I really like Vermeer’s paintings.
I once watched a documentary about the way they think he painted. The theory is that he used a prism to see what he was painting and his canvas at the same time which allowed him to get such lifelike paintings.
I also really like Vermeer. Vermeer and Caravaggio are my favorites. I like how Vermeer uses ultramarine blue in abundance on occasions considered “daring” at the time, and not to mention the various shades, how he uses vermilion, the Indian yellow. It’s a spectacle of colors
I love how Caravaggio plays with the lights along with those almost absolute black environments and how he uses scarlet (my favorite color) like no one else
What I find fascinating is the details - the holes in the wall where the used to be hooks. It makes it feel more real. A view into the way people loved back then.
Those details are why they think he used mechanical means to aid his painting. They’ve seen chromatic aberrations and curved objects that should be straight which clued them into his use of optics.
The documentary was Tim’s Vermeer if you want to watch it.
