遗忘与发现

V. M. 希利尔（仲秋　译）

V. M. 希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名儿童教育家、科普作家，创建了卡尔弗特教育体系。他为孩子们编写了一套趣味盎然的历史、地理、艺术读物，即《写给孩子看的世界历史》《写给孩子看的世界地理》《写给孩子看的艺术史》。本文选自《写给孩子看的艺术史》。

All anyone knows about the life of one of the very great painters of the world can be written in a few sentences. Most great painters have had whole books written about their lives， but there isnt enough really known about the life of the Dutchman Jan Vermeer （Ver-mair） of Delft to make even a few pages. Here is almost all we know about him：

Jan Vermeer was born in Delft in 1632 and died there in 1675， leaving a widow and eight children.

There it is in one sentence—the life of Vermeer of Delft. Nobody even knows how many pictures there are that he painted， for some pictures we think he painted may have been painted by someone else.

世界上任何一位著名畫家的人生故事都是有记载的，而且绝大部分著名画家的生平事迹差不多可以被写成几本书。荷兰画家扬·弗美尔也是一位著名的画家，不过我们对他的一生却了解得特别少，加起来还不到一页纸。扬·弗美尔的全部生平只有以下几句话：

1632年出生在代尔夫特，1675年去世，身后留下妻子和八个孩子。

扬·弗美尔的生平就被这样简短的几句话概括了。没人知道他一共创作过多少幅作品，因为有些画我们曾经认为是他画的，可事实上后来被证实并非如此。

But the pictures that we are sure were painted by him are considered very wonderful. Most of these are of indoor scenes. Most of these paintings show a woman doing some very usual thing， like reading a letter or sewing or playing the clavichord or sometimes just looking out of the window. Perhaps his wife or one of his daughters posed for Vermeers pictures. In some pictures there are two women and in a few there are men. In most cases the person in the picture is shown near a window.

The wonderful way Vermeer could paint light coming into a room through a window is one of the first things people notice about these paintings. Next， one notices how well Vermeer could show what material a thing is made of—its texture. The lace cuff， the silk dress， the wooden chair， the silver pitcher， the ripe fruit， the drinking glass， the pearl necklace， the blue china plate， are done so well that no one could doubt what each is made of. One could almost tell how each object feels to the touch. And over all streams the daylight from the window， binding the parts of the picture together. Some people say it is the finest daylight that any painter has ever put into an indoor scene. Certainly Vermeer was able to paint as few men could.

不过，只要是已经被人们确定的扬·弗美尔的那些画，都画得非常好。扬·弗美尔的画大多画的是室内景物。扬·弗美尔大部分的画作题材是一个妇女在做着日常琐碎的事情，比如看一封信、做针线活、弹古钢琴等，有时候甚至仅仅是在眺望窗外。画画时，扬·弗美尔可能请的是他妻子或者女儿做的模特儿。尽管他的大多数作品画的是一个女人，但偶尔有一些是两个女人，也有几幅作品中有一些男人。大部分情况下，扬·弗美尔画中的那个人物都在窗户旁边。

第一眼看到扬·弗美尔的画你一定会惊叹，他是如何如此绝妙地描绘出透过窗户照进房间的光线的感觉的？接下来再看，你又会感慨，他怎么可以把画中每件物品的材质都表现得这么好呢？蕾丝袖口、丝绸裙子、木质椅子、银质水壶、熟透的水果、玻璃水杯、珍珠项链、蓝色的瓷盘——这些东西让人一看就知道每一样东西的材质，就像是可以感受到每样东西触摸时的感觉一样。当然，他画得最好的还要数从窗外照进来的阳光，光线把整个画面里的人和物都紧密地联系在了一起。有人说，扬·弗美尔画中的阳光是世界上画得最好的室内光线。这也说明扬·弗美尔的绘画水平是很少有人能够与之相媲美的。

Here is one of Vermeers pictures. It is called “The Letter”. It is merely a woman reading a letter by a window， but it is painted so well that it has become famous.

Vermeer did not seem to have any imagination. He painted only what he saw. He never， for instance， made his women prettier than they really were. I dont believe he could have painted a dragon， or Saint George either， without looking at a real dragon （as if there were such a thing！） or at Saint George himself.

Why is so little known about so fine a painter？ It seems mysterious， doesnt it？ Vermeers pictures were liked at the time they were painted， but then for some reason they were almost forgotten for about two hundred years. No one took the trouble to write down anything about the artist. Then his pictures were “discovered” again and became so valuable that it took a great deal of money to buy one. Most of Vermeers paintings are now kept very carefully in museums.

This chapter is far too short for so important a painter. But there arent any stories to tell about him unless I just make them up. Vermeer didnt use his imagination in painting his pictures， and Im not going to use mine in telling you madeup stories. Well just have to let Vermeers pictures speak for him.

上面是揚·弗美尔的一幅画——《信》。你可以看到画面里就只有一个妇女在读信，非常简单。但因为这幅画画得极好，所以非常著名。

不过，看上去扬·弗美尔好像只能画出自己见到的东西，没有任何想象力。比如，他从来不尝试把画中的妇女画得比现实中的样子更漂亮。所以我敢说他肯定也不会画龙或是圣乔治，除非他能亲眼看到一条真的龙（世界上当然不存在真的龙），或者看到圣乔治（《圣经》中的人物——译者注）本人。

可是为什么人们对于如此优秀且出色的画家知道得却这么少呢？他是不是很神秘？扬·弗美尔的画事实上在他当时的那个时代就很受人喜爱。不过，后来也不知道是什么原因，他的画在之后的两百年里被人们彻底地遗忘了，也没人想到要为这个画家记录一点什么。等到扬·弗美尔的画被再次“发现”的时候，这些画的价值变得更高，想要买一幅都需要非常多的钱。现如今，扬·弗美尔的大部分画都被放在博物馆里，小心地保存着。

对于扬·弗美尔这么重要的一位画家，用这么少的两页纸来介绍他是远远不够的。可是除非我能自己编造一些，否则我真是找不出其他的故事来讲了。扬·弗美尔在作画时不愿意用自己的想象力破坏真实，那么我也就不用我的想象力来给你们讲一些虚构的故事了。那就多看看扬·弗美尔的画作吧。

Word Study

widow /'w?d??/ n. 寡妇;遗孀

sew /s??/ v. 缝;做针线活

pose /p??z/ v. （为画像、摄影）摆好姿势

The students posed for a group photograph.

texture /'tekst??（r）/ n. 质地;手感

ripe /ra?p/ adj. 成熟的

bind /ba?nd/ v. （使）联合在一起，结合

Organizations such as schools and clubs bind a community together.