Born in South River, New Jersey and raised in Florida, Jonathan Janson graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1972 with a major in painting. The turning point in his studies came when in 1969 he visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Mass., where he saw Johannes Vermeer’s "The Concert, “ the small but perfect masterpiece left a profound impression on the emergent painter decisively orienting his artistic direction. Responding to the internet medium, Janson created a website called Essential Vermeer in 2001. Essential Vermeer has developed into the primary internet resource for Vermeer studies and the most comprehensive website dedicated to a single painter. Janson’s commitment has brought the Essential Vermeer to the attention of art historians and specialists in 17th-century Dutch art as well as writers who use it regularly as a reference point.