A girl turns towards us out of the darkness, lips slightly parted, a pearl gleaming at her ear. Who is she? No one knows. This small canvas, barely forty-five centimetres high, has been called “the Mona Lisa of the North”.
Key facts
- Artist
- Johannes Vermeer1632–1675 · Dutch
- Date
- c. 1665
- Period
- Baroque1600–1720
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 44.5 × 39 cm
- Location
- Mauritshuis The Hague, Netherlands
Actual size
Compared with an adult 170 cm tall
Palette
#251E12#9D8A6C#564F41#CDC4B5Background
This is not a portrait in the usual sense but what the Dutch called a tronie: a study of a head, using a model to depict an expression, a character or exotic costume. Such works were sold on the open market rather than commissioned to record a particular person.
Her blue and yellow turban was unusual in the Netherlands of the day and evoked the exotic East. Little is known about Vermeer's life, and nothing about the model; some suggest his eldest daughter Maria, but there is no evidence.
In the nineteenth century the picture was almost unknown. In 1881 the collector Arnoldus des Tombe bought it at auction in The Hague for little more than two guilders, and bequeathed it to the Mauritshuis.
Technique & composition
looks exquisitely detailed but is made of just two strokes: a bright highlight at the top and a faint reflection of the white collar below. It has no outline and no hook; the viewer's eye completes it.
is painted in costly natural , ground from lapis lazuli. Vermeer was not wealthy, yet he insisted on this pigment, which gives the blue its extraordinary purity.
Light falls from the left across her face. The highlights on and in are tiny dots of white that make her seem moist and alive. The background was originally a dark green curtain; the pigments have faded to the black we see today.
Details
Symbolism
A glance over the shoulder
She seems to have just turned at the sound of her name, and her eyes meet ours. The fleeting movement creates intimacy and suspense: what is she about to say, and who is she?
Pearl or glass?
The “pearl” is implausibly large; a natural pearl of that size would have been priceless. Some scholars suggest it was actually glass or polished tin. In Dutch painting pearls could symbolise purity or vanity.
Stories
- Did you know?
In 2018 the Mauritshuis studied the painting with advanced imaging and found that the girl originally had eyelashes, now invisible to the naked eye; the green curtain in the background was also revealed by this research.
- Did you know?
The American novelist Tracy Chevalier wrote a novel inspired by the painting in 1999; the 2003 film adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson made the picture world-famous.
- Did you know?
In 2014, while the painting was touring abroad, the Mauritshuis invited the public to make their own versions of the girl and displayed a selection in its place.
Legacy
It is Vermeer's most famous work and an emblem of the Dutch Golden Age. Its simple composition, pure colour and air of mystery have influenced countless later portraits and photographs.
Today the girl appears in street art, advertising and endless parodies; the street artist Banksy made his own version, Girl with a Pierced Eardrum, with an alarm box in place of the pearl.
