Griet is sent to Delft to work as a maid in the household of famed painter Johannes Vermeer and his wife, Catharina. film critics name 'Dirty Pretty Things' the year's best", "Finding the self in mind: Vermeer and reflective function", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring_(film)&oldid=1155226691, This page was last edited on 17 May 2023, at 07:13. Her mouth is open, which you dont see that much in Dutch paintings, so she seems as if she is about to talk to you. [39] Mitchell did however laud its cinematography, production design, and musical score,[39] as did the Film Journal International's Erica Abeel. Chevalier agreed, believing that a British studio would help resist Hollywood's urge "to sex up the film". "[8][21], After the hiring of Johansson, other major casting decisions quickly followed, beginning with the addition of English actor Colin Firth as Vermeer. Girl with a Pearl Earring (novel) - Wikipedia The book fashioned the painting's subject into a housemaid named Griet who works in Vermeer's home and becomes his paint mixer. [23], The painting has gone under a number of titles in various countries over the centuries. [47], The film incorporates seven of Vermeer's paintings into its story. For other uses, see, Girl with a Pearl Earring (disambiguation), FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) Amsterdam, "Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring: Who was she? [22], Results included the presence of delicate eyelashes, a green curtain behind the head, changes made, and details of the pigments used and where they came from. Griet is sent to Delft to work as a maid in the household of famed painter Johannes Vermeer and his wife, Catharina. In the 2003 film Girl with a Pearl Earring, we're introduced to Griet, a young beautiful girl, played by Scarlett Johansson, who works as a maid after her painter father goes blind. Later, Griet receives a visit at her parents' home from Vermeer's cook, Tanneke, who brings a gift: the blue headscarf Griet wore in the painting, wrapped around Catharina's pearl earrings. Although Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is known to have acted as executor to Vermeer's will, there is no documentary proof of friendship between the two. As I said, very little is known about the artists life, so we cant even know if his model even existed. Going by various names over the centuries, it became known by its present title towards the end of the 20th century after the earring worn by the girl portrayed there. [20] Laura M. Sager Eidt, in her book Writing and Filming the Painting: Ekphrasis in Literature and Film, asserts that the film deviates significantly from the source material and emphasises a "socio-political dimension that is subtler in the novel". 10 Fun Facts of The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer Set in 17th-century Delft, Holland, the novel was inspired by local painter Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. However, Griet is warned by Vermeer's friend, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, not to get too close to the artist because he is more interested in painting than he is in people. And Vermeer's acknowledgment of his debt to her, revealed in the denouement, is a blatant nod to sentimentality. Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring: Who was she? - BBC Inv. Famously, Vermeer created the illusion of the pearl against a patch of dark grey with just two bravura white brushstrokes: a bright highlight on the front, capturing light coming in from the window, and a subtler one lower down, showing the reflection of the girls collar. A hundred years ago, visitors to the Mauritshuis were more eager to see Paulus Potters gargantuan canvas The Bull (1647), which, with its massive, mud-spattered bovine protagonist, was prized as the last word in Dutch naturalism. One critic explained that this name was given, not just from the detail of the earring, but because the figure glows with an inner radiance against the dark background. The film was subsequently nominated for ten British Academy Film Awards, three Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. A tronie is a study of a head and shoulders dressed in exotic clothing, she explains. Girl with a pearl earring - Who was this fascinating - Citaliarestauro Chevalier noted that the "ambiguous look" on the girl's face left a lasting impression on her. What's The Real Story Behind The Famous Girl With A Pearl Earring [12][29] Chevalier later remarked that Webber and Serra "needed absolute control of the space and light they worked with something they could never achieve by shutting down a busy Delft street for an hour or two". One day shes asked to clean the masters studio, and she finally meets the famous artist. She is slow to return his affections as their relationship develops. [2] Pregnant at the time of researching and writing, she finished the work in eight months because she had a "biological deadline".[3]. 