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BOOKS: VERMEER'S CORNER FOREWORD
Very little is known about the Dutch artist, Johannes Vermeer. Over a period of approximately twenty years the artist produced just thirty six known paintings; some very small (just 8x7 inches) and some of moderate size. The largest of his known works being 63x55 inches. There is some controversy over whether the two smallest paintings are true Vermeers or nineteenth century fakes. One painting ( St Praxedis) is a virtual duplicate of an original 1645 painting of the same name by the Florentine painter, Felice Ficherellian. As such it did not seem to be worthy of a poem, as all of the included poems are aimed at capturing the spirit of Vermeer in different ways. One painting, `The Concert' is currently missing (stolen in 1990), and of all those paintings attributed to Vermeer, only twenty one have legible signatures. The one on `Diana and her Companions' has been worn away during acts of restoration, and not all of the signatures on the others are
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