October 13, 2013
It has been a while since I have been able to do some
“Vermeer traveling,” that is, to visit a city specifically because it houses a
Vermeer painting. Believe it or not there is a web site dedicated to Vermeer
traveling (www.essentialvermeer.com), and I am a Vermeer traveler. Knowing that I was going to speak in
Germany and that there were three Vermeers in Germany that I had yet to see, I
checked out the distances between Potsdam and Braunschweig, Dresden, and Frankfurt.
Braunschweig was the closest, a two hour train ride away. It also had the additional benefit of being the
home of a former colleague, Henk, with whom I have worked in Basel and Boston.
Henk, his wife
Bettina, and daughter Ines picked me up at the train station in Braunschweig,
and gave me a wonderful tour of the town. I was surprised by how many
half-timbered buildings from the 1500s were present and in good shape.
Parts of
Braunschweig were heavily bombed by the British during World War II. After an extensive walking tour and a hearty
lunch, they left me at the Burg Dankwarderode, a castle that is serving as a
temporary gallery while the larger museum is undergoing extensive renovation.
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