“Girl with a Pearl Earring” - the most famous painting by Jan Vermeer, impressive for its original and expressive composition, impeccable technique and innovative for that time lighting. Except that Vermeer himself did not name his paintings in any way - in Holland XVII century it was not accepted, only the stryazchie after the death of the artist, making an inventory of property, mentioned about “two troni in the Turkish style”. It was only later that the painting was given its familiar name.
A girl with a pearl earring
By the way, it is not by chance that the clerks called this painting a troni rather than the usual portrait. A portrait is an image of a specific person: the artist tries to achieve the highest possible resemblance, and often to flatter customers, thoroughly embellishing his creation. A troni is a creative blank, designed to find interesting images that can be used in custom portraits. Similarity is not the main thing there: more important is the original composition, facial expression and non-standard details - there is plenty of this in Vermeer's painting. It is no coincidence that so many people argue and talk about it, and every year more than 2 million people come to the Royal Gallery Mauritshuis to see it.
Girl with the red hat
But in 1995 it did not even have a common name, and in 1881 it was sold for a ridiculous sum of 2 guilders to a collector of paintings. After his death, this Vermeer artwork ended up in the museum, but it became truly famous after the novel The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and the movie of the same name directed by Peter Webber in 2003.
A still from the movie “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”
Due to the fact that it is a troni the identity of the sitter is very difficult to establish. But there is an opinion that the picture depicts the artist's daughter Maria, who was 13 years old at the time. And it is quite logical: the artwork of a model has always been quite tedious and physically demanding - try to sit still for several hours in one, not the most comfortable pose, so for such experiments, no customer will not voluntarily pose, and to hire a professional model - expensive.
“Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Fragment of the painting
Vermeer was able to work skillfully with light, and he perfectly managed to display the complex light shade, the glare on the moistened lips and the soft glow of the young face, which in combination with the dark background looks especially expressive.
But the main element of the painting is the pearl earring, which has caused a lot of controversy among art critics and scholars. In the painting, the earring looks more like an earring made of silver - it shines like silver or silver-plated metal, and pearls of this size were difficult to find, as they were expensive and Vermeer simply could not afford such a rich piece of jewelry.
“Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Detail of the painting
True, before the restoration, the painting looked somewhat different: it was more dull, with a yellowish tint, so the clerk conducting the inventory, with a clear conscience gave the most euphonious name, not particularly thinking about the real state of affairs.
In addition, Vermeer has more paintings, which depict similar earrings with a metallic cast, and we can assume that they are a family jewel. So the artist thoroughly developed his hand at its depiction, and the characteristic silvery shine he managed to convey very convincingly.
A girl with a pearl necklace. Fragment
Even serious scientists confirm this view. For example, the astrophysicist Vincent Icke writes that pearls consist of layers of calcite that scatter and refract light of different lengths, which give the noble soft white pearl luster. A master like Vermeer could have painted it very convincingly, but he preferred to paint earrings in silver.
Lady writing a letter. fragment.
However, there is a rational link in this - a large cloudy spot in the center of the picture would not look too attractive, and perhaps on this small trony Vermeer simply honed the skill of depicting the same silver earring, which will certainly come in handy when painting commissioned portraits.
And what do you think the earring is made of - write in the comments.
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