![The Quest to Decode Vermeer's True Colours](https://cdn.magzter.com/1470409556/1721400703/articles/Aw4StcOcH1721739445375/THE-QUEST-TO-DECODE-VERMEERS-TRUE-COLOURS.jpg)
WHEN Frederik Vanmeert stands in front of a Johannes Vermeer painting, the temptation to go close is ir resistible. In Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, where he works as a heritage scientist, it's not hard to satisfy this craving for intimacy. Viewers may, if the moment moves them, lean in within millimetres, though the security guard will likely wag a disapproving finger.
Still, even millimetres are an interminable chasm for Vanmeert. He's seen Vermeer's work in finer detail than most at the microscopic level, down to the crystal latticework of the pigments used by the seventeenth-century Dutch painter. "I get drawn closer to, say, this area here--the dark area of the lady's dress," Vanmeert tells me, approaching The Little Street, one of only two landscapes the artist is known to have painted.
"It's difficult to decipher which type of fabric Vermeer meant to depict here, and I wonder if this is the original colour." As a chemist in the art world, Vanmeert has spent most of his career trying to understand colour: how it is produced, how it changes over time, how artists prepare the powders and substrates that become the medium through which they speak to us, and, ultimately, why they make the choices they do. If colour is the language of art, Vanmeert is its linguist.
As a scientist, though, he avoids such grand pretensions. It's a touchy subject.
The past two decades have seen an explosion of scientific inquiry into art, from chemical analysis for authentication and identifying forgeries to techniques for restoration and conservation. In the process, scientists have found themselves thrust into some vexing debates. Determining what an artist "intended" can send purists into a tizzy. The artist's intent is irrelevant, they say. Only the work matters, and what the work conveys.
Denne historien er fra September/October 2024-utgaven av The Walrus.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September/October 2024-utgaven av The Walrus.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
![Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/mpkA9pAuF1719486535433/crp_OpenAI-Chatgpt-Chris-Barry-Sam-Altman-tech-Silicon-Valley-startups-technology-AI-tools-AI-Artificial-intelligence-ChatGPT-Microsoft-Copilot-Generative-AI-Midjourney-content-creators-Al-powered-Science.jpg)
Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype
Some of the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, are throwing their full weight behind AI. On top of the billions spent by big tech, funding for AI startups hit nearly $50 billion (US) in 2023.
![MY GUILTY PLEASURE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1771122/Mod6s8Lph1721739600875/MY-GUILTY-PLEASURE.jpg)
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
MY CHILDREN are grown, with their own partners, their own lives.
![The Quest to Decode Vermeer's True Colours](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1771122/Aw4StcOcH1721739445375/THE-QUEST-TO-DECODE-VERMEERS-TRUE-COLOURS.jpg)
The Quest to Decode Vermeer's True Colours
New techniques reveal hidden details in the Dutch master’s paintings
![Repeat after Me](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1771122/UwV2J4dzF1721739190466/REPEAT-AFTER-ME.jpg)
Repeat after Me
TikTok and Instagram are helping to bring Indigenous languages back from the brink
![Smokehouse](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1771122/zuS-yLypW1721738756152/SMOKEHOUSE.jpg)
Smokehouse
I WAS STANDING THERE at the corner, the corner where the smaller street intersects with the slightly wider one.
![How Could They Just Lose Him?](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1771122/50Fz0bOB01721738303312/HOW-COULD-THEY-JUST-LOSE-HIM.jpg)
How Could They Just Lose Him?
The Huronia Regional Centre was supposed to be a safe home for people with disabilities. Then, amid suspicions of abuse at the facility, twenty-one-year-old Robin Windross vanished without a trace
![Prairie Radical](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1771122/O10U1A6Fl1721737787210/PRAIRIE-RADICAL.jpg)
Prairie Radical
How conspiracy theorists splintered a small town
![Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1771122/etJ_NxrdD1721737419838/EENY-MEENY-MINY-MOE.jpg)
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe
Scott Moe rose quietly through the ranks. Now the Saskatchewan premier and his party are shaping policies with national consequences
![The Accommodation Problem](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1771122/-nsjnqoWl1721736301032/THE-ACCOMMODATION-PROBLEM.jpg)
The Accommodation Problem
Extensions. Extra exam time. Online everything. Addressing the complex needs of students is creating chaos on campus
![MY GUILTY PLEASURE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/ZjBpzYG4o1719492279999/MY-GUILTY-PLEASURE.jpg)
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
I WAS AS SURPRISED as anyone when I became obsessed with comics again last year, at the advanced age of forty-five. As a kid, I loved reading G.I. Joe and The Amazing Spider-Man.