Author to examine Vermeer's Dutch art and its relation to the global world

Timothy Brook, a professor in the department of history at the University of British Columbia, will draw from his recent book “Vermeer’s Hat” to discuss 17th century Dutch art and its connection to China and the expanding global world in an upcoming presentation on the Western Washington University campus. Brook will give his lecture “Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century: A China Connection?” from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, in Communications Facility Room 115.

A world-renowned scholar, Brook earned his doctorate in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University. In addition to UBC, he has taught at Stanford University and the University of Oxford.

Brook has written and edited many books specializing in the inter-disciplinary study of the effects of globalization on the early modern world, starting from an East Asian perspective but going on to straddle the globe.

In his book “Vermeer’s Hat,” Brook unpacked a work by 17th century Dutch painter Johan Vermeer to find the material signs of Holland’s links with a much broader world.

In a review, Yale University’s Jonathan Spence described “Vermeer’s Hat” as “a deftly eclectic book, in which Timothy Brook uses details drawn from the great painter’s work as a series of entry points to the widest circles of world trade and cultural exchange in the seventeenth century. From the epicenter of Delft, Brook takes his readers on a journey that encompasses Chinese porcelain and beaver pelts, global temperatures and firearms, shipwrecked sailors and their companions, silver mines and Manila galleons. It is a book full of surprising pleasures.”

This event is sponsored by the WWU Liberal Studies Department, the Center for East Asian Studies, East Asian Publications and Modern and Classical Languages.

For more information, contact Scott Pearce, an associate professor in the WWU Department of Liberal Studies, at (360) 650-3897 or scott.pearce@wwu.edu.