Louvre (1994).

"Brilliant analysis. . . . Must surely rank as one of the most profound interpretations of a painter ever written."—Burlington Magazine

"It is, as we would expect, a painter's approach, but it is widened by the recognition that any artist's work is governed by the psychological nature of the artist himself. . . . A piece of first-rate scholarship and aesthetic understanding."—Apollo

"Widely regarded as the most perceptive study of the painter."—New York Review of Books

"Gowing's text remains the single best sustained piece of critical writing that exists on Vermeer."—Svetlana Alpers