num_pages: 233
description: 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.
language: English
title: Girl with a Pearl Earring
titlecomplete: Girl with a Pearl Earring
characters: Catharina Bolnes, Pieter van Ruijven, Maria Thins, Johannes Vermeer, Tanneke, Pieter (Girl with a pearl earring), Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Griet
genres: Art, Historical, Historical Fiction, Novels, Adult Fiction, Literature, Classics, Adult, Romance, Fiction
ratings_count: 722602
places: Netherlands, Delft
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Longlist, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: ALA Alex Award, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Lincoln Award, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Premi Llibreter de narrativa
publisher: Plume/Penguin