The Girl with a pearl earring (meisje met de parel) is an oil on canvas by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer in 1665. This work of art has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902 and has been the subject of various literary as well cinematic treatments. Girl with a pearl earring is not a portrait but a ‘tronie’ – a painting of an imaginary figure. In Dutch, it means the head of an ideal “type,” like “a soldier” or “a musician” – or in this case, “a young beauty.” The painting depicts a European girl wearing an exotic dress, an oriental turban, and the famous eye-catching pearl earring. Girl with a pearl earring portrays a young woman in a dark, shallow space, an intimate setting that exclusively draws the viewer’s attention to her. In this painting, the girl wears a blue and gold turban, a titular pearl earring, and a gold jacket beneath with a visible white collar. Caught in a fugitive moment, she turns her head over her shoulder, meeting the viewer’s gaze with her eyes wide and lips parted as if about to speak. Her enigmatic expression and the mystery of her identity are what intrigues the painting more. The Girl with a Pearl Earring Title: The Girl with a pearl earring (meisje met de parel) Artist: Johannes Vermeer Year: 1665 Style: Baroque Genre: Portrait, tronie Dimension: 46.5 cm x 40 cm Location: Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands Oil on canvas