Vermeer's Hat The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World

"Elegant and quietly important...Brook does more than merely sketch the beginnings of globalization and highlight the forces that brought our modern world into being; rather, he offers a timely reminder of humanity's interdependence."Seattle TimesA painting shows a military officer in a Dutch sitting room, talking to a laughing girl. I n another, a woman at a window weighs pieces of silver. Vermeer's images captivate us with their beauty and mystery: What stories lie behind these stunningly rendered moments? As T imothy Brook shows us, these pictures, which seem so intimate, actually offer a remarkable view of a rapidly expanding world. Moving outward from Vermeer's studio, Brook traces the web of trade that was spreading across the globe.Vermeer's Hatshows how the urge to acquire foreign goods was refashioning the world more powerfully than we have yet understood.

Timothy Brook completed this book while a John Simon G uggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow. He holds the Shaw Chair in Chinese at Oxford U niversity and is the author of many books, including the award-winning Confusions of Pleasure.