GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING

With precisely 35 canvases to his credit the Dutch painter
Johannes Vermeer represents one of the great enigmas of
17th-century art. The meager facts of his biography have
been gleaned from a handful of legal documents. Yet
Vermeers extraordinary paintings of domestic life with
their subtle play of light and texture have come to define
the Dutch golden age. His portrait of the anonymous Girl
with a Pearl Earring has exerted a particular fascination
for centuries—and it is this magnetic painting that lies
at the heart of Tracy Chevaliers second novel of the same
title. Girl with a Pearl Earring centers on Vermeers
prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. When Griet
the novels quietly perceptive heroine is hired as a
servant turmoil follows. First the 16-year-old narrator
becomes increasingly intimate with her master. Then
Vermeer employs her as his assistant—and ultimately has
Griet sit for him as a model.