Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes VERMEER: meaning and analysis

The girl of the pearl she is one of the most famous paintings in the world, enclosing a whole series of mysteries that have made it an attractive and fascinating work of art. A painting that presents us with a young woman who looks at us openly, captivating us and making us let's ask who that young lady will be, what she wants to tell us, why she wears that outfit and does she really wear a pearl in her ear?

In this lesson of unPROFESOR.com we offer you the meaning and analysis of The girl of the pearl, a masterpiece by Johannes Vermeer.

Index

1. Meaning Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
2. Analysis of Girl with a Pearl Earring
3. Who painted the Girl with a Pearl Earring?
4. What does Girl with a Pearl Earring represent?
5. What is the name of Girl with a Pearl Earring?
6. What kind of play is Girl with a Pearl Earring?

The girl of the pearl It is a small format painting, specifically 46x40 centimeters. It was painted by the Dutch artist

This work belongs to Baroque Dutch and falls within the named gender tronie, very typical of Holland.

What is a tronie?

A tronie it's a half-length or three-quarter length portrait, managing to fit an intense gesture in a small format. A lace that requires great skill on the part of the artist. Vermeer depicts a young woman in profile who, at one point, turns her head to look at the viewer.

A type of work that constitutes a kind of study in the painter demonstrates his skill without intending to portray a specific person.

The first of the mysteries: who is The girl of the pearl?

The writer Tracy Chevalier, Intrigued by the possible identity of the young woman, she published a novel in 1999 about the painting and its time. In this novel the young woman in the painting is a Vermeer maid. A young maid who, intrigued by the use of light and color and the painter's universe, arouses his interest, establishing an impossible love relationship between them.

The novel, and the film based on it, introduces us to a most attractive story, but in reality nothing is known about the identity of the young woman. Thus, some theories speculate on the possibility that the model was the painter's daughter.

Image: Slideplayer

One of the mysteries posed by the painting is the way in which the young woman is represented. Thus, the young woman appears dressed in a brown cape, a white shirt and her hair tied up in a turban in shades of blue and yellow. A turban that brings a certain exotic and sensual air. The intense look and her half-open mouth also convey that sensuality.

The dark background also helps to highlight the figure, light falling on the face. A style reminiscent of the tenebrism of Caravaggio. Light is used to highlight the eyes, lips and pearl and make them stand out noticeably.

The composition is simple with geometric lines that offer unity to the whole.

drawing and color complement each other, pointing out the experts that the painter could have used the camera obscura technique to achieve the flat projection of a three-dimensional object.

Vermeer used colors warm earthy and cool colors to generate a contrast and demonstrate his mastery in the use of some pigments such as lapis lazuli, an expensive pigment.

Image: Slideplayer

Vermeer (1632- 1675) was born, lived and died in the city of Delft, beginning to paint religious and mythological subjects on request. A theme that he abandoned to dedicate himself to themes of the home intimacy, painting women in a realistic way while they are at home, being known as the painter of intimacy. Although he also did some exteriors such as La callejuela or La vista de Delft.

Besides ofto maiden of the pearl, Vermeer also painted the milkmaid, the geographer and Girl reading a letter in front of an open window.

Delft was a really prosperous city during the 17th century, until it was hit by an explosion. Vermeer converted to Catholicism to marry Catharina Bolnes, a young Catholic with whom he had 11 children. Was art dealer and appraiser, conserving only 35 paintings of her work. A small number when compared to the large number of works painted by other artists of the time.

His early death (he died at the age of 43, perhaps poisoned by the pigments he used to paint) and his meticulous and careful way of working may be the reasons for such a small work.

vermeer painted The girl of the pearl about the year 1665 as a intimate and simple painting, not comparable with other paintings that he had previously painted.

Unlike other works, Vermeer makes a closest plane of the young woman's face, locating her without knowing where she is by not including any object around her. A box of timeless Look, creating the image of a young woman who, more than a specific young woman, seems to be a universal model of youth and innocence.

There is no environment, nor objects that provide us with information about the person portrayed, only the young woman in a kind of psychological portrait. We don't know if she turns to speak to us or if she is going to turn her back on us. The young woman seems to look at the viewer wherever she is, following us with her gaze. Also, there is another point that draws our attention: the pearl. A sumptuous object that the young woman wears in her left ear and that Vermeer painted with just a couple of white brushstrokes.

The pearl is too large to be natural, besides being an excessive jewel for such a young, serene and simple girl. At present it is thought that due to the color and size we would be more before a metal sheet.

Why a stranger dressed like that? The city of Dalft, like others in Holland, witnessed in those decades of the 18th century the flourishing of a social class dedicated to commerce and interested in more intimate and home themes, although the taste for luxury and the oriental of the merchants was also reflected in details such as the turban or the pearl. In addition, the small size was ideal to be able to show it off in the rooms of bourgeois homes.

Was it a commission from her patron to admire the beautiful young woman in her chambers, as referred to in Tracy Chevalier's novel? or was it an essay by Vermeer to show his pictorial skills and his mastery of color? We will never know, there are many theories, but there is no clear certainty as to what the painter's intention was.

The name of the painting has varied over the years. When it was painted it appeared collected as A portrait in the Turkish style, although shortly after he became acquainted young man with turbanor young man's head.

Name The girl of the pearl is more recent, started to be used in 1995 when in a catalog on the work of Vermeer they baptized it like that.

As we have already pointed out, The girl of the pearl it's a tronie, a typical pictorial genre in 17th-century Holland. It consisted of the representation of an anonymous character, without the intention of being an identifiable portrait and whose objective was to demonstrate the mastery of an artist.

A genre in which it was common for artists to introduce exotic garments, since reproducing these rich and sumptuous fabrics allowed them to show off their advanced painting techniques.

If you want to read more articles similar to The girl with the pearl: meaning and analysis, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• ALÉS SANCRISTOBAL, Andrés. The girl of the pearl. Space as a generating element of dramatic conflict. Channel, 28, 7-32, 2005.
• BLADE, Raphael. Vermeer interiors. History and life, 2011, no 525, p. 81-83.
• CAMACHO, T.; PIÑERO, M. F.; Pallas, E. Vermeer: ​​The toxic colors of lead and mercury. Journal of Toxicology, 2011, vol. 28, no 2, p. 115-118.
• CHEVALIER, Tracy. The girl of the pearl. DEBOLS! LO, 2011.
• GOWING, Lawrence; VERMEER, Johannes. Vermeer. Univ of California Press, 1997.
• LAMELAS, Guillermo Fiscer. Art and social classes; Vermeer and Meunier. Classeshistory Magazine, 2011, no 11, p. 10.
• MIRANDA, Marcel. Johannes Vermeer and Anthon van Leeuwenhoek: Delft Art and Science United at its Finest in the Dutch Golden Age. Medical journal of Chile, 2009, vol. 137, no 4, p. 567-574.
• STEADMAN, Philip. Vermeer and the camera obscura. 2011.
• VACA HEREDIA, Laura. The influence of painting on film: film adaptation in "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Peter Webber. 2017. Bachelor's thesis.