1. [26], In desiring to avoid stereotypes of the costume drama, Webber costumed his actors in simple outfits he termed "period Prada", rather than use the ruffles and baggy costumes common for the era. It is not a portrait, but a 'tronie' - a painting of an imaginary figure. But it isnt, so you turn back to it again and again, trying to unlock that mystery. Wealthy people stopped buying his work due to the economic crisis caused by the Franco-Dutch War of 1672. [44], Vermeer channels Griet's sexual awakening into his painting, with the piercing of her ear and his directives to her posing being inherently sexual. [31] W. S. Di Piero reimagined how the "Girl with Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer" might look in the modern setting of Haight Street in San Francisco,[32] while Marilyn Chandler McEntyre commented on the girl's private, self-possessed personality. This exquisite film is based on a bestselling novel by Tracy Chevalier about the possible events behind the painting of one of Vermeer's most beguiling works, Girl with a Pearl Earring. Art Imitating Art: 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' - NPR Johannes, or Jan, Vermeer (1632-1675) was a Dutch painter. [20] While researching the role, Firth realised that Vermeer was "incredibly elusive as an artist". Griet is a shy girl living in the Dutch Republic in 1665. By The Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands Climate activists targeted Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece "Girl with a Pearl Earring" with glue and liquid on Thursday but one of the world's. [8][17] Tucker and Paterson already knew Webber from several earlier projects;[9] the director discovered the project by accident after visiting their office, where he noticed a poster of Vermeer's work and began discussing it. With Rhea Perlman, Carol Kane, Kevin Corrigan, Dash Mihok. In May 2020, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a new dramatisation of the novel. The fact that shes not really facing at the spectator or that her mouth is open, as if she were saying something, invites the spectator to fill in the blanks with their own imagination. Why is Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" considered a - TED-Ed The year the painting appeared at auction, though, in 1881, was only a decade or so after Vermeers rediscovery by the French. Create and share a new lesson based on this one. In the final shot, the camera zooms out from the earring to reveal the full real-life painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring. Griet's ability to suggest to Vermeer how to improve a painting demands one stretch of the reader's imagination. [6] Hetreed stayed in close contact with Chevalier, and the two became so close near the end of the production that they presented a Master class together on screenwriting. She makes a bunch of weird new friends and is constantly in conflict with her snobbish philosophy professor. After nine years of training as Supplicants, Aunts-in-training perform . [8] The actress finished filming Lost in Translation immediately before arriving on set in Luxembourg, and consequently prepared little for the role. [49] Leitch adds the director "compromises by showing far fewer actual Vermeer paintings than Chevalier's Griet describes but lingering longer over the visual particulars of the studio in which he creates them". [19], The casting of Griet was Webber's first major step, and led to interviews with 150 girls before Webber chose the 17-year-old actress Scarlett Johansson. [30], According to Webber, Serra "was obsessed with reproducing the amazing use of light by the artists of that period, and most particularly Vermeer's use of it". As Time magazine notes, Chevalier presents "an exquisitely controlled exercise that illustrates how temptation is restrained for the sake of art". We all recognize it and have been enticed by her mysterious and enigmatic stare. This is partially because of the girl's curious expression, and in part because of the mystery surrounding the piece itself. A speck of bright moisture adorns the corner of her mouth, which is open as though she is about to speak. She demands Vermeer show her the commissioned portrait. [9], Originally, the American actress Kate Hudson was cast as Griet,[10] having successfully pursued the role from the film's producers. Her younger brother Frans is apprenticed outside and eventually her younger sister Agnes dies of the plague. No, it hasn't been misattributed, and no, it's not a fake. Susan Vreeland's Girl in Hyacinth Blue is a set of stories centred upon a supposedly lost painting by Vermeer;[15] and Katharine Webers The Music Lesson deals with the stolen Vermeer painting of that title. [26] Finally we hear from Vermeer's daughter Maertge that she has been painted,[27] a reference to Study of a Young Woman. For Gordenker, this sense of mystery is what attracts people to the Girl. Vermeer, himself, is a shadowy figure in the history of art. [64] She cited its melodramatic villains as another failing, but concluded that it was "to Johansson's credit that she alone pulls something plausible out of her character". With Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt. The non-invasive research project included removing the work from its frame for study with microscopes, X-ray equipment and a special scanner to learn more about the methods and materials used by Vermeer. Girl with a Pearl Earring Reviews - Metacritic Pearl Girls wear silver dresses, white hats, and fake pearls, and carry silver backpacks. For Walter Liedtke, the gallery's curator of European paintings, the success of [the exhibition] was due, at least in part, to Chevalier's novel."