In a painting, a Dutch officer leans towards a laughing girl. In another, a woman weighs silver coins next to a window. In a third painting, fruits roll out of a porcelain bowl onto a Turkish carpet. Vermeer’s paintings captivate us with their beauty and mystery: What stories lie behind these exquisitely rendered moments? As Timothy Brooks' book shows, the images that appear so still and closed actually open windows to the rapidly expanding world of the 17th century. The officer's stylish hat is made of beaver fur, which European explorers received from North American Indians in exchange for weapons. Beaver pelts, in turn, financed the voyages of sailors seeking new routes to China. There, Europeans purchased porcelain in large quantities with silver minted in Peru.