Johannes Vermeer: Master of Light

 by Iona Perkins

Have you ever stood, gazing humbly up at a painting and wished you could simply and utterly immerse yourself in it: the people, the place, the atmosphere? 

The girl with the Pearl Earring is one of the most celebrated works of art painted by Vermeer,  a meritorious 17th Century Dutch painter who only became famous posthumously. At the time, his use of contrasting colour and lack of abundance of paintings made him less renowned, isolating him. However, his skill at capturing minute details and the clarity of form began to capture the world towards the end of the 19th Century. 

Vermeer was the son of a weaver and an art dealer in Delft, The Netherlands, which in the 17th Century was a thriving, bustling city. Due to his father’s debts in later life, Vermeer was self-taught, which was highly unusual. The Dutch were expanding their empire in the Caribbean, bringing them wealth and prosperity; leading to a variety of wine and salt and glorious cloth passing through its midst. Perhaps this is what caught the eye of Vermeer and sparked his fascination with domestic subjects and scenes of everyday life. We shall never truly know the answer. 

He was labelled “The Master of Light '' due to his meticulous painting method, which included the traditional steps such as underpainting, “working up” and glazing. Scarcity of pigments forced artists of the period to hand grind them daily in preparation, then work in a piecemeal fashion. 

There has been extensive speculation as to who the nameless woman in the painting is. You may have seen the award winning film ‘The Girl With the Pearl Earring’ starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. It is based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier, which investigates a possible narrative of the girl, however it is just that, a possibility.

The painting is of a genre called tronie, where the sitter has an exaggerated expression or a flamboyant costume; a popular type of work in the Dutch Golden Age. The mystery girl’s hair is covered by a turban, emphasising her cultural worldliness and enhancing her identity as someone of immense wealth whilst Vermeer’s unusual love of ultramarine blue adds vibrancy to the work. Scholars argue that the figure in the painting ultimately symbolises the intermixing of Eastern and Western Culture. The infamous earring represents wealth, but also Christian faith and is possibly an allusion to the Virgin Mary, symbolising chastity and virtue. 

The enigmatic gaze and element of mystery surrounding Vermeer’s masterpiece simply add to its enduring appeal and entice successive generations to deliberate on the painter's motivations.