By Laura Grimes
The story so far: The Pantsless Brother has been on a whirlwind tour of Europe, dubbed the Sleep-Is-Not-an-Option Tour, to see 16 Vermeer paintings.
The goal: To take in the final 12 Vermeer paintings that The PB hasn’t seen, out of 34 (some say 36) paintings in the world that can be viewed.
How whirlwind? Ten cities in two weeks.
How sleepless? Nine cities in nine days, but that’s just the Vermeers.
What’s the news? Another unexpected twist put a crimp in his plans.
The posts so far:
Post 1: Mrs. Scatter slowly and painfully realizes her brother is more than a little crazy and really plans to do this. How crazy? He wanted her to go along.
Post 2: The PB continues his quest, but instead finds a disgusting wiener and some socks for sale. (For a mere plane flight and a couple of train rides you, too, can buy cheap socks.)
Where is he now? He’s nearly ready to sleepwalk to the airport and fly home.
The score so far: The PB learned just days before his trip that one Vermeer had been loaned out to Japan. Another Vermeer couldn’t be viewed when a museum was unexpectedly closed for the day because a medieval movie was being filmed.
What does that mean? The PB is going to have to plan another trip to Germany to finish his quest. (Mrs. Scatter certainly will need to go along to translate.)
And? The PB sent this note:
We now have to add Dresden to our Return to Germany list. I hope that’s okay with (Mr. Scatter). The Gemäldegalerie in Dresden has two paintings by Vermeer, “The Procuress” and “A Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window,” but “The Procuress,” which was the one I really wanted to see, was not on display the day I was at the museum. I was told by a staff member that the painting was on loan to the National Galllery in Edinburgh. Well, it wasn’t there a week ago. Someone better tell the Gemäldegalerie that one of their Vermeers has gone AWOL. Actually, I knew the National Galllery had a special Vermeer exhibit that included “The Procuress,” but the exhibit ended March 13. Wouldn’t you think that it would take less than 2 1/2 weeks for the Gemäldegalerie to get the painting back on display? I mean it’s only a 4-hour flight from Edinburgh to Dresden.
The final score: 13 out of 16 Vermeer paintings. Happy landing.
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ILLUSTRATION: “The Procuress” by Vermeer, 1656, oil on canvas, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Alte Meister (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister), Dresden/Essential Vermeer