Timothy Brook takes a sharp-eyed, albeit critical, review into the social, political, and economic context lying within Vermeer’s seemingly undramatic façade. The author writes about capitalism during the 17th century, as presented within Johannes Vermeer’s mundane life paintings in Delft, Netherlands. Contrastingly, Marcus Rediker talks about the development of the slave trade within the 18th century society, driven by the needs of budding capitalism in the West. Despite the review of different centuries, both authors have a jarringly similar theme in how capitalism impacted society, relying on historical accounts and anecdotal evidence to fuel their ideas. This essay will comprise a comparison of Brook’s and Rediker’s depiction of how global capitalism was perpetuated.
Europe in the 17th century was a significant driver of globalization, which further catalyzed the onset of the concept of capitalism. Brook’s primary idea in Vermeer’s Hat follows the premise that trade and the construct of global capitalism in 17th century Europe positively impacted society. Global capitalism provided a conduit where people and new cultures interacted. In the fourth chapter, Brook reiterates that new cultures were a significant benefit to Delft. The basis of his assertion is the painting, The Geographer, probably charged by Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek, which depicted, according to Brook’s interpretation, the acceptance of Europe to the idea of the world.
In The Geographer, the artist had depicted an individual, presumably the geographer reading a map with sea charts. Vermeer included, as Brook asserts, “…just enough detail on the Hondius globe to show that it is turned to expose what Hondius calls the Orientalus Oceanus, the Eastern Ocean, which we know today as the Indian Ocean” (Brook, 2010, p. 85). Navigating this ocean was of significant interest to Dutch seafarers in the early years of the 17th century and the inclusion of this water body in the painting suggests that the geographer of Delft was taken by the idea of a broader world. He was probably representative of the population with which he lived. From this particular painting, Brooks concluded that the advancement of education and acquiring new traditions was a positive repercussion of capitalism in European society.
Brook in Vermeer’s Hat also describes transculturation as an effect of capitalism. Transculturation is the phenomenon in which practices and items move to a new culture from another, becoming engrained in it, and eventually changing it. The effect of transculturation is broached in chapter five, with the prevalence of tobacco globalization as it is ferried from America to Asia and Europe. At the turn of the 17th century, tobacco was an essential trade commodity, and there was increased demand and a subsequent rise in smoking in China. The tobacco trade embodies how a simple good can profoundly impact another culture within the context of global capitalism. Brook takes a Eurocentric point of view and outlines how global capitalism contributed to societies and economies’ growth through international trade and transculturation.
Contrastingly, Rediker has an entirely different perspective on global capitalism and its effects on society. In Slave Ship, Rediker illustrates the ills of global capitalism in the 18th century and the pain and misery that it brought people and entire societies. In the period of review, the triangle trade was the primary device and linchpin driving global capitalism. The triangle trade comprised ports on three primary continents, America, Africa, and Europe. Commodities shipped from Europe included manufactured goods, weapons, iron, and luxury goods.
On the other hand, slave traders from Africa sold Westerners ivory, spices, gold, and human slaves. Finally, from America, silk, rice, tobacco, and sugar were produced large-scale for shipment into Europe to be sold as consumables and raw materials. Rediker’s argument on the adverse effects of global capitalism is based on historical accounts and evidence from excerpts from people involved in the slave trade. The Slave Ship book is, therefore, based on factual evidence and first-hand accounts.
Rediker begins the Slave Ship with a grave first-person recounting of the experience of a kidnapped young woman who was to be sold to an African slave ship. The woman recounts poignantly what her life had now become, and her helplessness to change the situation, indicating, “… the ship grew larger and more terrifying with every vigorous stroke of the paddles. The smell grew stronger and the sounds louder – crying and wailing from one quarter and low, plaintive singing from another; the anarchic noise of children given an under beat by hands drumming on wood” (Rediker, 2007, p. 8). This testimony attests to the inhumane treatment that slaves had to endure. Rediker’s assertion on the adverse effects of global capitalism hence stems from these accounts.
He also outlines that global capitalism led to the dramatic division of Africa into different populations. The 18th century was characterized by widespread discoveries as cultures and societies found each other and sought to interact. When Europeans landed in Africa and sought to create markets between different ethnicities and social groups, problems were inevitable. Slaves were viewed as trade commodities rather than human beings. This experience significantly informs Rediker’s grim assertion that global capitalism brought more ill than good due to the triangle trade and the resulting maltreatment of human beings and societies.
Despite Vermeer’s Hat not being entirely persuasive on capitalism’s impact on 17th century society due to his unapologetic Eurocentric worldview, even depicting black men as “having bodies like lacquer” (Brook, 2010, p.87), his utilization of the rhetoric logos does give him some credibility. Using factual representations avails the fundamental basis on which his beliefs stem. He also uses Vermeer paintings as a conduit between historical representations and his anecdotal observations of Delft, capturing the reader and investing them in the story. His use of different paintings with subjects who have backstories contextualized in historical moments furthers this connection. However, ultimately Brooks depicts his worldview from a Eurocentric approach and hinders his persuasiveness.
Conversely, Rediker compromises his persuasiveness by heaping all the blame on European society. He inadvertently presents them as the only members of the triangle trade, and therefore single-handedly brought capitalist ideologies into Africa. The slave trade in Africa pre-dates the triangle trade, and slaves were traded within the continent. Different ethnicities did not view each other equally, and conflict raged on, as it also did in Asia or Europe. African leaders traded prisoners of war as slaves, and failure to indulge may have resulted in one being more likely a victim themselves. However, he improves his persuasiveness significantly by using factual and historical events, and appealing to the reader through the utilization of heart-wrenching first-hand accounts and the pathos rhetoric; apparent, for instance, during Equiano’s short-lived reunion with his sister being “one of the most emotional moments of my life” (Rediker, 2007, p.62)
Overall, Brook’s perspective on global capitalism positively connected new people and fostered interaction through transculturation. At the same time, Rediker found that the construct adversely affected populations as it justified inhumane treatment of individuals and developed schisms between people. Although Rediker’s argument may be more persuasive due to the utilization of historical data, personal accounts, and different rhetoric, Brook also tries to outline his opinion, albeit hindered by his biased worldview.
References
Brook, T. (2010). Vermeer’s hat: The seventeenth century and the dawn of the global world. Profile Books.
Rediker, M. (2007). The slave ship: A human history. Penguin.