Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil painting by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, dated c. 1665. It is his most famous work of art. Girl with a Pearl Earring is not a portrait, but a “tronie”: a painting of an imaginary, idealized figure. Vermeer demonstrates his mastery of light and shade by setting the young woman’s vibrant blue and yellow turban and glistening pearl against a dark background.
