Who Is The Girl With A Pearl Earring?
She is beauty, she is grace, she is the subject of an ancient Dutch painting. A little thing called The Girl With A Pearl Earring. But who is she??? There are a few theories and of course, people LOVE to speculate.
The Painting
You’ve seen this painting, everyone has seen this painting. You’ve probably even wondered a little bit about what we’re going to talk about but as always I’ll provide the context first. My man Vermeer painted this now-famous work around 1655 (at the time it wasn’t very popular and was actually in very bad shape for a while until it was purchased by a collector in 1881). It depicts a beautiful young girl turning her head over her shoulder to look at the viewer. What I actually didn’t know before researching this painting is that is it very uncommon to see a subject with their mouth open, even slightly like in this example, so people think Vermeer did this on purpose to make her intriguing. He maybe wanted it to look like she is just about to say something.
Obviously, the pearl in her ear is HUGE. Something else I learned is that the viewer is meant to think of this piece as costume jewellery because of the size of it. I always assumed that it was real and it was a family heirloom or maybe he’s a sugar baby, you never know.
In an interview, Emilie Gordenker (director of Mauritshuis (the museum where The Girl lives)), said that she thinks the mystery surrounding her is what draws people to come and see her. “Out of that dark background, she pops into our space looking very much alive – and the gesture is a big part of that…I’m dying to know what she’s going to say” (Gordenker, 2014).
Who’s That Chick?
Soooooooo now onto this part. There are four pretty prominent theories and honestly, theories 1, 2, and 3 could also apply to theory 4 but I’ll get to that. I promise it will make sense at the end!
1. She was his daughter
Maria Vermeer was his eldest daughter, born in 1654, and she would have been about 12 when Vermeer created this work. This age kind of checks out with the painting since the subject is so young and fresh looking. Additionally, Vermeer tended to paint portraits of women, especially, in a way that kind of erased their smaller, more individualistic traits. I saw somewhere that someone once said that it looked like Vermeer always got bored with painting faces and ended up treating them like still lives. So because this painting doesn’t really look like her doesn’t mean it isn’t her. All this being said, there is not really any other hard evidence that points to Maria being the subject except that she would have been convenient and around the right age.
2. She was the daughter of his patron
This is as close to we come to a sugar daddy in this article, unfortunately. Pieter Van Ruijven was Vermeer’s patron (AKA. he commissioned paintings from him and supported him) and some assume that maybe Vermeer was either commissioned to paint a portrait of his daughter, Magdalena, or asked her to sit for this work. This one is actually a little bit backed up because Van Ruijven owned The Girl With A Pearl Earring along with another Vermeer and he had bought them directly from Vermeer……almost like he had commissioned them. Also they were neighbours in Delft so painting Magdalena would have been as convenient as painting his daughter, plus they were around the same age.
We do have some cons here though which are actually pretty compelling. The Van Ruijvens were of high social standing and usually, in portraits from that time period, the artist would be commissioned to capture the person’s likeness (which it is clear he didn’t) but also to project wealth, pride, and social status. So why the hell would Van Ruijven ask Vermeer to paint this nondescript portrait of his daughter with an unusual outfit on and no nod to the family, their wealth or position. This is honestly the clout of the 1600s so no point in commissioning a portrait without any of that.
3. She was his lover
Let me say RIGHT OFF THE BAT there is no evidence to support this but the book/movie from 1999/2003 made everyone think that Vermeer fell in love with a maid in his house and in the midst of their ~affair~ he had her sit and model his wife’s earrings (or rather, earring). As a side note, the only thing I remember from this movie is the highly scary and terrible scene where he pierces her ear. It always made me hella squeamish.
I think people like this theory because it’s romantic to imagine an artist and his muse creating this gorgeous and iconic painting. Sorry to burst this bubble but this, to me, is the least credible of all the theories and probably isn’t true. But the ScarJo and Colin Firth movie is worth the watch anyways (fast forward through the aforementioned scene).
4. She is no one
This is what most art historians believe to be true and it is pretty believable to me as well. As you all know I am a professional art historian and the foremost authority on everything art so my opinion really matters here.
This theory is that she is a tronie. This is a type of painting that - checks notes - is a study of a person from the shoulders up. It isn’t supposed to represent one specific individual like a portrait would. Typically tronies were dressed in “exotic” clothing but I guess you could put the subject in any clothing and setting that you wanted or that was commissioned. Most people think that the turban or cloth on her head is a clear indication that this painting is a tronie.
Like I said at the beginning theories 1-3 could also be true even if she is a tronie. Vermeer could have had his daughter, his patron’s daughter, or a maid/lover sit for this painting but it was never intended to be a representation of this person. It would be more to have something to reference.
All in all, I think Vermeer wanted her to be mysterious and wanted her to be a code that couldn’t be cracked by intentionally leaving things ambiguous and unanswered in the work. He didn’t even date the painting. Regardless of who she is, this is one of those paintings that is going to make people keep coming back.
Works Cited
Sooke, Alastair. “Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring: Who was she?” BBC Culture. 2014. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20140701-who-was-the-mysterious-girl.