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The stories, symbols and history behind great art

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Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665. Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Meisje met de parel

Artist
Johannes Vermeer
Date
c. 1665
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
44.5 × 39 cm
Location
Mauritshuis, The HagueInventory no. 670

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A small tronie by Johannes Vermeer, painted around 1665: a young woman in a blue and yellow turban turns towards the viewer, a large pearl at her ear. It is in the Mauritshuis in The Hague.

Historical context

Vermeer painted the work around 1665 in oil on canvas and signed it IVMeer. It measures 44.5 × 39 cm and is in the Mauritshuis, The Hague.1

Interpretation

As a tronie, the painting shows a type rather than a sitter.1 The 2018 research found a green curtain behind her and painted eyelashes, which change the picture of a figure floating in darkness.2

Symbols and meanings

The pearlEstablished fact
Painted with a few highlights, without outline or hook: an illusion created by light.Researchers Studying Vermeer's 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' Discover the Painting's Hidden Details
The turbanEstablished fact
Exotic dress typical of a tronie, a character study rather than a portrait.Girl with a Pearl Earring (painting by Vermeer)
UltramarineEstablished fact
Made from lapis lazuli from present-day Afghanistan, one of the most precious pigments of the time.Researchers Studying Vermeer's 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' Discover the Painting's Hidden Details

Sources

  1. 1Girl with a Pearl Earring (painting by Vermeer). Encyclopaedia Britannica
  2. 2Researchers Studying Vermeer's 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' Discover the Painting's Hidden Details. Artnet News, 2020

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