Have you ever heard of the Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer? Well, It is a quite famous piece of artwork. It is a picture of a young maiden tilting her head slightly to gaze sadly at the viewer, with a headdress of blue and golden silk. She also wore a dirt yellow coat with a white shirt inside. On her ear is a pearl earring shadowed by her head. Her lips were as red as roses with a light pink piece that stood out clearly. The pearl was mostly dark but also had a few lighter colored parts as well. The background is completely black. Although it is drawn vertically, it is not a portrait, but a “ tronie”, a painting of someone imaginary. I like it and advise you to see it for three reasons, the wonderful light effect, and the lonely feeling humming loudly inside.
If you have seen it personally or even in a picture, you will find it so real that the girl might just gaze around it and step out of the picture! The part that made it look real was that light effect, as I call it. You will see a whiter area on the girl’s moist lips and on the pearl as well. At first, the archeologists who found it thought the lighter part was a piece of oil that was faded through time, so they used the same color to paint on it again. However, the results looked two- dimensional and unfitting compared to the other parts. Then, they suddenly realized how that piece was done on purpose by Johannes Vermeer to show the light shed on the lips. The pearl on the earring exposed to a small amount of light that a lot of it was unseen. The shadow casted from her head blocking light was visible on her neck. The wrinkles in her shirt consisted of shadows and light. The whites of her eyes where white and sparkled where light shown on it. The light is beautifully imitated and added reality to the whole artwork, which I invite you to see.
Another reason is that you should help appreciate the effort Vermeer put into this painting, because he was only aiming for perfection on that piece of art and never minded how much paint he would use might cost him , he only cared about it being perfect. If he had not put in so much effort, how could he have drawn it so real? I was hoping that if you would go and appreciate its art, the artist’s work would not go to waste and his wish of appreciation would be granted.
Finally, this painting is really moving. It is mainly made up of cool, dark colors, even the gold was dark and gloomy. Cool colors like these portray loneliness. With the black background and sad eyes, the entire picture just vibrated with loneliness and sadness.
In conclusion, I am recommending you to gaze at this lovely painting, for the light effect is dazzling, there is a lot of effort put forth into it, and its loneliness being so moving. If you ever saw it , you might agree with me on the talent of the artist and the beauty of the painting. I hope that you can find it and observe it.
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