Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665 (digitized by Madpixel)) by Johannes VermeerMauritshuis
This painting needs almost no introduction. Johannes Vermeer's A Girl with a Pearl Earring was painted around 1665, but it's only recently that it acquired its famous name. It became known world-wide thanks in part to Tracy Chevalier's 1999 novel of the same name.
Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring is held at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands, one of nearly 900 artworks in the Royal Cabinet of Paintings collection. Let's head inside and start the scavenger hunt.
As you might imagine, this royal collection contains many Dutch paintings, most dating back to the 'Golden Age' of the 17th Century. As well as Vermeer, there are masterpieces by Rembrandt van Rijn, Frans Hals, and Peter Paul Rubens.
We're upstairs, and I think the painting isn't too far from here… Click and drag to explore the galleries, and keep an eye out for the painting!
Here it is! Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665 (digitized by Madpixel)) by Johannes VermeerMauritshuis
Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, c.1665
The painting depicts a young European girl in a fashionable turban, and balances yellows, blues, and whites against a dark background. But our eyes are drawn to the huge shining pearl at centre of the image.
Vermeer used only a few delicate white brushstrokes to complete the pearl. Still, this small detail captivates the eye, and the imagination. In her novel, Chevalier sees the girl as, "innocent yet experienced, joyous yet tearful, full of longing and yet full of loss."
Thanks for joining the scavenger hunt!
While you're here, why not take a look around the rest of the Mauritshuis? You wouldn't want to miss Carel Fabritius' The Goldfinch.
