Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
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This was a book I read when I was in my historical fiction phase before I discovered the delicious spiciness of romance. Even without the spice, the tension between Griet and Johannes is palpable. And if you don’t want to read this book but you want to feel that tension, watch the movie. Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth…need I say more.
Johannes Vermeer is one of my favorite artists of all time. Why? Because he spent his whole career painting 36 canvases (at least that is how many have survived and been identified as his) and is one of the most well-known artists of history!! He used the most expensive pigments for his palette, crushed pearl in his whites and lapis lazuli in his blues. These colors are still to this day vibrant and breathtaking.
The art world in the 17th century was one of transformation and a Golden Age for Dutch art. Before this time, artists survived by having patrons who commissioned them for paintings and sculptures. The Sistine Chapel? Commissioned by the Vatican. The Church was where artists flocked for commissions, to keep their careers afloat. The other alternative was appealing to a wealthy aristocrat or merchant. Christianity was most often the subject matter of choice for all patrons of art. From elaborate altarpieces to portraits of wealthy patrons placed among religious scenes.
In The Netherlands, finding a patron was still the only way to pay the bills. But the Golden Age brought a different subject to popularity. Genre scenes, or paintings of everyday life. Scenes of peasants getting drunk at the local tavern, women pouring a jug of milk, children playing outside on a dusty sidewalk. Vermeer painted these small moments of human life on small canvases with intricate details in light and color.
But Girl with a Pearl Earring, known as the Mona Lisa of the North, is a portrait. Most of his paintings had female figures as the main subject, but he was not a portrait painter. The mystery surrounding this painting makes for a delectable tale of what circumstances led Vermeer to paint this girl.
This is a book I highly recommend to anyone who loves art history, culture, historical fiction and drama.
Sorry, I let the art historian in me out for this post…
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