Laker says in the author's note at the beginning of The Golden Tulip that "there is no record of Jan Vermeer ever having had an apprentice, but by letting my heroine enter his studio I have paid my personal tribute to the beauty and tranquility of his work." By using descriptions of paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt, Laker has drawn attention to the daily lives of the Dutch people of the period. She continues to recreate the world of the time by incorporating words such as "mijnheer," "Juffrouw," and others into the dialogue. The characters' names fit the time and place.

Careful use of historical facts and characterization of the historical personages takes the reader into the period. Descriptions of the cities, the modes of travel, and daily life build a picture of the world of the upper middle class in the Netherlands in the late 1660s. By...