View source for Girl with a Pearl Earring

{{trope}}
[[File:250px-Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring_6169.jpg|frame|Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece]]


== The Painting (1665) ==
The painting Girl with a Pearl Earring (Dutch: ''Het Meisje met de Parel'') is one of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer's masterworks and as the name implies, uses a pearl earring for a focal point. The painting is in The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague. It is sometimes referred to as "The Dutch Mona Lisa". Created in 1665, it is one of a handful of Vermeer's works that have survived. In 1994, it underwent a restoration, which brought out many subtle colors and overtones. Vermeer was known to use expensive pigments in his paintings, and ultimately died in debt.


The painting has been subject to many [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]], including novels, an opera and even ''[[Total Drama|Total Drama World Tour]]''.

== The Book (1999) ==
Tracy Chevalier wrote a historical novel, also entitled ''[[Girl With a Pearl Earring]]'' (1999), fictionalizing the circumstances of the painting's creation. In the novel, Johannes Vermeer becomes close with a fictional servant named Griet, whom he hires as an assistant and has sit for him as a painting model while wearing one of his wife's pearl earrings. The novel inspired the 2003 film and a 2008 play of the same name. The novel sold over two million copies in thirty-six languages.

== The Film (2003) ==
Directed by Peter Webber, the film garnered numerous awards both in the States and abroad. They include three Academy Award nominations, a Best Photography Oscar, and two Golden Globes for Best Actress and Best Score. In England, it won a London Critics Circle Film Award and a British Independent Film Award, both for Best Actress.
----
== EXAMPLES ==


==  Tropes In Common ==
* [[Person With the Clothing]]
* [[What Beautiful Eyes!]]: One of the most striking features of the painting, it is played up as plot in the other [[Adaptation Distillation]] genres.
** Griet's eyes from Tracy Chevalier's book appear to have an entrancing affect on a few characters, all who say something along the lines of: "You have very wide eyes." They're given a lot of attention in the book, also being described as "quite luminous", like "liquid were spilling into them". 
** In the movie version, [[Scarlett Johansson]] plays Griet, and her bright green eyes are shown often in close up. They really are very beautiful eyes, to be honest.


== The Painting ==
* [[Art Imitates Art]]: In Cycle 5 of ''[[America's Next Top Model]]'', when there were five contestants left, the challenge was to recreate a classic work of art, one of which was the painting.


==  The Book ==
* [[Betty and Veronica]]: A gender-flipped example: Pieter the son as Betty and Vermeer as Veronica, with Griet as the Archie.
* [[Bratty Teenage Daughter]]: Cornelia.
* [[Dead Little Sister]]: Agnes
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Griet is the Dutch from of 'Margaret,' which is Greek for ''pearl.'' 


==  The Movie ==
* [[Actor Allusion]]: Colin Firth in ''[[St Trinian's]]'' jokes about the painting.
** Not to mention that his character was right to want to shag the titular model.
** May also be considered [[Celebrity Paradox]] as there were many references to Colin Firth's previous works in ''[[St Trinian's]]''.
* [[Attempted Rape]]: {{spoiler|Van Ruijven to Griet}}
* [[Cillian Murphy]]: A vegetarian actor ironically cast as a butcher.
* [[Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy]]: Griet does this a lot.
* [[Hands-On Approach]]: Johannes Vermeer attempts to teach Griet to grind paints by placing his large manly Dutch Master hands over hers, totally obliterating the proper social barriers between them —- she gets pretty flustered.
* [[Hollywood Science]]: A case of artistic perception of housework. Anyone doing their chores as slowly as Griet would never get ''anything'' done. A good example is cleaning windows scene, where Griet starts cleaning a whole wall of windows so slowly and meticulously it would probably take her a whole day to clean them all in [[Real Life]].
* [[Lonely Piano Piece]]: The incidental music is incredibly sparing and this is virtually the only motif used in the entire film.
* [[Scarlett Johansson]]: The title role
* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: Between Vermeer and Griet.
* [[Wall-Bang Her]]: {{spoiler|Pieter and Griet.}}

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Historical Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Girl With A Pearl Earring]]