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Introduction composed by Vinia 2009.9.14
I. Synopsis of the Story "Girl with a Pearl Earring"
The movie is an adaptation from the novel by Tracy Chevalier (2000) of the same title, which features an imaginary story about one of Vermeer's painging entitled "Girl with Turban" (1965). This art-related novel weaves many cultural details and social records about Vermeer's time and his life into the invented story that has stemmping from the author's long-term reflections on every detail of the features of the woman featured in this painting. The identity of the young girl in the painting is unknown, and the painting has been considered as a study of a woman's head with Turkish turban.
Chevalier's story goes as follows. Due to the fact that father could not support the family anymore, Griet came to the house of Vermeer to serve as a maid and later also acquired the duties as his model and assistant because of her talents in appreciating art and her own Due to the fact that father could not support the family anymore, Griet came to the house of Vermeer to serve as a maid and later also acquired the duties as his model and assistant because of her talents in appreciating art and her own youthful beauty.
Vermeer's arch-patron had a sexual fantasy toward Griet and stoke a bargain with the painter: The master of the house will paint a portrait of the maid.
The paron's desire for Griet kindled Vermeer's desire too, but the painter managed to sublimate his desire with the activity of painting. In art, Griet was his muse and the object of admiration, but in reality he knew clearly that he had a family of many children and she was just a maid.
Out of her admiration for Vemeer and bacause of her social status as a maid, who was supposed to follow the master's will, Griet pierced her ears, wore the pearl earring that belonged to Vermeer's wife and smuggled secretly onto Griet's ear to complete the painting, and posed an arousing posture.
As a young girl, Griet gave away all she had cherished and held sacred for Vermeer's and for art's sake. However, when the painting was done and when Vermeer's wife found out about Griet's transgression of wearing her earring, Vermeer had to let Griet leave the house to pacify his wife.
II. A Comparison between the two different endings of the story
The ending of the story in the film is different from that in the novel, and through this discrepancy the director reveals a different expectation for the heroine, Griet. On the issue of a young woman's awakening from her social postions and her decisions to decide her own fate, the director has a strong feminist concern from the 21th-century perspective, while the author considers more about Griet's chances of breaking through the confines of the social conditions in the 17th-century Holland.In the story, Griet was trapped in many snares.
For the painter Vermeer, Griet served the double roles of assitant and Muse, who inspired him and helped him. For the art collector/sponser, Griet was but another sexual object and her painting, another piece of art collection for private sexual fantasy. For Vermeer's mother-in-law, Griet was just instrumental--to help his son-in-law complete painting and earn some money. For Vermeer's wife, Griet was an intruder and a threat.
For the painter Vermeer, Griet served the double roles of assitant and Muse, who inspired him and helped him. For the art collector/sponser, Griet was but another sexual object and her painting, another piece of art collection for private sexual fantasy. For Vermeer's mother-in-law, Griet was just instrumental--to help his son-in-law complete painting and earn some money. For Vermeer's wife, Griet was an intruder and a threat.
Caught in this web of interhuman relation and situated in different positions, Griet finally woke up from her dream of being a Muse and faced the cruel reality that she was just a maid. As a husband and with the painting finished, Vermeer was in no position to protect Griet anymore. His committment to her and need for her were simply in art world, not in reality. Griet was forced to leave.
In the novel, Griet married Peter and became a butcher's wife and mother of two sons. Peter never asked Griet about the ear piercing and they lived a good and happy life. Vermeer died in poverty and most of his possesstions had to go through auction. In his will, he deliberately indicated that the pair of pearl earrings should go to Griet: In his mind, Griet matched with the pearl earring and he requested to see Griet's painting again before he died. After Griet received the earrings, she sold them and used the money to pay the debt Vermeer's family owed Peter, for she thought that a butcher's wife was in not position to war pearl earrings.
In the movie, Griet just went home to resume her role of a daughter. When the pair of pearl earrings arrived in her hands, she realized that her contribution to Vermeer's family was finally recognized and her devotion to be Vermeer's model and assitant was finally appreciated. The director of the film seemed to leave Griet's marrital decision open: Her decision to marry Peter or not was not related with the incident at Vermeer's house. She didn't have to rush a marriage after quitting the job at Vermeer's house.
These paintings are used as visual references for both the novelist and the movie director to re-create the scenes, the settings, the costumes, and possible drama that happened in Vermeer's art studio.
The Maid with the Water Jar
The scene portrayed in this painting is reproduced in the movie with exact accuracy.
The Maid Pouring Water
This painting is mentioned in the movie by the other maid came before Griet: "Master Vermeer painted me pouring the water."
The Girl with a Pearl Earring
The identity of the girl in the painting is unknown to any art historians. Her image has long triggered the viewer's imagination and led the emergence of speculation and wpoven stories around her. The novel entitled The Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of the best examples.
Vermeer's House seen from the street
Vermeer's studio was located on the second floor of this building, where the sunshine shone in the room through the glass window with brightness that provided Vermeer's masterpieces with light and shadow.
The Allegory of Art
(featuringVermeer's studio and himself from the back)
This painting was used as a show piece for Vermeer to attract patrons who came to his art studio considering whether to commission him a painting or not.
In this painting, Vermeer portrayed himself as a fashionable painter laboring on the depiction of the laurel leaves crowned on the head of the Muse, Clio. This painting embodies Vermeer's confidence in himself, his pride in the profession of an artist, and his belief in the glory he would finally acquire in the art world.
Vermeer cherished this painting all his life and never attempted to sell it. After he died, his wife tried to hide this painting from the public auction of Vermeer's possessions with no avail.
Pregnant Woman Reading Letter
(featuringVermeer's wife in his studio)
Vermeer and his wife had all together 13 children, so during their marriage life, Catherina was often seen pragnant with child. Vermeer did paint his wife, as in this paitning; however, in the novel/film, Catherina was portrayed as an artist's wife that failed to understand her husband's art and never sat for him as a model.
Painting comments by Vinia
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