Girl With A Pearl Earring.

[Atheist]

I've just been watching a documentary about Vermeer's painting. I spent about three months painting a copy (an exercise in learning how to shove paint around) and I found the programme very interesting.
Any ABers like the work (the original; not mine)?

Here's my copy.

https://ibb.co/KwqYRkm

[roadman]

i think the left eye looks wonk on the original

[Atheist]

roadman; do you mean Vermeer's girl or my copy?
Looking at the original, I think I agree, but it never put me off the painting before. Maybe she had a wonky eye, and that's why the painting is so appealing?

[roadman]

i mean the original and as art is subjective there is a magnitude of reasons why people may find it appealing for me its not my cup of tea but i appreciate it still

[roadman]

and when i say left i mean her left and our right

[Atheist]

roadman.
It's not your cup of tea, but you still appreciate it.
Is it the subject (a young girl) that you don't find your cup of tea, or is it the execution of the work?

[Barsel]

Where is the original, have we to look for that ourselves?

[Atheist]

roadman; I did think you meant her left eye.

[jno]

good copy, but the outlining of the left side of her face (ie our left) doesn't match the rest of the background.

I wish I could get to the Rijksmuseum to see the exhibition but I'm not well enough. Never mind, I saw the slightly smaller one in The Hague years ago.

[jno]

Barsel

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230214-five-hidden-symbols-in-vermeers-paintings

[Prudie]

Are you saying the attached image is the one you painted? Even down to all the cracks in the paint that are all over the original? I cannot see a single difference.

[Atheist]

Thanks, jno. The left (from the viewer's pov)side of her face is clumsy in the image, but that is partly due to the lighting of the photo and the physical texture of the laying-on of the paint. My 'original' looks better in real life.
I did a fairly good copy of the Milkmaid. The analysis of the geometry of the tabletop was fascinating (half an octagon), and the location of the perspective vanishing point turns out to be close to the bend on the inside of the maid's right elbow.

[Barsel]

Thank you jno.

[Atheist]

Prudie. If all the cracks are the same, then I have definitely mixed up the images. Mine is close to the original, but not that close!

[Barsel]

Atheist, I'm not at all qualified with judging paintings, but I thought the one you have done was the original.

[Atheist]

Prudie. They're close, but if you could see better reproductions, you'd easily spot the real thing. Don't forget, I was copying, not doing my own interpretation. I wanted to be able to look at Vermeer's painting in my own house without spending a few millions on its purchase.

[Atheist]

Barsel, I refer you to my post above. Copying is relatively easy. It's not creation (which is what Vermeer did).

[Barsel]

Copying maybe relatively easy for you, but not for everyone.
I may be wrong, but I think a lot of people had a framed print of this in the 60's, at least that's what I associate it with.

[TheWinner]

Well I think you have done a fantastic copy. (except it's been labelled "girl IN a pearl earring"

[Buenchico]

^^^ That shouldn't matter, TW, as 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' isn't the original name for the work anyway. Vermeer called it 'Girl in a Turban'.

Atheist:
I think that this might be of interest to you:
https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/what-s-on/exhibitions/installation-my-girl-with-a-pearl/
(Keep scrolling down for more and more reinterpretations of the work)

[Atheist]

Surprised that not many here seem to be interested or have a view on the original. The merit of the copy wasn't meant to be the point of the post. I love Vermeer's painting and I often kiss the girl when I come down the stairs in the middle of a summer's night for a glass of chilled rose: she often winks at me in a haughty but naughty way!
She was alive in 1665 and I'm just alive in 2023. The sadness of a 350 year gap between two humans! And all the other humans long ago and far in the future!