Special Talk | Portraits of Women, Portrayals of Virtue
- 6pm (for 6:30pm start) to 8pm | Mall Galleries
Tickets £20, including free admission to the RP Annual Exhibition 2026 (normally £7)
Portraits of Women, Portrayals of Virtue: A new way of understanding Vermeer’s depiction of women
A special talk by Andrew Graham-Dixon on the occasion of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026
Thursday 14 May, 6pm (for 6:30pm start) to 8pm
Join acclaimed art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon for a revelatory talk on his new biography, Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found.
Drawing on newly uncovered archival material, he offers a dramatic reassessment of Johannes Vermeer—not as the isolated genius of legend, but as a painter deeply embedded in the radical, intellectual, and political life of the Dutch Golden Age.
In this illustrated talk, he will reveal Vermeer’s hitherto unknown friendships and the powerful women who shaped both his private life and career; offering fresh interpretations of beloved masterpieces including The Milkmaid, The Little Street, and Girl with a Pearl Earring.
The paintings of Johannes Vermeer of Delft are some of the most beautiful, even sublime, in the history of art. Yet like the life of Vermeer himself, they are mysterious and have for centuries defied explanation. Following new leads, and drawing on a mass of historical evidence, some of it freshly uncovered in the archives of Delft and Rotterdam, Andrew Graham-Dixon paints a dramatically new picture of Vermeer.
Andrew Graham-Dixon’s book, Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found will be available to purchase from the gallery shop (priced £30).
How to Book
Tickets £20, including free admission to the RP Annual Exhibition 2026 (normally £7)
About Andrew Graham-Dixon
Andrew Graham-Dixon is one of Britain's most high profile commentators on the visual arts - an art historian, biographer and broadcaster who has made more BBC television series about art than any other presenter. He was for many years the main art critic of the Sunday Telegraph and Independent.
This book is an extraordinary portrait ... it emulates the special charge of Vermeer’s paintings
