How are you?
On every Thursday, I am introducing the stories about various artists and
their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.
The 32nd story for this week is “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Dutch
Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer.
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| Johannes Vermeer |
“Girl with
a Pearl Earring” is an oil painting in circa 1665 by Dutch Golden Age painter
Johannes Vermeer.
This painting, which shows a surprisingly realistic and modern depiction like a photograph, is debated whether Vermeer used a pre-photographic device, the “camera obscura” to create the image, and the claim that the model is Vermeer's maid is also a subject for debate.
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| Illustration of the camera obscura principle |
This painting is not a portrait, but an example of a “tronie” the Dutch 17th-century description of a 'head'. The tronie is a common type of works commonly found in Dutch Golden Age paintings and Flemish Baroque paintings, showing an exaggerated facial expression or a stock character in costume.
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The Smoker, an example of a tronie, Joos van Craesbeeck (1635-36) |
This painting depicts a
European girl wearing an exotic dress, an oriental turban and a pearl earring.
In 2014, however, Dutch astrophysicist Vincent Icke questioned the material of
the earring, arguing that the material of the earring looks more like tin than
pearl in terms of its specular reflection, shape, and size.
Over the centuries, the
painting has been called by various names. Originally, it may have been one of
the two tronies painted in the Turkish fashion, recorded in the inventory at
the time of Vermeer’s death. This painting later appeared in the catalog of
paintings sold in Amsterdam in 1696, which is described as a “Portrait in
Antique Costume, uncommonly artistic." After donating to the Mauritshuis,
this painting became known as “Girl with a Turban” and has been called by its
current title from the end of the 20th century.
Pearl is a material that
appears in Vermeer's various paintings, such as “Woman with a Pearl Necklace”,
“A Lady Writing a Letter”, “Study of a Young Woman”, “Girl with a Red Hat” and
“Girl with a Flute”.
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| Woman with a Pearl Necklace, Johannes Vermeer (1664) |
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A Lady Writing a Letter, Johannes Vermeer (c.1665) |
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| Study of a Young Woman, Johannes Vermeer (c.1665–67) |
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Girl with a Red Hat, Johannes Vermeer (c.1665–1666) |
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Girl with a Flute, Johannes Vermeer (c.1665–1670) |
This painting has been in
the possession of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands since 1902, and was
exhibited as part of a Vermeer show at the National Gallery of Art in
Washington, D.C. in 1965 and 1966.
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| The Mauritshuis |
In addition, this painting
was exhibited at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Japan, as part of
a traveling exhibition during the renovation and expansion of the Mauritshuis
in 2012. In 2013 to 2014 in the United States, it was shown at the High Museum
in Atlanta, the de Young Museum in San Francisco and Frick Collection in New
York City, and also exhibited in Bologna, Italy in 2014.
Since 1994, when the most
recent restoration work on this painting was made, the subtle colors and the
intimacy of the girl's gaze have been greatly improved, and in 2006 the Dutch
government selected it as the most beautiful painting in the Netherlands.
In terms of the cultural
impact of this painting, a historical novel "Girl with a Pearl
Earring", published in 1999 by American-British historical novelist Tracy
Chevalier, fictionalized the circumstances of the painting's creation. In this
novel, Vermeer becomes close to a maid who works as his assistant, and she sits
for him as a model while wearing his wife's earrings.
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Girl with a Pearl Earring (Novel), Tracy Chevalier (1999) |
The novel has later inspired
the 2003 film and 2008 play of the same name.
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| Girl with a Pearl Earring (film) (2003) |
It was also used as an icon
by 21st century’s artists. Ethiopian American artist Awol Erizku recreated the
painting as a print in 2009, centering a young black woman wearing bamboo
earrings instead of the pearl earring, which is titled "Girl with a Bamboo
Earring."
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| Girl with a Bamboo Earring, Awol Erizku (2009) |
In 2014, the English street artist Banksy recreated this painting as a mural in Bristol, whose model is wearing an alarm box instead of the pearl earring, titled "Girl with a Pierced Eardrum."
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| Girl with a Pierced Eardrum, Banksy |
Thank you.
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