THE GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING: Maybe the girl next door

Johannes Vermeer, the extraordinary Dutch artist created 'The Girl With A Pearl Earring'. A painting, so efficacious and illustrious, that it creates an impact like no other. Almost as if a vision come to life, the painting has been estimated to be painted in 1665, as it was recorded in Vermeer's inventory in 1975, therefore painted during the Baroque Art Movement. This compelling piece of art has its own  set of inscrutable mysteries, each worth taking about.

Inspiration

There are less verifiable facts we know about Vermeer than one can count on their fingers. there are only 36 paintings made by him that we know of today, The Girl with A Pearl Earring being the most famous one. Made by him in the small Dutch town of Delft, the painting is of a woman like most of his other works, but unlike them she is not shown doing a some everyday work. 
Vermeer's Family

 Often mistaken as a portrait, the painting has been conclude to be a Tronie, which will be explained in the further section. This seems to be inspired by Rembrandt, the artist who popularized tronie around the 1630s. The serenity and beauty of the painting leave behind such an affect, that the inspirations though slightly unclear must have been at the epitome of regal elegance.

Interpretation and Features

  • Often compared to the Mona Lisa, it seems like someone sat and posed for the painting, yet unlike the previously mentioned painting it is a tronie as told above. A tronie, is a painting of anyone or anything that has caught the painter’s eye, whatever he feels is worth immortalizing and is used to signify a whole group or its ideal version, unlike portraits which were generally commissioned back then.
The Mona Lisa and The Girl With A Pearl Earring
  • Though nothing can be proved due to lack of records there are 2 majorly believed and assumed identities of The Girl:
    • Griet, a 16 year old girl, forced to work in Vermeer’s household. When Vermeer noticed that she had an eye for colours, he made her his paint mixer.
    • Maria, the eldest of Vermeer’s children. It is believed that Maria was more than just a pretty face, and was actually responsible for half her father’s works. She has also been portrayed in many other of Vermeer’s paintings
  • The Girl is an exquisite Delft beauty, dressed with a traditional blue and yellow Turkish turban and a Delft jacket.
  • Vermeer has played tricks on us throughout this painting. Most details that seem to be so intricate aren’t actually even present. The bridge of The Girl’s nose if zoomed into is painted with the same color as the cheeks, without any contour either. This means that the nose bridge in actual fact doesn’t exist. The center of all attraction, the pearl too is just made with two very light brush strokes.

  • The Pearl, though so beautiful, is too big to be real and doesn’t give the reflections same as that of a pearl. In the 17th century, real pearls were only popular among the rich. But fake glass pearls were sold and bought in mass. Hence, this is the type of pearl The Girl is wearing.

  • The most astonishing part about the painting is not its beauty but how the girl is seen to have casually turned her head over her shoulder to look at something, she isn’t looking at you yet it seems so. The more you look at her the more captivating she becomes and starts looking just as familiar. Scroll up and take a look at for a few seconds…… Most of us can swear that we have seen her somewhere, maybe on YouTube, a movie, a show, a friend, the neighbour's daughter or even simply a passer-by.  The painting is very intimate, it seems as if her eyes are staring at your soul and we mistake this intimacy for familiarity.
  • Another factor that is unique to The Girl is that we don’t really know what she looks like. Her eyes don’t seem to be of a distinguishable color neither do the hair. Her nose blends into her cheeks leaving little for us to know if its sharp or painted or snub. Even her face is just half visible, not giving away its shape. This is another factor that shows us that it’s a tronie as the painter has focused on universal characteristics rather than particular ones.
The Girl has unrecognizable features

  • The background has been given a darker shade like many other paintings of those times creating a shadowlike effect, causing the girl in the foreground to have an enhanced impact.
Contrasting tone of background and foreground

  • The painter has used light to depict every curve and crevice. The play of light is so beautifully done and has used to dramatize all the features. The pearl, lips and eyes are all reflective and give it a three dimensional effect and make it more realistic.
  • The blue turban is made of a very expensive blue color which most painters are hesitant to use because of how much it costs. Even though Vermeer was in debt most of his life, it never held him back from spending highly on the material for his paintings

  • The Girl With A Pearl Earring has been signed as IVMeer.
Vermeer's signatures

  • The expression on The Girl’s face is highly ambiguous. We can’t tell if her eyes are yearning for someone to come closer or pushing someone away? Is she sad or happy? Shy or curious? It makes us wonder what it looked like from Vermeer’s view but it also shows that thepaiter has left a lot to the veiwer's perception .
  • Beauty isn’t enough to make a painting so appealing, the fame of this painting has come due the mysterious past it presents, so many unanswered questions. All its features blend beautifully to form a sort of sublime miracle.
  • The painting is awfully small. Just of 17.5 inches by 15 inches.
Original painting on display

INTERESTING FACTS
  • The background of the painting was originally was a tone of green ochre which over time, due to lack of maintenance and oxidization has tuned almost black.
  • The raw material for this painting come from all across the world, England, Mexico, Netherlands, West Indies, etc. For example the blue is made of lapis lazuli more costly than gold back then, was from Afghanistan.
Lapis Lazuli

  • 200 years after being painted, the painting resurfaced in an auction and was bought by an art collector for about 2 guilders (presently $30) who later realized it was a Vermeer. Upon his death he left it to Mauritshius, an art museum, in Hague, Netherlands.
  • The painting attracted hundreds of viewers wherever it went but now has been banned from travelling out of its current location.
Mauritshius Museum, Hague, Netherlands

  • The painting has inspired a novel written by Tracy Chevalier, where she wrote about her views about who The Girl was . This eventually led a movie to be made in 2003 where Scarlett Johansson played the role of The Girl.
The Book and Movie

  • The painting has often been compared to the Mona Lisa as it is just as popular and both paintings are priceless. This has caused the painting to get a new nickname, 'The Mona Lisa of The North'.
  • The painting got its current title just in the 1990s, though it has been called by many names like the girl in the turban, etc.
  • The pearl earring has been featured in multiple paintings made by Vermeer.
  • The painting has also become a part of the pop culture.

Hope the information provided was interesting and helpful. Please leave a comment and subscribe to this blog. Your support, inputs as well as requests are greatly appreciated. Follow me on Instagram @detail_artwith_a12 for timely updates and to get in direct contact.
Signing Off
A.


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