But, the painting...the painter

"Now he was once again at work upon his essay on Vermeer, he needed to return for a few days at least, to The Hague, to Dresden, to Brunswick. He was convinced that a picture of Diana and her Companions which had been acquired by the Mauristhius at the Goldschmidt sale as a Nicholas Maes was in reality a Vermeer. And he would have liked to be able to examine the picture on the spot, in order to buttress his conviction."
This painting by Vermeer was in fact attributed to Rembrandt's student Nicolaes Maes at an auction in 1876. Not until 1901 was it properly attributed and that through similarities to Mary and Martha and a re-examination of a revealed signature J v Meer, which had been supposed to refer to Johannes van der Meet. Proust, in this passage, is looking back at a time before his character Marcel's life has begun, when Swann still hoped to produce a study of Vermeer. He has Swann considering the possibility of that the painting has been mis-attributed, which had he pursued would have, in fact, made him a great scholar.

Swann though does not pursue his work. The passage goes on, "But to leave Paris while Odette was there, and even when she was not there–for in strange places where our sensations have not been numbed by habit, we revive, we resharpen an old pain–was for him so cruel a project that he felt capable of entertaining it incessantly in his mind only because he knew he was determined never to put it into effect." Swann allows an obsession to intervene, and how easy when he can call it love!

Little is known about Vermeer because what is there to know about him? We have his work. Is that not enough? Here we have Diana, a peculiar rendition where she is fully clothed only the moon in her hair symbolizing her stature. She is not yet undressed to bathe. Acteon has not yet appeared to spy. This is Diana and her companions. Innocent because there is no reason for the goddess to be angry yet. Vermeer chose to portray this early moment in the story, not included in the narrative telling because there is nothing to tell and it would only be 'plot development'. But in a painting it can stand alone.

Swann appreciated this painting but not enough to pursue his own interest. When there is work to be done, life does fall to the side, even love. Any artist, writer, film-maker, musician can be called fixated, monomaniacal, egotistical if they are dedicated to the work they do. That is because they have chosen to do something that is not of this every day experience, but comes from a willingness to work despite what life may have to offer. Many sacrifice friendships, love affairs, social engagements to produce what they have to produce. Swann does not and it is the tragedy of his character. Vermeer was modestly successful in his lifetime then forgotten after his death, but no matter. His art, his work was being produced by the standards, slow, painstaking and long to be recognized perhaps, that were from the concentration of his own effort.