Ironically, the book is informative in that it adds the mystery of this painter by noting many contradictory aspects of his life and art. He was from a relatively wealthy family, had a financially advantageous marriage, inherited business from his father and estate from his patrician father-in-law, but at the end he left his widow hefty debts. He was well respected, and elected to important professional leadership positions from early in his career, but known to have left only 35 paintings, averaging less than two per year in his producing period, among which there was only one commission work and no other known sales. He had 11 children, but his paintings, almost all domestic scenes, are exceedingly calm and devoid of busy family life. Indeed, the paintings of streets and city are also otherworldly tranquil, showing no sign of the economical boom of the Dutch Golden Age, which coincides with his career. However, only by careful close-up examination, one can recognize that his apparently static paintings are full of drama at microscopic levels. In a given detailed area, there are different and contrasting colors, values, strokes, and even materials, such as paint mixed with sand to add texture. The book catalogues in color all his paintings but only comments on a few. Mostly the discussion is on one, View of Delf. It shows that the painter largely manipulates the scene for his compositional purpose, which is a fact against the common belief of his use of photographic apparatus.