3 Listen to a short paragraph of the Episode and write it down (classwork).

Teachers’ Note:

The teacher can choose either extract to complete it in class in written form. Practise three-four listening before scripting the extract.

Extract 1

12:10 - Vermeer’s paintings of women at home, alone with their thoughts, do have a strong spiritual quality. In this picture of a pregnant woman holding a balance, the painting on the wall in the background is the last judgment, showing the souls of the damned and the saved. It’s a moment of solemn contemplation (созерцание, размышление); she’s thinking that the soul of her unborn child too lies in the balance.

In this picture, a woman reads a letter, holding it in both hands as if to steady the trembling of her heart. Good news or bad, it’s another of Vermeer’s moments of suspense, a pregnant pause. The faded Delft blue of her dress makes her look like a contemporary Madonna in a secular annunciation (Благовещение). Vermeer’s images of pregnant women are unusual; no other Dutch artist painted the subject. They seem so perfectly, poignantly tranquil. But what lies behind this obsessively recurring (повторяющийся, частый) dream of domestic peace and harmony? I think the answer to that question is the key to Vermeer’s secret life.

Extract 2

20:40 - By the mid-1660s, with his troublesome brother-in-law locked up, and the scandals of his own family safely in the past, at the peak of his fortunes, thanks to the wealth of his mother-in-law and the support of his patron, he could paint what he wanted. Perhaps, for a moment, his own life seemed nearly as perfect as the dream world of his art. But then came the fall.

In 1672, the French army of Louis the Fourteenth invaded, and, crucially for Vermeer, the Dutch art market collapsed. Vermeer can now be traced through the archives because he seems to be conducting more and more business for his mother-in-law, Maria Tins. There was a legacy from her great-grandfather left to the charity chamber in Gouda, which she now wanted to claim. She sent her son-in-law to get it; the man who once hadn’t been good enough for her daughter now enjoyed her complete trust.

4 Watch the episode again and fill in the gaps with the missing information. Write no more than three words.

00:02 - It’s an absolutely wonderful little picture. It ______________________ it. The girl’s face, that beautiful face __________ with light, is _____________ . You have to stand here, you feel, you realize that Vermeer’s actually _______________ you, he’s turned you into an ____________, a ___________ on a seventeenth-century scene. But what is it that you’re actually looking at?

There’s a _________________________ quality to the light and the way it _____________ the young woman’s face, ___________ an __________________ of the contact between a man and a woman, erotic, but I think, also full of _____________. As so often in Vermeer, ____________ of the picture are very wildly: the man’s a soldier, and some say the girl’s a prostitute, the map behind her signifying her _________, and therefore ___________, nature. I ____________. I think it’s a picture about the look of love, the instant when two people ______________ each other. I wonder if Vermeer __________ _______ his own memories of falling in love with his beloved Catherina. Perhaps the light __________ her just like this. I think painting was his way of trying to _____________________________ in life that have real value, real meaning.

It’s an absolutely wonderful little picture. It draws you towards it. The girl’s face, that beautiful face flooded with light, is like a beacon. You have to stand here, you feel, you realize that Vermeer’s actually choreographed you, he’s turned you into an eavesdropper, a voyeur on a seventeenth-century scene. But what is it that you’re actually looking at?

There’s a tremblingly immediate quality to the light and the way it strikes the young woman’s face, generating an electric sense of the contact between a man and a woman, erotic, but I think, also full of tenderness. As so often in Vermeer, interpretations of the picture are very wildly: the man’s a soldier, and some say the girl’s a prostitute, the map behind her signifying her worldly, and therefore corrupt, nature. I don’t buy that. I think it’s a picture about the look of love, the instant when two people fall for each other. I wonder if Vermeer drew on his own memories of falling in love with his beloved Catherina. Perhaps the light struck her just like this. I think painting was his way of trying to preserve those rare moments in life that have real value, real meaning.

(eavesdrop - to listen secretly to the private conversation of others; a voyeur – smb. who enjoys watching other people’s private life)