Woman with a Pearl Necklace by Johannes Vermeer is a seventeenth-century Northern European painting. Painted in oils on canvas, Johannes Vermeer portrayed a young Dutch woman, most likely of upper-class-descent, dressing herself with two yellow ribbons, pearl earrings, and a pearl necklace. As a very popular artist of the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age, Vermeer depicted many women in similar circumstances within interior, domestic scenes. The same woman also appears in The Love Letter and A Lady Writing a Letter.
Johannes Vermeer (1632- 1675) of Delft was one of Netherlands' most prominent Dutch painters. Specialising in interior scenes, Vermeer developed a distinct style for his many domestic paintings. Popular with middle-class patrons, Vermeer offered glimpses into the lives of Holland's cultured citizens. Although little is known and/ or proven about Vermeer’s life, historians do know of his baptism and life in Delft where he was raised by a craftsman father and married a Catholic girl by the name of Catherina Bolnes. This marriage may have caused him to convert to Catholicism.
As an innkeeper and art dealer, Vermeer painted dozens of paintings in which specific attributes can be noted. These attributes include the use of yellow and blue tones, the depiction of women, the use of wall coverings (maps, artworks, etc.), depiction of domestic tools, heavy drapery, light angles from the left, as well as prominent and telling facial expressions, and narrative-like objects. These touches allowed Vermeer to idealize his depiction of Dutch women and their values. Some of his most notable works include Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Love Letter, and The Art of Painting, all of which share the aforementioned qualities of a true Vermeer painting.
Painted in 1664, this 21 5/8 X 17 ¾ inch scene depicts a young Dutch woman looking left toward a window’s light source. Dressed in a yellow, fur-trimmed coat, this young woman most likely comes from an upper-class family. With Vermeer’s distinctive style, it incorporates the color yellow, a draped curtain, framed pictures on the walls, a light source from the left, as well as domestic tools, and an expressive profile.
For example, to the far left, a yellow, drawn back curtain is used. With a rich tone of lemon yellow to complete the woman’s jacket, Vermeer is able to create a balance between the two ends of his painting. The window that the curtain would cover is very similar to that in his painting Woman with a Water Jug.
On that same side of the wall, Vermeer displays a framed mirror. The black frame is most likely made of ebony, which indicates wealth and status. The fact that Vermeer uses a mirror is also distinctive. Vermeer associated the sense of reflection to portray the woman with vanity or feminine power. Also due to Vermeer’s interest in certain Greek muses, he used the mirror to portray duality. However, according to the Essential Vermeer Website, other historians believe this mirror may indicate a Dutch theme of vanitas or the reminder of death. However, there is not a specific way historians can determine this.
This is a part of the Wikipedia article used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). The full text of the article is here →
