Very little is known about Vermeer and …

Years: 1667 - 1667

Very little is known about Vermeer and his works.

One of his most famous masterpieces, Girl with a Pearl Earring—which, as the name implies, uses a pearl earring for a focal point—is signed "IVMeer" but not dated.

It is sometimes referred to as "the Mona Lisa of the North" or "the Dutch Mona Lisa".

It is unclear whether this work had been commissioned, and if so, by whom.

In any case, it is probably not meant as a conventional portrait.

More recent Vermeer literature points to the image being a tronie, the Dutch seventeenth-century description of a ’head’ that was not meant to be a portrait.

After the most recent restoration of the painting in 1994 the subtle color scheme and the intimacy of the girl’s gaze on to the spectator have been greatly enhanced.

Johannes Vermeer: Girl With a Pearl Earring, Oil on canvas, 44.5 cm × 39 cm (17.5 in × 15 in), Mauritshuis, The Hague

Johannes Vermeer: Girl With a Pearl Earring, Oil on canvas, 44.5 cm × 39 cm (17.5 in × 15 in), Mauritshuis, The Hague

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