Yes, Johannes Vermeer [Dutch 17th century painter] paints in thin layers – there is no waste effort – and those small dots – no, they are not like Seurat's, though they contain all the light the pointillist may have wished for, concentrated, hovering before the object, but not obliterating it... Vermeer is not a sun painter, but rather a moon-painter – like Uccello – that's good, it is the pure, final stage of art, the moment when it becomes more real than reality.

Pp. 357-58: in: 'A visit to the Metropolitan Museum with Gorky', Ethel Schwabacher, 1947 - 'Arshile Gorky, – Goats on the roof' (2009)