Girl With A Pearl Earring

If push comes to shove, I prefer depth over range. Therefore it is not perhaps surprising that I have spent so much time studying a single painting by Vermeer, his "Girl With A Pearl Earring."

My research began quite casually--I read a bestselling novel of the same title. To my surprise, the book struck me. It was evocative, well-researched, understated. I had studied Vermeer in High School, of course. Who hasn't? But this story made of Vermeer a man, not merely a name, and gave the Girl a soul to go with her pearl earring.

The movie based on that story delighted me by means of its artistry, its use of silence and light. Interest, once sparked, became a desire to understand fully... and now I offer to you the most tangible result of my exploration. Play with it. Examine a few of Vermeer's other paintings. To know something or someone in detail, in full complexity and reality... in full color, is one of the greatest pleasures given to man by a good God.