Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Vermeer, himself, is a shadowy figure in the history of art. The truth is that despite frenzied speculation (was she the artist’s daughter, or perhaps his mistress?), we will probably never know the identity of the model for Vermeer’s Girl – if there even was one. For one thing, who was she? And why has she been so successful at capturing our hearts? Now that she has returned safely home to The Hague, and is once again in the news as the pin-up of the Mauritshuis, it is a timely opportunity to find out more about this enigmatic beauty. In total, more than 2.2 million people around the world turned out to pay homage to Vermeer’s vision, who has been described as ‘the Mona Lisa of the North’. When she appeared in Tokyo, for instance, she attracted more visitors than any other global exhibition that year. Wherever she went, Vermeer’s Girl drew crowds that would turn a movie star green with envy. The occasion for this exhibition was the €30m ($41m) renovation of the Mauritshuis, which boasts one of the finest collections of Dutch paintings anywhere in the world and has recently reopened to the public.

The inspiration for a bestselling historical novel by Tracy Chevalier, which in turn was adapted into a 2003 film starring Scarlett Johansson, she was painted around 1665 by Johannes Vermeer, one of the masters of the art of the Dutch Golden Age.įor the past two years, Vermeer’s masterpiece has been travelling the world, visiting Tokyo, Kobe, San Francisco, New York, Atlanta and Bologna as part of a touring exhibition showcasing the holdings of the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery in The Hague, where the picture has been part of the permanent collection since 1903. Seductive yet silent, this exquisite nameless creature is known simply as the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’. A speck of bright moisture adorns the corner of her mouth, which is open as though she is about to speak. She wears a voluptuous blue and yellow turban on her head, while an improbably plump pearl hangs from her earlobe. Swivelling to her left, she glances suddenly in our direction, her soft face as luminous as the moon in the night sky.

Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier