Posted on 10/13/2025 2:07:41 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Possible identity of "Mona Lisa of the North" has been revealed by a British art historian.
A mysterious girl with a pearl earring from Johannes Vermeer's famous painting was likely the daughter of the painter's commissioner, a historian has revealed. The 17th-century Dutch painter Vermeer worked almost exclusively for Pieter van Ruijven and Maria de Knuijt, a Dutch husband and wife in Delft. This has been revealed by Andrew Graham-Dixon, the art historian and TV presenter, claiming the girl wearing the pearl earring in the renowned oil painting is likely the couple's daughter, Magdalene.
The wealthy family were members of a rebellious religious sect known as the Remonstrants, while the wife belonged to the Collegiants, an even more radical group. The evangelical Christians were a prohibited organisation who held Quaker-like beliefs, such as pacifism and the pursuit of an egalitarian society. They were also advocates of feminism and the absolute equality of men and women. According to a new book on Vermeer by Graham-Dixon, Maria was the painter's principal commissioner.
The glistening pearl earring, which is probably tin and not pearl, is meant to contrast with the soft blended shine of the girls lips, which was painted in sfumato, a technique that Vermeer excelled at. The eye will naturally fix first on the earring and then move to the lips, which are at the same level and just to the left. Your eye will then move to the girl’s eyes and then across to the yellow headband, and finally return downward to the earring. This active circular momentum keeps your attention fixed on the painting, continually absorbing and reabsorbing its contrasting and blending elements.
To me, I had a much greater desire to be a part of the scene than I felt when I saw Mona Lisa at the Louvre.
In this Vermeer's image the maid's gaze and parted lips seems to invite you as an acquaintance, perhaps as a friend, to share this moment of calmness. Dressed as she is, not a time of intimacy or romance, just as a fellow traveler in this world.
(Overworking my imagination, I guess.)
She is not ugly. Get out of the porn.
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