Tim Jenison is a millionaire inventor of 3D computer imagery software. He becomes interested in/obsessed with determining how Johannes Vermeer, 17th century Dutch painter, created photographic quality oil paintings. Conventional scholarship dictates that Vermeer was a savant, but Jenison believes that Vermeer was an innovator and inventor. Tim goes on a multi-year journey to meet with experts, build his own replica of Vermeer's studio, and learn a half dozen disciplines from carpentry to glazing to grinding his own paints and lenses, in order to paint a copy of Vermeer's The Music Lesson with no artistic training.
It's almost more impressive to see the single-minded devotion (and accompanying funding) to proving a theory than seeing a non-artist paint Vermeer. Is it world changing? No. Is it interesting? If you like the intersection between art and science. Produced and directed by professional skeptics Penn & Teller, Tim's Vermeer is light, engaging, and funny. It's currently streaming on Starz.
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