遺忘與發現

V. M. 希利爾（仲秋　譯）

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名兒童教育家、科普作家，創建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的藝術史》。

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記載的，而且絕大部分著名畫家的生平事跡差不多可以被寫成幾本書。荷蘭畫家揚·弗美爾也是一位著名的畫家，不過我們對他的一生卻了解得特別少，加起來還不到一頁紙。揚·弗美爾的全部生平只有以下幾句話：

1632年出生在代爾夫特，1675年去世，身后留下妻子和八個孩子。

揚·弗美爾的生平就被這樣簡短的幾句話概括了。沒人知道他一共創作過多少幅作品，因為有些畫我們曾經認為是他畫的，可事實上后來被證實并非如此。

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.

不過，只要是已經被人們確定的揚·弗美爾的那些畫，都畫得非常好。揚·弗美爾的畫大多畫的是室內景物。揚·弗美爾大部分的畫作題材是一個婦女在做著日常瑣碎的事情，比如看一封信、做針線活、彈古鋼琴等，有時候甚至僅僅是在眺望窗外。畫畫時，揚·弗美爾可能請的是他妻子或者女兒做的模特兒。盡管他的大多數作品畫的是一個女人，但偶爾有一些是兩個女人，也有幾幅作品中有一些男人。大部分情況下，揚·弗美爾畫中的那個人物都在窗戶旁邊。

第一眼看到揚·弗美爾的畫你一定會驚嘆，他是如何如此絕妙地描繪出透過窗戶照進房間的光線的感覺的？接下來再看，你又會感慨，他怎么可以把畫中每件物品的材質都表現得這么好呢？蕾絲袖口、絲綢裙子、木質椅子、銀質水壺、熟透的水果、玻璃水杯、珍珠項鏈、藍色的瓷盤——這些東西讓人一看就知道每一樣東西的材質，就像是可以感受到每樣東西觸摸時的感覺一樣。當然，他畫得最好的還要數從窗外照進來的陽光，光線把整個畫面里的人和物都緊密地聯系在了一起。有人說，揚·弗美爾畫中的陽光是世界上畫得最好的室內光線。這也說明揚·弗美爾的繪畫水平是很少有人能夠與之相媲美的。

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·弗美爾的一幅畫——《信》。你可以看到畫面里就只有一個婦女在讀信，非常簡單。但因為這幅畫畫得極好，所以非常著名。

不過，看上去揚·弗美爾好像只能畫出自己見到的東西，沒有任何想象力。比如，他從來不嘗試把畫中的婦女畫得比現實中的樣子更漂亮。所以我敢說他肯定也不會畫龍或是圣喬治，除非他能親眼看到一條真的龍（世界上當然不存在真的龍），或者看到圣喬治（《圣經》中的人物——譯者注）本人。

可是為什么人們對于如此優秀且出色的畫家知道得卻這么少呢？他是不是很神秘？揚·弗美爾的畫事實上在他當時的那個時代就很受人喜愛。不過，后來也不知道是什么原因，他的畫在之后的兩百年里被人們徹底地遺忘了，也沒人想到要為這個畫家記錄一點什么。等到揚·弗美爾的畫被再次“發現”的時候，這些畫的價值變得更高，想要買一幅都需要非常多的錢。現如今，揚·弗美爾的大部分畫都被放在博物館里，小心地保存著。

對于揚·弗美爾這么重要的一位畫家，用這么少的兩頁紙來介紹他是遠遠不夠的。可是除非我能自己編造一些，否則我真是找不出其他的故事來講了。揚·弗美爾在作畫時不愿意用自己的想象力破壞真實，那么我也就不用我的想象力來給你們講一些虛構的故事了。那就多看看揚·弗美爾的畫作吧。

Word Study

widow /'w?d??/ n. 寡婦;遺孀

sew /s??/ v. 縫;做針線活

pose /p??z/ v. （為畫像、攝影）擺好姿勢

The students posed for a group photograph.

texture /'tekst??（r）/ n. 質地;手感

ripe /ra?p/ adj. 成熟的

bind /ba?nd/ v. （使）聯合在一起，結合

Organizations such as schools and clubs bind a community together.