Johannes Vermeer, the painter of light and silence, portrayed a golden era that he actually never met. Because his country, Holland, was at war against England and France for more than fifty years; because his city, Delft, was devastated by plagues during the seventeenth century; and because he lived in a home where domestic violence was even a regular issue. So, how could Vermeer create his peaceful paintings in the midst of this problematic scenario?...