Although not connected to Irish literature or history, the Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery of Ireland highlights the evolution of Dublin from Joycean poverty and paralysis to contemporary cosmopolis. As I perused the paintings in the exhibit, one of the first things I noticed about almost all of them was the use of chiaroscuro, which gives the paintings incredible depth and makes many of them appear three dimensional.

The intertextuality of the paintings is remarkable. It is fascinating to see paintings within paintings and different renderings of the same subject matter. This intertextuality reminded me of the different scholarly approaches taken when analyzing literature. Each is beautiful, valuable, and relevant in its own right and, in most cases, analyses and theory, like these paintings, builds on what comes before it.

Among this coterie of artists there seems to have existed a healthy balance of rivalry and support. It’s reminiscent of other relationships between successful artists such as Yeats and Joyce as illustrated in Joyce’s letters at the Yeats exhibit at the National Library. What is meaningful to me in both examples is that the artists were better for being challenged and supported by their peers. Academia can be a difficult, contentious, and somewhat exclusive environment. Although I resist the urge to idealize the relationships among the Dutch masters, it’s clear that the artistic circle in which they moved engendered greater creativity and skill through amicable interaction. In the last portion of the exhibit, the older master was inspired by a younger artist, which is a good lesson in humility and is  sometimes necessary for progress.