Johannes Vermeer Painted the Girl with the Pearl Earring

439 Words2 Pages
Brandon Holm Intro to Art 4/10/2013 Formal Analysis #1 Johannes Vermeer painted The Girl with the Pearl Earring c. 1665-1667 in oil on canvas. It is a representational work of art depicting a woman facing the left of the painting with her head turned to her left looking toward the audience. She is in front of a plain black background. She is wearing cloth wrapped around her head and tied on the top back of her head with the rest of the cloth draping down past her shoulders.. The cloth is wrapped to cover her hair. The cloth around her head is a true blue while the cloth draping down is a vanilla yellow tipped with a lighter blue. Her body is turned so her left shoulder is facing toward the audience. Her head is turned slightly to the left so part of her right side of her face is shown. She is looking to her left out toward the audience. The girl’s mouth is partially open; her lips are a rosy red color. She has a pearl earring in her left ear. She is dressed in a earthy brown robe style cloth with a white fabric sticking up from the collar from the fabric she is wearing under the robe. The light in this painting is coming from in front of her and a little bit above. The light hits her on the right side of her face and partially on her left. The light is hitting the front of her robe and the head piece she is wearing. The girls face draws the attention of the viewer with the angle of the light and the shine from the pearl earring she is wearing. The shine from the earring stands out from the rest of the painting due to it being brighter than the other colors. Implied lines are used in this painting. The light hitting her nose creates a shadow on the left side of her nose. This gives the impression of the shade of her nose. A triangle shape can be made starting at her head moving down the cloth to her back just behind the shoulders then to her chest finally

More about Johannes Vermeer Painted the Girl with the Pearl Earring

Open Document