The Girl with the Pearl Earring

Daria (Y7) entered the Languages Week Booklet Challenge by recreating a piece of artwork by a European artist. Here, she explains more about her choice. 

The Girl with the Pearl Earring, known in Dutch as Meisje met de parel, is one of the world’s most famous paintings. Painted by Johannes Vermeer in 1665, the masterpiece is often referred to as the Mona Lisa of the north or the Dutch Mona Lisa.   

The girl in the painting is yet to be identified but some people suspect it was the painter’s eldest daughter Maria. The girl with the pearl earring is not actually a portrait, it is a type of painting called a ‘tronie’ which is basically a portrait but there is an exaggerated feature – in this case it would be the pearl earring or the turban the girl is wearing.   

The painting has had many names over time. It used to be referred to as ‘Girl in a turban’, ‘Head of a girl with a turban’, ‘Young girl with turban’, and ‘Head of a young girl’. But only in 1995 did it get its worldwide famous name of Girl with the Pearl Earring. 

I chose to do this painting because I wanted to challenge myself. As the proportions were very particular, it was quite hard doing the proportions correctly since there was a slight head tilt I did not notice and many small details that really made the painting pop. The painting took me roughly and hour (or more) but in the end, it was worth it.