Antoni van Leeuwenhoek and Johannes Vermeer were roughly the same age, they were extremely curious and they grew up in the bustling city of Delft in the seventeenth century. Nowadays, they are world famous. Both explored and created new worlds.
Van Leeuwenhoek discovered the miraculous micro-life with his self-built microscopes, Vermeer toyed with light and painted masterpieces such as Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft. What if… they knew each other? What if they were best friends who discussed private and work-related issues that affected them in crucial moments in their lives? Masters in art and science, but at the same time people of flesh and blood, forever bound by light.
In What if…? Dialogues between Antoni van Leeuwenhoek and Johannes Vermeer by author Dirk van Delft and visual artist Elisa Pesapane, their conversations are recorded in both words and images.
Design by Yolanda Huntelaar | Models Paul Rooyackers and Flip Noorman
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“What a wonderful book about Vermeer and Van Leeuwenhoek, on art and science. In What if…? the historical expertise of Dirk van Delft and the creativity of Elisa Pesapane meet in the beautiful design of Yolanda Huntelaar.”Steph Scholten, Director of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow
“Like the possibility that Rembrandt van Rijn and Baruch Spinoza were buddies in Amsterdam, sharing deep thoughts about man, God and fate, the chance that in Delft Johannes Vermeer and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek exchanged ideas on optics, space and light is a speculation that sets the imagination on fire. We can be thankful that Dirk van Delft and Elisa Pesapane were unable to resist the temptation of butting into the discussion we’d love them to have had, enlivening and enlightening our understanding of the contributions of these two giants to art and science.”Gary Schwartz, art historian and expert on Van Leeuwenhoek and Vermeer
