Girl with a Pearl Earring
c. 1665 · Oil on canvas · Mauritshuis, The Hague
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About this work
- Artist
- Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675)
- Year
- c. 1665
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 44.5 × 39 cm
- Collection
- Mauritshuis, The Hague
- Movement
- Dutch Golden Age
A young woman turns over her shoulder toward the viewer, lips parted, wearing a blue and yellow turban and a single large pearl. Painted in Delft around 1665, this is not a portrait of a named sitter but a tronie, a Dutch study of a face and costume made for its own sake. Vermeer built the luminous skin with thin glazes over a dark ground and reserved his costly ultramarine for the headscarf; the pearl itself is just two strokes of white. The canvas is small, under 45 centimetres tall, which makes the direct gaze feel unusually intimate. It entered the Mauritshuis in The Hague in 1902 after being bought at auction for a trivial sum, and a 1994 cleaning restored the dark, almost black background that gives the figure its glow.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
The near-black ground and single lit face call for a dark wall and a black frame at eye level where the gaze meets you: a hallway, landing or beside a desk at 16×24. Larger loses the intimacy of a canvas under 45 cm.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Dutch Golden Age painting
- Era
- 17th century (c. 1665)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- intimate
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, home office, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Girl with a Pearl Earring in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Girl with a Pearl Earring painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