[18]. Then, if this isnt the story, which is? More than that, actually discovering her identity would be taking that enigmatic essence that attracts millions of visitors every year or that inspires many to honor the painting. Now, what we do know is that the painting isnt really a portrait as many believed for years, but a type of painting known as tronie. Did Vermeer's 'Girl' Really Have a Pearl Earring? | Smart News - James Earle. [62], The BBC's review, written by Susan Hodgetts, described the film as "a superior British costume drama that expertly mixes art history with romantic fiction", which would appeal to "anyone who likes serious, intelligent drama and gentle erotic tension". They both start talking to each other about art, paint, light techniques, and colors, and he gets really intrigued by this young maid with knowledge about art. Hollywood Rewind | Girl with a Pearl Earring: Scarlett Johansson is Whereas Girl with a Pearl Earring is right there there is nothing between her and us. Whats behind the artwork that has been popularly known as The Mona Lisa of the North? [8] Set designer Todd van Hulzen said the goal was to "reflect that quiet, sober, almost moralizing ethos that you see in Dutch paintings". [13], The painting has since been widely exhibited about the world until in 2014 the Mauritshuis took the decision that it should not leave the museum in the future. The uncertainty of her story is a key to its allure. The owner of the house where she works is none other than Vermeer, and thats where the story begins. In the 2003 film Girl with a Pearl Earring, were introduced to Griet, a young beautiful girl, played by Scarlett Johansson, who works as a maid after her painter father goes blind. [12], Rather than writing a story of Vermeer having an illicit relationship with the household maid, Chevalier builds tension in the work with the depiction of their restraint. While Griet is on a routine shopping run, a butcher's son, Pieter, is drawn to her. In the movie, when Vermeers patron sees her, he becomes extremely infatuated with her, to the point that he asks Vermeer if he can take her as his maid, which he refuses politely. [17], In February-March 2018 an international team of art experts spent two weeks studying the painting in a specially constructed glass workshop in the museum, open to observation by the public. In exchange, he offers to paint her for him. When Vermeer responds that she doesn't understand, she tries but fails to destroy the painting. It is estimated to have been painted around 1665. [52], In the US, the Girl With a Pearl Earring DVD was released on 4 May 2004 by Lions Gate. At the time, it was in poor condition, with parts of the paint layer having become detached. [34], In the interest of shortening the adaptation, approximately one-third of the story was eventually edited out;[6] entire subplots and characters were removed. [18] The director also made a conscious effort to slow the pace of the film, hoping that by "slowing things down [we could] create these moments in between the dialogue that were full of emotion. As Griet cleans Vermeer's studio, which Catharina never enters, the painter begins to converse with her and encourages her appreciation of painting, light, and color. [25] A further painting, The Procuress, is not Vermeer's painting of that title but a genre piece by Dirck van Baburen that belongs to Maria Thins. [16] Webber read the script and described it as being "about creativity and the link between art and money and power and sex in some strange unholy mixture". [35] The score, his career breakthrough, gained him international attention and garnered him further film projects. [57], "In paring the novel down, he's taken the fire out of the fusion of art and eroticism which powers Griet's and Vermeer's feeling for one another. Sixteen-year-old Griet has to leave her family home in Delft in 1664 after her father is blinded in an accident. [30], Such considerations are important since, as Lisa Fletcher argues, historical novels "intervene in our view of the past" and influence our reaction to it in the present. According to Emilie Gordenker, director of the Mauritshuis Gallery at The Hague and the precinct that hosts the painting, when it was first exhibited for the auction, it was all filthy, to the point that people didnt really know what it was and the value it had. [9], During preproduction, Webber and cinematographer Eduardo Serra studied the period's