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Girl with a Pearl Earring
by Tracy Chevalier
ISBN 052594527X
Dutton Book, 2000
233 pages
Adult
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Annotation: When Gerit goes to work for Vermeer and his family, she never expected to be a model for a painting.
Summary: Griet’s father was blinded while making tiles. After he was blinded, he sent his son to be an apprentice in the same place where he worked. They still didn’t have enough money so they hired out Griet as a maid to the Vermeer’s. There, she cooks, go shopping for fish and meat, does the laundry until her hands are chapped, and most importantly, cleans Vermeer’s room. There is a catch though. Everything she cleans in the room has to be placed back exactly as it was when she lifted it up. Not an inch, centimeter, millimeter, or speck farther or nearer. One day, a visiting friend comes and takes a liking to Griet. He orders Vermeer to paint a picture of her for him to keep so he can always look at her. Vermeer agrees to paint a picture of her. After the picture is done, he looks at it. Something is missing. Then he sees the problem. He tells Griet to pierce her ears and put on earrings to complete the painting. Without the earrings, he says, the picture is incomplete. Will she dare to pierce her ears?
Critique: This book was historical fiction so there really was a painting painted of Griet. It tells us why there was a piece of cloth hanging from the otherwise neat cap. It also tells us why she has pearls and a blue and yellow cap. The book had many parts that were amusing such as when he painted her or when she went to the meat stalls. I again learned that people wear their hair down, in caps, or with ribbons in that time period. When I first spotted it, I thought the cover looked peculiar so I read the book. I found out the book was about the painting and how the painting developed over time.
Summary: Griet’s father was blinded while making tiles. After he was blinded, he sent his son to be an apprentice in the same place where he worked. They still didn’t have enough money so they hired out Griet as a maid to the Vermeer’s. There, she cooks, go shopping for fish and meat, does the laundry until her hands are chapped, and most importantly, cleans Vermeer’s room. There is a catch though. Everything she cleans in the room has to be placed back exactly as it was when she lifted it up. Not an inch, centimeter, millimeter, or speck farther or nearer. One day, a visiting friend comes and takes a liking to Griet. He orders Vermeer to paint a picture of her for him to keep so he can always look at her. Vermeer agrees to paint a picture of her. After the picture is done, he looks at it. Something is missing. Then he sees the problem. He tells Griet to pierce her ears and put on earrings to complete the painting. Without the earrings, he says, the picture is incomplete. Will she dare to pierce her ears?
Critique: This book was historical fiction so there really was a painting painted of Griet. It tells us why there was a piece of cloth hanging from the otherwise neat cap. It also tells us why she has pearls and a blue and yellow cap. The book had many parts that were amusing such as when he painted her or when she went to the meat stalls. I again learned that people wear their hair down, in caps, or with ribbons in that time period. When I first spotted it, I thought the cover looked peculiar so I read the book. I found out the book was about the painting and how the painting developed over time.
Biography: Tracy Chevalier made her first bold stroke on the canvas of the literary world with 1999's Girl with a Pearl Earring, which took readers inside the mysterious Vermeer painting of the same name. Her fascination with art and history saturates her work, bringing it to vibrant life
[2] http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Girl-with-a-Pearl-Earring/Tracy-Chevalier/e/9780452282155/?itm=1
[3] Retrieved the image from: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/imageviewer.asp?ean=9780452282155
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