http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Johannes_Vermeer_%281632-1675%29_-_The_Girl_With_The_Pearl_Earring_%281665%29.jpg

The (Fictional?) Girl with a Pearl Earring

          One painting finished during the 17th century has incited curiosity, prompting the viewers to desire to know more about the girl with such sad sorrow in her eyes while adorned with a turban-like headdress and an exquisite pearl earring.  Part of the mystery surrounding the paintings is due to the enigma of the painter himself, but also to the unknown background story of the girl.  This mystery has led to Jan Vermeer’s delayed fame and also to a historical novel titled after the painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring.  Walter Liedtke attempts to describe the tantalizing painting by explaining how Vermeer did not intend for it to be a portrait, but an artful depiction of the facial features and accessories, the style for which could be attributed to the influence from other Dutch artists focused on the tronies trend. 

According to Liedtke, based on Vermeer’s past paintings, one can assume that the subject of Girl with a Pearl Earring was painted with a distinct likeness to the real model.  However, certain aspects of the facial features seem a bit undefined or simplified.  For example, the slim, straight nose arcs continuously into the eyebrows (Liedtke 131), without the use of shading to define it distinctly from the right cheek.  Liedtke remarks that “the lines of the brow and cheek are blurred by very thin brushstrokes, but the pristine smoothness of youth is conveyed at a normal viewing distance by the seemingly perfect contour, which descends from the turban in three gentle segments before softening at the chin.”  In addition, the girl’s lips and eyes seem to reveal a different level of reality from that of the rest of the face.  This is due to the moisture and specific lighting effects, which draw the viewer’s attention.  The vivacity in the eyes and the lips contrasts with the undefined nose and brow, causing doubt as to whether this painting is a portrait or more artful in expression (Liedtke 131).  Thus, the appearance of life in the eyes and lips attracts one into believing that everything depicted in this painting corresponds with the actual features that the painter saw, but the undefined features of the nose and brow reveal perhaps the liberties that the artist took in portraying the model in an inexact fashion. 

The Dutch tradition of painting during Vermeer’s career in the middle 17th century centered around tronies, which referred to heads, faces, or expressions based on live models but sold as studies of interesting characters (Liedtke 131).  The influence of this tradition from other painters can be seen in Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring.  Liedtke gives examples of these types of painters, such as “Jacob Backer, Govert Flinck, and Samuel van Hoogstraten painted bust-length tronies that display their talent for recording (or inventing) facial types, capturing expressions, conveying textures and light affects, arranging poses (which are far more diverse than in portraiture), and imagining personalities.”  Vermeer owned two such tronies, each painted by Van Hoogstraten and Carl Fabritius (Liedtke 132).  Therefore, the influence of the tronies on Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring remains possible if Vermeer approached the painting as one portraying a character, rather than merely painting exactly what he saw.  It remains possible that through the manipulation of light, such as the sparkle on the pearl earring, and an arranged pose in which the shoulders of the girl point forward, while the neck strains to the side, Vermeer’s actual purpose was to depict a fictional girl with inner turmoil. 

The most important similarity in comparison with the qualities of Girl with a Pearl Earring to outside works remains in the Brussels painter, Michiel Sweerts’ works.  Like the Vermeer subject, Sweerts’ figures are usually bust-length and in front of a dark backdrop (Liedtke 132).  They are also highly noted for their “simplicity, immediacy, sidelong glances, and sensitive handling of light” (Liedtke 132).  Furthermore, Sweerts occasionally painted his subjects in oriental clothing, similar to the turban that Vermeer’s subject wears in his painting.  The artistic influence of the popular tronies genre of painting, especially Michiel Sweerts, remains evident in Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (Liedtke 132).  Therefore, in accordance with the other tronies, this painting should be observed as a character based off of a model, not as a portrait of a real person.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer still sparks debate among art historians today.  What is she thinking behind those big, dejected eyes?  But one question that remains pertinent to the physical embodiment of the girl is whether or not it was intended as an accurate portrayal of a young girl, or as a painting with fictional embellishments meant to serve a purpose.  According to Walter Liedtke, based off of the contrasting lively and indistinct facial features, and the influence of the tronies art movement at the time, Vermeer endeavored to create a painting that would be considered art.  Furthermore, since the subject’s social status remains undetermined, the likelihood of a portraiture is not high.  The mystery behind the girl in the painting and behind the artists’ intentions makes Girl with a Pearl Earring earn the title of “the Dutch Mona Lisa."  

Works Cited

Liedtke, Walter. Vermeer: The Completed Paintings. Belgium: Ludion, 2008. Print.