Who Is the Girl with a Pearl Earring?
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Known as the “Mona Lisa of the North”, the Girl with a Pearl Earring has been an iconic masterpiece for decades. Painted in 1665 by Johannes Vermeer, this oil painting is now housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague. In 1994, it was restored by the Mauritshuis from head to toe. When the Mauritshuis museum was under renovation in 2012, the Girl with a Pearl Earring travelled all across the globe, from Italy, the United States and Japan.
Throughout his career, Vermeer had only produced 36 paintings; this being his most famous piece. He specialized in genre paintings, which are of ordinary people engaging in daily tasks. Examples of his genre paintings include the Lady Seated at a Virginal, The Glass of Wine and The Milkmaid.
Despite this, the Girl with a Pearl Earring is not a genre painting or a portrait but a tronie painting. Tronies were commonly painted in the Dutch Golden Age and depicted exaggerated facial expressions.
Portraying a young girl in a collared gold jacket, gold and blue turban, with a giant pearl earring, this painting symbolizes prestige and wealth. She was painted as if captured in one swift, fleeting motion. From her slight turn, wide-eyed gaze and lips apart, she looks as if she were about to speak to you. Along with the bare black background and her face glistening in the light, she instantly becomes the main focus. The painting's enigmatically has made people compare it to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
However, who is the Girl with a Pearl Earring? Mona Lisa may have been a painting of Lisa Gherardini, who was the wife of a Florentine merchant, but the Girl with a Pearl Earring may not have been a painting of any specific figure. On the other hand, it is also believed that the girl was Vermeer’s daughter, Maria, who was also a talented artist.
To this day, the Girl with a Pearl Earring is the most famous tronie painting worldwide. It has captivated us for decades simply because of the mysterious impression that it has left on our spirits.
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