Status Updates From Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found

Enjoyed the explorations of the most Vermeery of the Vermeers. Graham-Dixon thinks The Girl with the Pearl Earring was the patron's daughter, referencing Mary Magdalene. All I can say is that it is possibly, probably, the most luminous painting I've ever stood in front of.

Getting down to the exploration of the pictures now. Andrew Graham-Dixon is brilliant on this, knowing what all the different thing symbolise. He posits things as almost-fact, when I'm not sure the evidence is there. But then, he's the expert...
Would like more exploration / explanation of Vermeer's extraordinary technique.

The Thirty Years War in what is now Germany: know nothing about it. Sounds like the apocalypse. Brutal.