Summary: 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 Vermeer's 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 Chevalier's second novel of the
same title.
Girl with a Pearl Earring centers on Vermeer's prosperous Delft
household during the 1660s. When Griet, the novel's 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.
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