V E R M E E R ' S O A S T R O N O M E R

I love the way Vermeer's painting seem so full of calm, sympathy and respect. This one especially captured my imagination at a time when I had been reading books like 'The Name of the Rose', and 'Dissolution' as well Tracey Chevallier's excellent art history novels. I had also seen the films '1492' and 'Longitude'. The idea of science and exploration, the art of it, the passion and belief really impressed and excited me. I think I had been talking to Paul Beattie about something when he mentioned the 'Tears of St Lawrence', I went away and did my research and was deeply moved by this devote monk who was martyred for presenting the poor of his parish as the 'treasures of the church' to the Roman authorities. This song was another that started from the few lines I had scribbled in the back of the Miles Davis book. D.

10 VERMEER'S ASTRONOMER by DANIEL GOODMAN

There is more than I can see,
Out beyond this glass
Beneath my hand a world of light
Floating in the dark

How your beauty flows
Fills a million miles
Over all you made
And how it makes you smile
To show yourself to me
Through the vast array
The perfect and the flawed,
The living and the dead
On heaven's marbled floor

The Tears of St Lawrence
Steal my breath, and mystify my mind
As I reach to find the truth
I know what truth I'll find.

LISTEN to a sample.