"The Girl with a Pearl Earring"
Jan Vermeer - Oil On Canvas - 45 x 39 cm
The artwork Girl with a Pearl Earring, or "Het Meisje with de Parel" in Dutch, is one of Johannes Vermeer's (Dutch Painter) masterworks and has a pearl earring as a focal point, as the name suggests. The picture is now housed at The Hague's Mauritshuis museum. It's also known as or "the Mona Lisa of the North" or "the Dutch Mona Lisa".
According to more contemporary Vermeer research, the painting is a 'Tronie.' The term 'Tronie' refers to paintings from the 17th century in which facial expressions were painted in unusual ways. The delicate colour scheme and closeness of the girl's stare toward the observer have been substantially increased since the painting's most recent restoration in 1994. The dark backdrop, which is now slightly mottled, was originally meant by the painter to be a rich enamel-like green, which was revealed during the restoration. A thick translucent coat of paint, known as a glaze, was applied over the present black backdrop to get this appearance. However, the green glaze's two organic pigments, indigo and weld, have faded.
Arnoldus Andries des Tombe (nl) bought the painting at an auction in The Hague in 1881 on the recommendation of Victor de Stuers (nl), who had spent years trying to prevent Vermeer's rare works from being sold to parties outside the Netherlands. It was in horrible condition at the time. Des Tombe had no descendants. He donated this artwork, along with others, to the Mauritshuis Museum in Hague in 1992.
Smiling Girl, a painting that was assumed to be by Vermeer at the time, was presented to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. by collector Andrew W. Mellon in 1937. That art is now largely thought to be a forgery.