After it came back, the Mauritshuis swore that the painting would never leave the museum again, just as, for example, The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli in the Uffizi Museumand the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci in the Louvre. It stayed there until 2014, but when the Mauritshuis was remodeled, the painting went on a world tour.
In 1902, Des Tombe died, and his collection of paintings was donated to the Mauritshuis. While restoring the picture, it was discovered to carry the signature of Vermeer. The painting was in a bad state at that moment, and the painter of it was unknown. This amount is equivalent to a bit more than $1 at that time, and this amount would be worth about $28 nowadays. However, in 1881, this painting reappeared and was sold at an auction in The Hague for two Dutch guilders and thirty cents to the art collector Arnoldus Andries des Tombe. After that the ownership of the painting is unclear.
Vermeer included the famous reflection of light in the pearl earring, but when you look carefully, the light also reflects in her eyes and her lower lip.īackstory: After the death of Vermeer in 1675, the painting was probably owned by Pieter van Ruijven, the patron of Vermeer. You can see his brush strokes in her clothing, but her face consists only of invisible brush strokes which adds to the tranquility of this painting. Notice also the technique of Vermeer in this painting. People do not agree on what emotions she expresses. Her mouth is slightly open, and her red lips contrast nicely with the color of her face. She wears a brown-yellow jacket with a white collar and a blue turban around her head with a yellow cloth that hangs down. Vermeer painted similar earrings in Girl with a Flute and Girl with a Red Hat, which are both displayed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The girl in this painting is wearing exotic clothes. The size of the pearl is similar to the size of her eye, which means that it is a very large pearl compared to the pearls we commonly see in contemporary pearls used for jewelry.
On the top left of the pearl, the light is reflected, while at the bottom there is a less visible reflection of her white collar. She is wearing a large, pear-shaped, shining pearl earring. The girl is shown from the side but turns her brightly lit face towards the viewer. What do you see? An unknown girl is painted against a black background.