artwork and discussed the different moods they wanted to create for each scene. What art critics claim is that the piece is definitely too big to be actually real, since it would have weighed too much. He felt that she "just stood out. She has been strictly brought up and does not welcome this at first, but tolerates his interest because it is of advantage to her impoverished parents. She describes the girl's expression "to be a mass of contradictions: innocent yet experienced, joyous yet tearful, full of longing and yet full of loss." As Vermeers Girl with a Pearl Earring returns home to The Hague, Alastair Sooke delves into the story of the mysterious painting and its enigmatic creator. Chevalier, whose most . As La ragazza col turbante (Girl with a Turban, 1986), it features as the general title of Marta Morazzonis collection of five short novellas set in the Baroque era. [5] Due to this incident, The Guardian reported that it "now seems unlikely that the film will ever be made". Vermeer's wealthy but licentious patron, Pieter van Ruijven, notices the wide-eyed maid, molests her when he can and pressures Vermeer to paint them together, as he had with an earlier maid that Van Ruijven had then made pregnant. If it were resolved, then youd move onto the next painting. 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' & The Artistic Framing of - LinkedIn So, to wrap things up, we might never know who she was, and thats actually what makes the enigma of the painting so alluring. [6] In 2005 HarperCollins brought out a UK special edition with nine colour plates of Vermeer paintings, published in celebration of one million copies sold. "[27] For inspiration in constructing the film's sets, Webber and van Os studied the works of Vermeer and other artists of the period, such as Gerard ter Borch. [22] Van Ruijven's wife (Maria de Knuijt) later models for A Lady Writing a Letter. This effect was produced by applying a thin transparent layer of painta glazeover the black background seen now. Peter Webber has signed on to direct the wartime thriller "Irena Sendler.". [9] Anand Tucker and Hetreed's husband Andy Paterson both producers with the small British studio Archer Street Films[8][10] approached the novel's author, Tracy Chevalier, for a film adaptation. The book and movie, "Girl with a Pearl Earring," has drawn attention to the famous painting of the same name, but no one knows who the girl in the painting really was. Print May 21, 2004, 7:16 PM . In 2001 Plume released the U.S. paperback edition with an initial print-run of 120,000 copies; a year later the book had been reprinted 18 times with close to two million copies sold. "[31] Desplat was then known primarily for scoring films in his native language. Now, two years later, the team unveils their new discoveries. Art history can be fickle this isnt so surprising. Page 7 in the HarperCollins paperback (2000). It gets you to see the world through new which is to say, old eyes". Initially, the production was to feature Kate Hudson as Griet with Mike Newell directing. Another crucial factor to understand the mystery behind the models identity can be traced to the last years of Vermeers life. [32][33], The score employs strings, piano, and woodwinds, with a central theme featuring a variety of instrumental forms. Out of that dark background, she pops into our space looking very much alive and the gesture is a big part of that. The occasion for this exhibition was the 30m ($41m) renovation of the Mauritshuis, which boasts one of the finest collections of Dutch paintings anywhere in the world and has recently reopened to the public. S Swivelling to her left, she. This takes up much of her time, and Griet arouses the suspicions of Catharina, but Vermeer's mother-in-law, Maria Thins, recognizes Griet's presence as a steadying and catalyzing force in Vermeer's career and connives at the domestic arrangements that allow her to devote more time to his service. The novel is narrated in the first person by a sixteen-year-old girl named Griet, who lives in the Dutch city of Delft. However, the two organic pigments of the green glaze, indigo and weld, have faded. [1], Tracy Chevalier's inspiration for the novel was a poster of Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. It was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film in 2003 starring Scarlett Johansson . [6][12], Hetreed worked closely with Tucker and Webber to adapt the book, explaining that "working with them on drafts helped me to concentrate on what the film would be, rather than how beautifully I could make a line work". [4] There has been speculation that she is the artist's eldest daughter, Maria, though this has been dismissed as an anachronism by some art historians. One such film is the little-remembered period drama Girl with a Pearl Earring. Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665. It is signed "IVMeer" but not dated. [8][22], After Firth, Webber's next casting decision was Tom Wilkinson as the patron Pieter van Ruijven, who was hired in late 2002. The identity of the model in The Girl with a Pearl Earring . A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works. Griet describes the painting to her father and also witnesses its creation in closer detail now that she is helping in the studio. [16] Firth and Webber, both of a similar age and background, spent significant time discussing Vermeer's personality and lifestyle in the period leading up to the beginning of filming. [40], A climate protestor representing the Just Stop Oil campaign attempted to glue his head to the glass protecting the painting in October 2022, and was covered in tomato soup by another protestor. [34] In the following decade, Iain McClure's 1996 BBC radio play 'Paint Her Well', takes inspiration from Vermeer's painting (and his life) in its story of a king searching for a woman he has painted, having dreamt about her. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes calculated a 73% approval rating based on 179 reviews, with an average score of 6.90/10. Van Leeuwenhoek was certainly interested in optical devices and it has been speculated that Vermeer made use of a camera obscura, but that is as far as the evidence goes. Girl with a Pearl Earring | novel by Chevalier | Britannica You cant ever answer the question of what shes thinking or how shes feeling. Other cast members include Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, Essie Davis, and Judy Parfitt. A shrewd, watchful woman with a sound head for business, she separated from her own abusive husband long before her daughter married the painter. That has allowed Chevalier to integrate into her imaginary scenario some of the few facts that are known about Vermeer and so give her fiction the appearance of reality. So, was this Griet real? Girl with a Pearl Earring - Wikipedia It is a portrait of a young girl, wearing a turban and a pearl earring, looking over her shoulder, her lips parted slightly, set against a black background. He is considered among the greatest artists of his age. [14], It is this cool approach that differentiates the book from the three other novels published in 1999 which also deal with 17th century Dutch painting. The Girl was chosen as the image for the accompanying poster and her celebrity status was assured. [39] And in 2014 the English street artist Banksy reproduced the painting as a mural in Bristol, incorporating an alarm box in place of the pearl earring and calling the artwork Girl with a Pierced Eardrum. A further complication is that the Vermeers belong to the grudgingly tolerated Catholic minority while Griet is a Protestant. Chevalier presents a fictional account of Vermeer, the model and the painting. Her father, a Delftware painter, has recently gone blind, rendering him unable to work and leaving his family in a precarious financial situation. As for his Girl, well, she is even more perplexing. She had something distinctive about her. The novel was published in Britain in 1999 and a year later in the United States, where it became a New York Times bestseller. [12] Only a few exterior shots were filmed in Delft. Introduction. [6] She avoided using a voiceover, which was present in the novel, "partly because it would make it very literary". He asks if Vermeer will give up Griet so she can work in the patron's house, where Van Ruijven ruined the former girl-maid. [65] Gleiberman added that while Johansson is silent for most of the film, "the interplay on her face of fear, ignorance, curiosity, and sex is intensely dramatic". But whos the girl that inspired Johannes Vermeers masterpiece? For Yann Lovelock in his sestina, "Vermeers Head of a Girl", it is the occasion for exploring the interplay between imagined beauty interpreted on canvas and living experience. [2], Chevalier's research included reading the history of the period, studying the paintings of Vermeer and his peers, and spending several days in Delft. The painting was selected to be the center of all publicity, and its captivating and alluring expressions ended up conquering the world. When she appeared in Tokyo, for instance, she attracted more visitors than any other global exhibition that year. [9] The film was limited in release to seven cinemas on 12 December 2003, landing in 32nd place for the week with $89,472. Similarly shaped ear-pieces were used as convincing accessories in 20th-century fakes that were briefly attributed to Vermeer, such as Young Woman with a Blue Hat, Smiling Girl and The Lace Maker. It has been noted that its aim is to replicate Vermeer's style of painting. [51] Its total domestic gross was $11,670,971. Wherever she went, Vermeers Girl drew crowds that would turn a movie star green with envy. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (16321723) and Johannes Vermeer, "Master Vermeer, Isn't It, Um, Missing a Little Spark? AI-created "Girl with a Pearl Earring" sparks a debate in the art world
How To Prep A Tumbler For Rhinestones,
Restaurante Gala Barcelona,
Slu Move-in Dates 2023,
One Ayala Avenue Barangay,
Articles W
who is the girl with the pearl earring based
