Retracing Vermeer's Legacy—A Conversation 

 

Sunday, September 27, 2026, 2–3 pm

@Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, The Met Fifth Avenue 

 

 

Ruth Bernard Yeazell, writer, Sterling Professor of English, Yale University

Adam Eaker, Howard Marks Curator, Department of European Paintings, The Met

 

It’s thought that only around thirty-five paintings by Johannes Vermeer survive in the entire world. Of these, five are at The Met—more than at any other museum. Explore the beloved 17th-century Dutch painter in a talk with Met curator Adam Eaker and writer Ruth Bernard Yeazell, author of Vermeer's Afterlives. Vermeer’s works at The Met trace his artistic developments, from early explorations to refined mastery. Though his masterpieces are famous today, Vermeer virtually dropped out of sight after his death in 1675, remaining relatively obscure until the end of the 19th century. Gain insight into the rise of this extraordinary painter and the ways in which Vermeer’s captivating art has been interpreted through the centuries. 

 

Free with Museum admission, though advance registration is required. Note: Space is limited; first come, first served. Priority will be given to those who register.

https://engage.metmuseum.org/events/education/talks/public-programs/grr/fy27/retracing-vermeers-legacy-a-conversation

 

 

 

Vermeer’s Afterlives

 

Ruth Bernard Yeazell

 

How a once-forgotten Dutch painter inspired generations of artists, writers, and filmmakers

 

Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) is one of the most beloved painters in the world. But when an enterprising French journalist and art critic set out to recover his work in the mid-nineteenth century, both his name and achievement were virtually forgotten. Vermeer’s Afterlives tells the remarkable story of how one of the great masters of the Dutch Golden Age was lost to obscurity until the rise of art history as a new discipline introduced his work to modern audiences and asks why his art compels so many other artists to respond with works of their own.

 

Ruth Bernard Yeazell traces the cultural ascendency of this extraordinary painter, whose enigmatic subjects and quiet, introspective interiors, transfigured by light and color, continue to captivate viewers far removed from his native Delft. We meet the critics who first welcomed Vermeer into the canon along with the painters who sought to imitate him, the forgers who tried to pass off their work as his own, and the contemporary artists who openly repurpose it. The enquiry concludes by looking at Vermeer’s paintings through the eyes of the poets and novelists who have attempted to translate his silence into words and give voice to the stories he left untold. Along the way, Yeazell interrogates the changing assumptions that govern art history, while demonstrating how paintings live on not only in later paintings but in poetry, fiction, photography, and film.

 

Marking the 350th anniversary of Vermeer’s death, this beautifully illustrated book explores the variety of ways in which Vermeer’s art has been interpreted through the centuries and shows how his paintings take on afterlives of their own in the imaginations of those who view them.

 

Hardcover

Price: $39.95/£35.00

Published: Jun 23, 2026

Pages: 320

Size: 7 x 10 in.

Illus: 146 color illus.

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691277820/vermeers-afterlives