Woman with Pearl Necklace by Johannes Vermeer Magnet

Woman with a Pearl Necklace by Johannes Vermeer, oil on canvas c. 1664, is a small painting of a young woman in a sunny domestic interior putting on her necklace. Vermeer contrasts warm yellow and golden colours with dark, cool blue tones, as the woman’s blonde hair, yellow fur coat and hair ribbons play off the blue tablecloth and cool shadows. A sliver of sunlight illuminates the yellow curtain and stained glass window panes. Johannes (Jan) Vermeer (1632 - 1675) was a Dutch master painter of interior genre scenes whose works were rediscovered in the 19th century. In carefully constructed, geometric compositions drawn in meticulous linear perspective, Vermeer explored the effects of light and colour across human figures, objects and textures in sunlit, domestic rooms, building upon the optical discoveries and 3D perspectival depth of Leonardo and the Renaissance. Both a painter and an art dealer, Vermeer slowly produced a few of his painstakingly executed, richly pigmented compositions per year, living entirely within his home city of Delft, eschewing the fame of his near contemporaries Rubens and Rembrandt that he achieved finally in the modern era.