Up Close and Personal
July 3, 2024 3:03 PM   Subscribe

 
The pearl is an illusion – translucent and opaque touches of white paint
neat. reminds me of a similar analysis of the Mona Lisa: "heretofore unseen details, like what appears to be a hairpin just above the Mona Lisa’s head—something that would not have been in style at Florence at the time of the painting’s creation" [artnet]
posted by HearHere at 6:03 PM on July 3 [2 favorites]


It's cool that the original background was green and not black. Ironically, perhaps that black contributed to its iconic status among Vermeers. Fascinating, thanks for posting this!
posted by storybored at 3:37 AM on July 4 [1 favorite]


I could have stood for this page to be 10 times as long. The finding of fine detail that is no longer visible is wild to me. And I know this particular painting gets that treatment because everyone knows and loves it, but there's so much going on in Vermeer, I'd love to see more of his paintings get analyzed like this.
posted by mittens at 5:27 AM on July 4 [3 favorites]


The painting's placement in the Mauritshuis museum is so understated, and you really can get just about as close as the woman pictured in the article. There's an ankle-high half-circle barrier around it, and the painting is just... right there, no protective glass or anything. Really cool to see up close.
posted by emelenjr at 9:25 AM on July 4


This was such a delight! Thank you, bq!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:21 AM on July 11


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