Vermeer's Hat Analysis

Vermeer’s Hat offers a unique look at the rise of global trade through Brook’s eyes. Brook uses each of the paintings to describe to the audience a different picture of how the world began progressing. Most think of Vermeer as an isolated artist, with no real connection to the world outside of the walls of his mother-in-law’s house. However, as Brook shows us throughout the story, this could not be further from the truth. Brook relies on the paintings to interpret the rise of global trade to show the audience how architecture has contributed to the rise of global trade, how specific objects in the paintings related to trade, and how geography influenced trade.

The first painting that Brook introduces to the audience is called “View of Delft”.

The painting itself is a look at the water surrounding the city of Delft. Architecture comes into play when we look at the wide bottomed vessels. The arctic air of the seventeenth century was so cold, it made the arctic ice move south. This caused freeze-ups in Norway, and made the fishery move to the Baltic sea, where they were caught by Dutch fishermen. The freezing weather is why the audience sees herring buses moored outside Delft. Another peek into the seventeenth century is the steeple of the Old Church. The steeple has a long roof that runs into the left side of the campus. This is the roof of the Dutch East India Company, or VOC. The VOC is one of the most widely known influences of capitalism. The VOC achieved this title by being the first enterprise in history to achieve economic dominance due to its special federal structure, and its capacity for building a worldwide network of trade. The VOC was instrumental in three mechanical discoveries, that, in English polymath Francis Bacon’s words, “have changed the whole face and state of thinking throughout the world.” (Vermeer’s Hat, page 18) The first discovery was the magnetic compass, which enabled navigators to sail out of the sight of land and still be able to guess where they were headed. The second discovery was paper. This permitted merchants to keep the detailed records that were needed for multiple transactions and continue the trade over long distances. The final important discovery was gunpowder. Without the quick advances that arms manufacturers made in this technology in the sixteenth and seventeenth, the traders would have discovered difficulties with local opposition to trade arrangements. The VOC’s home in the Delft chamber, shown in the painting “The View from Delft”, would not have been able to contribute to the rise of global trade, without its location being where it was.
Location plays a key role in Vermeer’s paintings.

At first glance, each of the paintings look simply like a nice scene, with no historical role at play behind it. Again, this could not be further from the truth. The third painting that Brook shows us, is “Young Woman Reading a Letter at an Open Window”. The key element in this painting is the dish of fruit beneath the woman. This dish was was painted when the Chinese porcelain was taking its place in the Dutch’s life. The first porcelain dish to reach Europe amazed everyone, because of the attention to detail, quality, and fanciness that it possessed. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to acquire this delicacy. From there, it went to south of China, where it was negotiated with Chinese wholesalers for more of this porcelain. The route that porcelain took was crucial to commerce worldwide, so the Dutch wanted to get into it. After this, porcelain only increased in popularity and expanded trade around the world and soon, the most successful emerging business was the porters of Delft. Porcelain dishes were more than just breathtaking. Brook, himself, points out that they were a symbol of the Dutch positive relation to the world outside and the overcoming of challenges. Without porcelain reaching its supreme popularity in Delft, many trade routes around the world would not have been

established.
The basis of trade routes around the world are also centered around where they are located.

Geography plays a key role with trade. The fourth painting that Brook shows us is called “The Geographer”. The main focal point in this painting is the globe that is located behind the man. During this time, knowledge of geography was far from perfect, but it was drastically improving. As Brook points out, the Spanish Jesuit, Adrino de las Cortes, was a great example of the moving geography of the epoch. The ship that he led was crashed onto the rocks of the Chinese coast by 1625, right after it had departed from Manila. This was completely by mistake, as they soon discovered uncharted territory. The people who had been living there had never seen any foreign people at a close range. It surprised them to see the wide span of people they brought: African Americans, Portuguese, Muslims, Spaniards, and the list goes on. This showed that the rise of the global world did not only imply goods and material objects, but also people from all

continents.
Brook claimed that Vermeer’s paintings were not just used for the world to study the past, but also “mirrors reflecting the multiplicity of causes and effects that produced the past and present.” (Vermeer’s Hat, page 22) I agree with Brook’s claim of this. The example that he gives, of Indra’s Net, implies that everything that exists in the web, implies all else that exists. The theory of this reminds me of another theory, called The Butterfly Effect. This theory suggests that a single occurrence, no matter how little it is, can change the course of the universe forever. This related to Brook’s claim of Vermeer’s paintings reflecting the outcome of the new world, because if Vermeer had never painted the paintings included in this book, Brook’s would have never have written Vermeer’s Hat. Not writing this book would have held back most of the world from learning about Vermeer and his contributions to the world as we know it. His paintings have meanings behind them that relate to ideas like improvisation and the rise of trade. Brook relies on Vermeer’s paintings to show the audience how architecture, small objects, and the geography of the world has helped the expansion of global trade.