Baroque Blog
Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil on canvas painting thought to have been painted in 1665 in Delft. I think this painting is a good example of tenebrism, as her face and upper torso are highlighted, and the background is dark and obscuring. There is a lot of shadowing, and it looks like the light is angled at the left side of her face. The colors are quite dull but still do the job of catching your eye. Her expression fills me with curiosity. What emotion is she trying to express? I think that everyone could interpret that differently. During this time, wealth was coming to merchants, which led to the desire to collect and have paintings, artwork, and personal portraits. The wealth also influenced them to want to show off their prosperity, as having their own portrait painted was a symbol of wealth. Portraits were more popular than ever in this era. This particular painting is somewhat unusual for this era, as paintings and portraits are usu...