The Girl with the Pearl Earring

Today we rode our bikes to Den Haag to the Mauritshuis Museum to see The Girl with the Pearl Earring. The bike ride was wonderful; the air was crisp and the sun was shining. Tulip like wildflowers were just starting to bloom up along side the canals and paths to Den Haag.

This trip was inspired by my earlier viewing of the movie and visiting the Vermeer Center in Delft. After learning about Vermeer's life in Delft and his superior skill in painting light, I knew I had to see the famous painting in person. The painting is magnificent. The audio guide calls her the Mona Lisa of the Netherlands, but I think the Mona Lisa is the Girl with the Pearl Earring of Italy. She just shines on the canvas; the light and luminosity is amazing.
She may be the hallmark of the gallery, but the rest of the collection is quite impressive. The gallery houses two other paintings by Vermeer - a lovely landscape of Delft and one of his first works, Diana and her Nymphs. In addition, there are a dozen Rembrandts, a couple Ruebens and van Dyck (famous wedding portrait painters) and an interesting painting by Willem van Haecht. The painting, Apelles painting Campaspe, is a painting of hundreds of paintings - or an art gallery. The picture below isn't the same painting, but is done in the same style. The level of detail in the mini paintings was amazing - he had to be a master at many techniques.After we finished with the museum, we rode back to Delft enjoying the sunshine and flowers on the way.

Vermeer

Since I had a few hours to kill, with Matt busy plugging away at models and simulations of page-long mathematical equations, I was looking around iTunes for a movie to rent and found Girl with the Pearl Earring (a fictional account of the Vermeer painting above) on sale for $.99. By pure coincidence, I had checked out the book Girl in Hyacinth Blue (a fictional tale of a long lost Vermeer painting) at the library a few days before. Since Delft is Vermeer's home town, I thought it was time I learned more about him and his work. We haven't made it to the museum in Den Haag yet that houses the painting, so I thought the movie and book would be a good introduction to Vermeer and his work.


While little is know about Vermeer's life and the subjects in his paintings, the movie weaves a believable tale. Every scene is captured with the light and color that are signatures of Vermeer's work. In addition to the beautiful masterpiece like scenes, the movie shows glimpses of what life was like in Delft in the 1600s.

After being intrigued by the movie, I took a trip to the Vermeer Center in Delft this morning. While the center does not have any of Vermeer's paintings, it is a worthwhile museum. The exhibit starts with a 5 minute introductory video of Delft around the time of Vermeer. It was quite fascinating to see how the places I walk by every week looked in the 1600s. Although the originals are housed elsewhere, the museum does have a life size print of each of Vermeer's confirmed works in chronological order with commentary. In addition, the museum explains how he mixed paint, which elements he used, his lighting techniques, and where he possibly learned his craft.

This weekend we will be going to Den Haag to the Mauritshuis to see some of Vermeer's paintings, including The Girl with Pearl Earring and the landscape View of Delft.