Abstract
The background of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665, Mauritshuis) has, until recently, been interpreted as a flat dark space. The painting was examined in 2018 as part of the research project The Girl in the Spotlight using a combination of micro- and macro-scale analytical techniques. The stratigraphy of the background was determined from samples mounted as cross-sections, and its material composition was analysed using electron microscopy and chromatographic techniques. The underlayer contains mainly charcoal black, and the glaze contains two organic colourants—indigo and weld—and a copper drier. Deterioration of the glaze has made features in the background difficult to discern with the naked eye. Complementary imaging techniques were able to visualise Vermeer’s signature, and the suggestion of folded fabric (possibly a curtain) on the right side of the painting. The distribution of the layer(s) in the background were imaged using: infrared reflectography (900–1100 nm), multi-scale optical coherence tomography scanning, macroscopic X-ray fluorescence and 3D digital microscopy. Vermeer applied the black underlayer vigorously with overlapping brushstrokes that varied in thickness. When he applied the glaze on top, it levelled out to make a smooth flat surface. The visual effect of the background contrasts the figure of the Girl and projects her forward in space, closer to the viewer.
Highlights
Paintings by Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) typically show figure(s) in an interior setting, with light filtered through a window on the left
Microscopic samples re-examined with scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM–EDX) and FIB–STEM determined that the black underlayer contains primarily charcoal black, and no bone black as was suggested during the previous research in 1994 [2]
Complementary imaging techniques mapped the distribution of the underlayer and glaze
Summary
Paintings by Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) typically show figure(s) in an interior setting, with light filtered through a window on the left. The paintings are very similar in size, they were likely made around the same time, and are signed ‘IVMeer’ in the upper left. Both depict a young woman, strongly lit from the left, wearing a pearl earring. They are the only known Vermeer paintings where a person is shown closecropped, against a seemingly flat dark space. 1998: LM, SEM–EDX, FTIR of crosssection; microchemical test of fragments. LM, SEM–EDX of cross-section (Fig. 3); UHPLC of fragments. 1998: SEM-EDX of cross-section; cross-section prepared as thinsection, FTIR of thin-section; HPLC and wet chemical tests of fragments.
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