Johannes Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch born painter who devoted his life to his art, at the peak of his artistic legacy Johannes was widely regarded as a master and one of the best Dutch artists of his time (Arthur Wheelock, Encyclopedia Britannica). Johannes Vermeer did not make his living off his artwork, instead he worked as an innkeeper and an art dealer, Johannes specialized in painting interior scenes, which was popular amongst the middle class. These interior scenes allowed the viewer to conceptualize and understand the private lives of the rich and the cultured (Arthur Wheelock, Encyclopedia Britannica). Johannes Vermeer is praised for his masterful use of lighting, and one piece which captures his lighting greatness is Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Genre paintings were extremely common amongst the Dutch during the Baroque period. This painting incorporates a dark background with a young woman sitting enigmatically with a slight glance over the shoulder, her lips are slightly parted, which was rather scandalous during these times due to the conservative ideals of the Dutch, as the parted lips could have had some sort of sexual connotation. Furthermore, Johannes Vermeer uses the optical illusion called camera obscura to create a lighting effect. Camera obscura is a process, in which someone is seated in a dark box, and within the box there is a small hole in which someone shines a light through, the dark walls reflect the light and as a result creates interesting lighting and shadows on the face of the individual inside the box (Pauline Morel, 68). Vermeer used this method to show a dark background and contrast it with the bright and vivid colors of the girl. This sort of lighting accentuates the features of the woman and forces the viewer to admire the little things in the painting, for example, the earrings. Vermeer’s use of color is also very important to note, Johannes uses lush colors on the skin to create a unique angelic glowing effect, while simultaneously highlighting specific things on the canvas, things such as her red lips;
During the 80 year war, Catholicism was strained in the Netherlands, as its churches were stripped down and mostly eliminated and instead, Calvinism was promoted. The 80 year war resulted in the Calvinist Dutch majority having to reinvent themselves and avoid Old Catholic tradition, thus having a major impact on Dutch art overall. European Baroque style art was generally viewed as very animated, highly dramatic, etc. The Dutch however, focused more on genre paintings, and Johannes Vermeer was no different than many of his Dutch colleagues; Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is a typical example of a genre painting a Dutch artist would have done at the time. The individual in the painting is unknown, some believed that the painting was Vermeer’s eldest daughter, while others believe that it was Johannes Vermeer’s long time maid (Alastair Sooke, BBC Art History), ultimately, the woman in the picture is left to the interpretation of the viewer, not knowing the individual in the painting adds mystery and therefore adds intrigue for the viewer. Additionally, there is belief that the painting was owned by Pieter Claesz van Rujiven in 1674, unfortunately, there seems to be little recorded after that until 1881. In 1881 the painting was sold at a ridiculously low price at an auction in Hague, Vermeer’s masterpiece was then restored, only to find that a