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Girl With The Pearl Earring: what's the story behind the famous painting? Girl With The Pearl Earring: what's the story behind the famous painting?
(about 4 hours later)
Johannes Vermeer's The Girl with The Pearl Earring, otherwise known as The "Mona Lisa of the North" – one of the most famous and mysterious marvels of the art world – is back in the US for the first time since 1995, when it caused a sensation in Washington DC.Johannes Vermeer's The Girl with The Pearl Earring, otherwise known as The "Mona Lisa of the North" – one of the most famous and mysterious marvels of the art world – is back in the US for the first time since 1995, when it caused a sensation in Washington DC.
Gallery owners say they're expecting a stampede of visitors, when the painting begins its US tour tomorrow, Saturday, at the de Young/Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.Gallery owners say they're expecting a stampede of visitors, when the painting begins its US tour tomorrow, Saturday, at the de Young/Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Exactly why the painting is the source of such fascination is difficult to explain, since very little is known about the painter and even less about his subject. Experts say the mystery is part of its allure. "Sometimes the questions are more intriguing because they can't be answered," Melissa Buron, assistant curator of the exhibition at the de Young museum told The Wall Street Journal. "Who was she? What was she thinking? What was her relationship with Vermeer? The mystery is part of its popularity."Exactly why the painting is the source of such fascination is difficult to explain, since very little is known about the painter and even less about his subject. Experts say the mystery is part of its allure. "Sometimes the questions are more intriguing because they can't be answered," Melissa Buron, assistant curator of the exhibition at the de Young museum told The Wall Street Journal. "Who was she? What was she thinking? What was her relationship with Vermeer? The mystery is part of its popularity."
Imagining the story behind the "The Girl" with her dangling earring and blue headscarf, is what lead Tracy Chevalier to write the novel, Girl With a Pearl Earring, which subsequently became a Hollywood film starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johanson. In Chevalier's version of the story behind the painting, the girl is a servant named Griet who has an aesthetic meeting of the minds with her master and sits for the painting wearing his wealthy wife's jewels in her ear. Imagining the story behind the "The Girl" with her dangling earring and blue headscarf, is what led Tracy Chevalier to write the novel, Girl With a Pearl Earring, which subsequently became a Hollywood film starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johanson. In Chevalier's version of the story behind the painting, the girl is a servant named Griet who has an aesthetic meeting of the minds with her master and sits for the painting wearing his wealthy wife's jewels in her ear.
As The Girl frenzy begins again in the US, we're inviting Guardian readers to re-invent the story behind the painting.As The Girl frenzy begins again in the US, we're inviting Guardian readers to re-invent the story behind the painting.
Tap into your inner novelist or screenplay writer and in 200 words or less, give us your best, most creative plot line. Who is the girl? What was her relationship to the painter? What would the story be if it was set in 2013? We'll publish the best responses on The Guardian.Tap into your inner novelist or screenplay writer and in 200 words or less, give us your best, most creative plot line. Who is the girl? What was her relationship to the painter? What would the story be if it was set in 2013? We'll publish the best responses on The Guardian.