HeyJaredVermeer Stories
I have a PhD in Physiology, am a serial entrepreneur in the life sciences, and am a fan of the painters of the Dutch Golden Age. I takes particular joy in finding the hints that artists leave us to help us understand the stories they are telling us.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 13
- Latest publication
- Sep 29, 2026
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- Jul 7, 2026
Latest issues
Titus and Rembrandt van Rijn: A Father-Son Story (opens the original)
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Titus van Rijn was Rembrandt’s only son to survive to adulthood. Rembrandt painted him at least four times and made several etchings and drawings of him as well. The series of images follows this young man from age 14 until he was in his 20s as he took on extraordinary duties in support of his father. It is a bittersweet story.# # #Rembrandt was born in 1606 in Leiden in what was the Dutch Republic, now the Netherlands. He opened his first studio there while still a teen, moved to Amsterdam in h
The Viola da Gamba in Vermeer Paintings (opens the original)
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When Johannes Vermeer needed a phallic symbol, he reached for the viola da gamba.The Viola da GambaA viola da gamba literally means a “viol of the leg.” It was a musical instrument that was held between the legs, much like a cello. But a viola da gamba had six or seven strings, a fretted neck, and a flat back. And you don’t see them around much anymore.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!g9pP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A
Rachel Ruysch (opens the original)
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Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750) was one of the most successful still-life painters of the Dutch Golden Age, male or female. She was quite famous and quite successful during her lifetime. Unlike many other women artists of the time, she continued to paint after marrying and having ten children. She sold her first painting as a teenager and finished her last known one at age 83. During her lifetime, her paintings sold for more than Rembrandt’s did. Yet it is Rembrandt that we remember as the most illust
Citterns in the Paintings of Johannes Vermeer (opens the original)
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Music was an important part of Dutch life in the 17th century, and it clearly mattered to Vermeer: Fourteen of his paintings include a musical instrument—more than a third of them. The inventory includes a recorder, a guitar, five citterns, three lutes, three virginals, a harpsichord, a sackbut or trumpet, and four viole de gamba, and that is not counting the instruments that appear in paintings on the walls of the scenes. It is too much to cover in a single article. Let’s look at the five Verme
Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (opens the original)
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When Johannes Vermeer was an apprentice painter, his teacher (whoever that might have been) had him paint so-called history paintings, with themes in religion and mythology. This one, Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, is the largest painting he ever did, and, if there is such a word, it is the most Bible-y.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F0TD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.co
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